Answers to this question were brought in a recent article by the customerthink.com specialized website. The sales director role, which is changing quickly in recent years, will continue changing towards the following trends:
Technological knowledge
The sales director of the near future will have to understand modern technology enough to be able to decide on how it should be used to make the sales persons’ work more effective. This is also related to the knowledge of key indicators of sales decisions.
Applying game principles (gamification)
Including game principles in sales will be a very strong trend of the near future. It is an opportunity for more consistent and more tactical management of the performance of activities that bring the company profit.
Understanding the customer
Sales directors will have to understand their customers enough to be able to teach their teams how to ask investigative questions. The goal of these questions is to teach the customers something new about their own business.
Broader comprehension of the business
Sales directors in 2015 will no longer be able to be just excellent sales persons who made their way up to the highest position. They will be increasingly asked to comprehend the company’s overall business and to be able to come forth with ideas that move the company forward. They will cooperate more closely with marketing and other departments in the company.
Training
Training in all of its forms – from product training to individual mentoring - will be one of the fundamental priorities of sales directors on a daily basis.
Focusing on results
Sales directors will be interested in more and more detail all indicators of the individual phases of the sales process, including all related marketing activities.
Staffing policy
Sales directors already know that they need to choose employees slowly but fire them quickly. In the near future they will become even more convinced of this.
Long-term strategies
Sales directors will not be able to afford to change their strategies impulsively based on short-term events. They will stick to their original strategies and adapt them if necessary, but they will not push their teams in different directions all the time.
Ability to sympathize
Besides being about strategy, measuring and training, sales is also about emotions. That is why sales directors must have sympathy. They should understand that people make mistakes as well as have times when they’re not doing as well. But this does not mean the sales directors should ignore these warning signs over the long-term.
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