If you lead a business team, the members of the team come first. You can be a great salesperson, but if your team is not successful, you won't be successful either. The server Salesandmarketing.com has a few tips on how to become a great sales manager.
1) Keep the parts of your sales pitch in balance
As sales have traditionally depended on personal connections, and salespeople are usually focused on the relationship part of the sale and less on sale process itself. But these have to be in balance. Don't let your team focus only on one or the other.
Connect salespersons with other parts of company, and especially with the one which deals with new clients. Connections with the legal and finance departments are important as well. Set rules for communication between these departments.
2) Provide yourself and your team with training
The best way is for the whole team to meet and learn together.
3) Understand legal issues
It is not part of sales specialization, so most of sales managers do not understand legal terminology or do not know how to work with business terms in contracts. This is detrimental to you career. Understanding the differences between business and legal issues is essential. Do not leave everything to the legal department, learn the basics.
4) Keep your team satisfied
Give your team as many opportunities as possible. As a sale manager, do not just pay attention to your deals. A great deal of your time should be spent removing barriers which may stop your team from making sales. Let your people have their issues under their control.
Be strict, if necessary, but be helpful if a deal needs to get pushed through. Cooperate with marketing to make sure your team has tools for successful sales. It is you who's responsible for the success of your team and their satisfaction.
5) Keep long-term and short-term goals in balance
Lots of sales managers focus mostly on short-term goals. This is not a good strategy. Do not focus on deadlines too much and make sure you have well-trained salesmen who are able to sell in the future, beyond your current deadline. Look to the future, analyze possibilities and pay attention to your people. Plan for the long term, while deftly managing issues which are important at the moment.
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