Selling Power.com’s Sales Management newsletter provides an excellent article that addresses a common issue in sales management - how do you move from salesperson to sales manager?  One important aspect of this move is becoming a coach for your sales team.

The suggestions in the article are worth the read, but this one is especially remarkable:

Keep questions open. Most managers know they should ask open-ended questions in a coaching situation, but closed questions still crop up far too often. Closed questions can be answered in one or two words – yes, no, good, okay. Open-ended questions, on the other hand, require the responder to think and elaborate and help paint a more complete picture of a situation. Starting questions with “will,” “did,” and “have” will likely lead you into a closed question, warn the authors. Rephrase those questions using words like “what,” “who,” “which,” and “how.” For example, instead of, “Did you check all the requirements?” try, “Which of the requirements most concerns you?”

That advice is applicable to sales qualifying, coaching, candidate screening and more.  Yes/no, or closed questions, lead you into a box where you are forced to ask another question.  Open-ended questions also lead to more detail in the answer.  As a sales manager, this detail is needed to be an effective, efficient coach to your team.

One other piece of advice from the article:

Keep questions forward focused. It’s all too easy for an employee to get caught up in rehashing a meeting or event that went poorly. And while a certain amount of emotional venting may be helpful to that person, your job is to help them avoid getting stuck there. One of the best ways you can keep the conversation forward focused is to avoid asking questions that begin with “why.” If you’re asking, “Why did that happen?” or “Why did you say that?” you put your employee on the defensive and keep the conversation focused on the past. Rephrase your questions in a way that encourages a look to the future. So instead of, “Why didn’t you contact IT?” ask, “What are the things you need to do to bring the project back on track?”

Exactly.  We tell sales managers to avoid using “why” in their questions with their direct reports and with prospects.  As effective as why is, it often carries a negative emotional aspect. Imagine in your youth hearing an upset parent ask, “Why did you do that?”  Or maybe it was, “Why didn’t you…”  Be careful with your use of this adverb, especially with your sales team.

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BusinessWeek.com’s playbook section offers a very short, but highly intriguing article title How Netflix nets and keeps talent.  Here it is in it’s entirety:

PAY LAVISHLY Higher-than-average salaries—and tying bonuses and raises to the market, not a pool—can make stars less likely to bolt. Money is no object in hiring.

PROVIDE COMPENSATION CHOICE Employees are more likely to excel if they can pick how much of their compensation they get in stock rather than cash.

FOSTER TALENT HUNTERS Encouraging everyone to hire the three people they’ve loved working with most during their careers creates an intense, fun workplace.

LET THEM GO Don’t give B performers a middling raise. Give them a decent chunk of cash and show them the door. And don’t surprise them. The laid-off leave with their dignity.

LIMIT RULES They reduce error. But they also stymie innovation. At Netflix, employees are responsible for their choices, even in how much vacation to take

Let Them Go is one we often see in companies…that is they accept mediocrity and do not let B performers go.  In sales this approach is cancerous.  The mediocre performers often have a negative effect on the top performers.

How progressive is Netflix’s management?  Employees determine how much vacation to take?  That is the first time I have encountered that approach.  That is an intriguing approach, isn’t it?

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Bob Rosner has a unique perspective on managing employees in his latest Working Wounded post - Stop Workplace Whining.  The setup:

A study by In Touch asked employees, “Why don’t you speak up at work?” More than 1 in 4 said they remain quiet because “there isn’t a good way to speak up” or “management doesn’t care.” I’ve outlined below three dos to reduce pressure at work and have everyone engaged in the problem-solving process. For more, check out Rant, Repair, Rave on workplace911.com.

I’ll leave the whale example at the beginning of his post for you to read on your own (it is funny and disgusting all at once).

Here is the suggestion I thought had some merit:

Rant. We know what you’re thinking, “Let my people rant at work. Are you nuts?” Trust us, they already are ranting! Why not move it past murmuring whispers and give them a safe way to voice their concerns and challenges? After years of counseling people in the Rant technique, we find it works best when rants are kept under two minutes. Another important guideline here is “do no harm.” Employees should be truthful in their rants, but not hurtful.

“They already are ranting!” is true, isn’t it?  It would take a particularly strong manager to be able to handle a meeting that allows rants.  I like the idea.  I have sat through meetings where individuals (myself included) went on a spontaneous rant.  After the meeting, I was called into the boss’ office and told if I ever did that again I would lose my job.

I ceased all rants (in front of that manager) from that point on.  But my rants continued with fellow employees.

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Lee and I recently attended certification training for one of the assessments we use and found the training to be quite good.  The part that made it memorable is the fact that we were asked to use the assessments in real-life scenarios.  That type of training sticks, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Simulation Shows What It’s Like to Be Boss:

That realistic feeling is a big reason companies such as NetApp use simulations to help train managers in complex subjects such as strategic thinking. Experts say adults absorb information better when they use it, not just hear it.

There is a quote from earlier in the article that is excellent:

“You never have perfect information; you never have enough time,” Mr. Tabloski said. “That was particularly real.”

Isn’t that true?  We see this play out with candidates right now, too.  They have other opportunities.  Strong salespeople are always in demand no matter what the economy is doing.  Some hiring managers want to ruminate about their decision to the point where they lose strong candidates (we’ve had that happen a couple times this year already).

When you are hiring, you never have perfect information on a candidate.  There is always a level of unknown factors that makes hiring so difficult.  But you can have more information than a resume and your gut feeling.

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This is a tough topic because there isn’t a cookie-cutter sales manager template that fits for all companies.  Our experience has been that smaller-sized companies tend to expect the sales manager to carry a significant quota while larger companies expect the sales manager to manage without carrying a personal quota.  The department quota/goals are a different story.

Nonetheless, ManageSmarter.com offers up a well-constructed guide to sales management titled Executive Guide: Improving Sales from Managers to Salespeople.

A point that often gets overlooked in companies is the essence of strong sales management.  This excerpt sums it up nicely:

4. Track where your management team members are spending their time. As previously stated, good managers let their top people operate and focus on turning their “B” players into “A” players, their “C” players into “B” players or managing them out. There should be signs of steady improvement of sales staffers.

That truly is the gist of sales management, isn’t it?  This area is a pitfall for which we have seen more than one sales manager fall into.  The team is not hitting their numbers and the sales manager is expected to close business himself.  If this manager used to be the top salesperson, he or she often will revert to closing their own deals to protect themselves.  The incredible downside to this approach is that the rest of the team continues to falter and fail.

Most of the time there is a culling of the herd when it comes to the salespeople.  The sales manager is usually insulated through a handful of terminations before the Turk comes for them (to borrow a football phrase).

It is for this reason that we encourage our customers to have the sales manager manage the team.  At the most, they should only have a handful of accounts.  Anything more and they will be dealing with customer items disproportionately to improving their sales team.

One last point from the article:

1. Provide managers with information on their salespeople that is systematic and both objective and subjective. It should give them actionable insight into what areas need to be improved and how to do it.

This is an area in which we can help.

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That is a term coined by Citrix and one I suspect we will see with some frequency.  If gas goes to $4/gallon, I suspect these articles will publish daily.  ManageSmarter.com offers up an article discussing the preference of today’s workers to have technological flexibility in their job.  The key here is the demographics of the results (emphasis mine):

…U.S. workers aged 18-34 prefer flexible working conditions two-to-one over other age groups.

In fact, 70% of survey respondents agreed that working remotely would be a welcome opportunity. In an era where acquiring and retaining good employees is a challenge, and the workforce is becoming increasingly young and mobile, offering the ability to Web commute can serve as a competitive edge for recruiters.

We encounter this fact daily in our sourcing activities.  In fact, we are seeing the web commute question coming up in discussion with older candidates too.  In sales, these tools are essential.  Sales has always operated outside of the company walls, but these tools allow outside salespeople the ability to have a completely mobile office which is a relatively new capability.

We have placed a handful of Gen Y salespeople recently and they all highly value remote tools.

Overall, the younger the respondent, the more apt he or she was to perceive value in online tools and services that enable them to work remotely.
The difference between the values expressed by younger workers versus others makes sense, given the proportionally higher familiarity with the Internet among Generations X and Y than among older workers. “As Baby Boomers retire, employers will be forced to compete for younger workers, for whom technology is a native tongue,” says Kellyanne Conway, CEO and president of the polling company, inc. “Offering the ability to Web commute is an easy way to provide a valued benefit to this age group.”

Today, it is difficult to compete for younger workers if you do not offer the technology that is their “native tongue.”  In the near future, you will not be able to compete at all for their services unless you offer these tools.

One item that often gets overlooked is that these younger workers use the tools at all hours.  We work with these salespeople to help get them onramped during their first few months at the new job.  I am always amazed at the hours I can reach them electronically.  They do not confine their work day to a traditional 8 to 5 schedule.  If you provide them the tools, they will use them well beyond your assumptions.

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I just caught up to this quote in a good quote from Peter Drucker in BusinessWeek.com’s Wide-Angle Thinking:

Surely, Drucker would have applauded. “Too many think they are wonderful because they talk well,” he once pointed out. “They don’t realize that being wonderful with people means listening well.”

Here is another aspect we subscribe to in our sourcing activities:

Handy goes even further, advising that companies should roam far beyond their traditional bounds to better understand not just technology but myriad practices and processes. Say, for instance, a manufacturer needs to tap a team of top talent for a project that will be disbanded after a relatively brief period. Handy’s suggestion: Arrange a visit to one of the Hollywood studios. They manage high-end, short-term work all the time.

Interesting approach in today’s market, don’t you think?  Salespeople who can listen well are valuable in almost all sales positions.  Finding these types of salespeople does not have to be limited to your own industry.  This approach is a trap into which many hiring managers fall.

The part of Handy’s suggestion above that leaps off the page is the idea of looking for similar, or transferable, skills.  Hollywood studios and manufacturing are not normally associated with each other, but their are commonalities that can be applied between them.  The same is true for hiring.

This truth will become more prevalent as candidates become more scarce in the upcoming years.

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Clayton Shold over at Saleopedia offers up some stunning survey results from a recent SalesDog.com survey.  Check this out (my emphasis):

Despite the job pressure, 70 percent of respondents reported being happy with their management, while 64 percent of those taking the survey said they felt adequately recognized for their achievements. A surprising 75 percent of respondents believe their management’s sales expectations or quotas are realistic.

I’m sitting here cruising at 70mph in Northern Minnesota as I write.  I should clarify that Lee is driving, I am geeking it up in the passenger seat.  We have been talking about these results for miles.

We often hear of how discontented workers are with their current roles and managers.  I suspect the fact that we are recruiters that we spend much of our time dealing with discontented salespeople looking for a new opportunity.  That fact skews our perspective.

These results are encouraging for the majority of sales managers who may have shared our perspective.

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This ManageSmarter.com article - On-Board Your Sales Hires Faster - hits me where I live.  We ran into a serious issue with one of our customers where a salesperson we placed was terminated after 60 days.  I won’t go into specifics, but this gentleman never had a chance.  One anecdotal point - he never received business cards.  You get the picture.

We are working with our customer this week to establish a formalized onramping program for the next salesperson in this role.  Much, or even all, of the problems that developed were due to this small company not understanding what needs to happen to successfully launch a new salesperson.  Some of these items are rudimentary like having business cards for them on day 1 while others involve the manager-critical setting of expectations.

The truth here is that the first few months are the most formative in establishing future success:

1. Time is Fleeting
There is an opportunity in the first three to six months of a salesperson’s career at the new company to set the tone. And during this timeframe, you need to get your new hires to fully comprehend your desire for their success and that you plan on using process, methodology, coaching and technology to help them.

Exactly.  The third and final point in the article is also most relevant:

3. Belly Up to the Benchmark
Take the time before a salesperson is on board to integrate traditionally independent activities from multiple departments, and agree on the collaboration process. Create a plan that has specific objectives and milestones that pinpoint productivity from day one. Measure and track productivity, but measure in terms of activity rather than financial results. This allows for better tracking, measurement, monitoring and coaching.

We always tell our customers that they need to set activity expectations and then monitor them closely during the first 3 to 6 months.  This is the time period for course correction that sets up a successful employment with clear expectations.  Failure to engage in these management topics leads to early terminations and revolving-door territories.

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Don’t you love that title, Sales Gravy?  This site is a sales resource that I was not aware of until I received a call from Jeb Blount who runs the site.

Sales Gravy is the fastest growing international networking community for Sales Professionals. Sales Gravy is your portal to All Things Sales.We believe that Sales Professionals are the Elite Athletes of the Business world and this site is designed and dedicated to helping our members gain the Winning Edge!

There are many resources on the site and I have to confess I have not had a chance to browse through all of them.  The Sales Tools and Resources is the area in which I have spent the most time.  There are numerous articles that I have read and can clearly see that we will be using them in our future posts.

Take the time to check out this valuable new resource.

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