“Never tell people how to do things.
\nTell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” <\/p>\n
-George S. Patton (1885-1945)
\nU.S. Army general during WWII<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is a good reminder for sales managers. One thing we discuss with sales managers is letting your salespeople fail. I’m not referring to big deals, top prospects. Instead I am referring to smaller opportunities where you know the salesperson is going to get a lesson.<\/p>\n
Here is why it is key. We have a customer who has a sales manager who has become the closer (for lack of a better word). Essentially, he has chosen to avoid coaching his sales team and instead has them bring him in at the proposal stage. He takes over and closes the deal.<\/p>\n
Now, this sales manager is a highly-skilled salesperson, but a poor manager. The impact of his managing is that his team has not developed the skills needed to complete the final qualifying steps and move the prospect to a close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A quote from JustSell.com’s daily email: “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” -George S. Patton (1885-1945) U.S. Army general during WWII It is a good reminder for sales managers. One thing we discuss with sales managers is letting your salespeople fail. I’m not referring to big deals, top prospects. Instead I am referring to smaller opportunities where you know the salesperson is going to get a lesson. Here is why it is key. We have a customer who has a sales manager who has become the closer (for lack of a better word). Essentially, he has… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-management"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-9q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1636,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/accountability-is-the-key\/","url_meta":{"origin":584,"position":0},"title":"Accountability Is The Key","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In recent weeks we have been dealing with a handful of sales managers who all have a different approach to the position.\u00a0 They are all in different industries, but their sales all have many similarities. One of the sales managers has progressed the best so far with his new salesperson\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Leadership"","block_context":{"text":"Leadership","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1125,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/08\/manage-the-leading-sales-indicators\/","url_meta":{"origin":584,"position":1},"title":"Manage The Leading Sales Indicators","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been talking to numerous prospects and existing customers this week about onramping salespeople.\u00a0 This topic is germane to every company that employs salespeople. The discussions I had this week have all involved a common thread - managing the trailing indicators.\u00a0 Revenue, customers, pipeline, etc.\u00a0 The sales managers in these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Salespeople"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/windowslivewritermanagetheleadingsalesindicators-a244speedometer.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1668,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/a-fundamental-lack-of-communication\/","url_meta":{"origin":584,"position":2},"title":"A Fundamental Lack Of Communication","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The more companies we work with, the more we see communication breakdowns being the root of most problems.\u00a0 Our work with our clients spans more than just recruiting.\u00a0 We assist them in onramping their new salesperson.\u00a0 This function places us in the unique position of working with both the salesperson\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":372,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/10\/sales-managers-manage-and-lead\/","url_meta":{"origin":584,"position":3},"title":"Sales Managers – Manage and Lead","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"October 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Selling Power has a short, but valuable article titled The Two Things You Must Do Well to Succeed as a Sales Manager. I'll cut right to the chase: 1. Manage the Sales Process 2. Leading the Salespeople That is it. Sounds simple but rarely do we see it in action.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1532,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/04\/marquis-vs-mundane\/","url_meta":{"origin":584,"position":4},"title":"Marquee vs. Mundane","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been working with a handful of sales managers recently as they onramp new salespeople and I have seen a stumbling block occur more than once.\u00a0 The issue has to do with the sales manager's perception of the typical sale. Sales managers, in most instances, work primarily with large, high-visibility\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Onramping"","block_context":{"text":"Onramping","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/onramping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1634,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/subtle-hiring-tells\/","url_meta":{"origin":584,"position":5},"title":"Subtle Hiring Tells","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm thinking of the poker colloquialism \"tell.\"\u00a0 From Wikipedia: A tell in poker is a detectable change in a player's behavior or demeanor that gives clues to that player's assessment of his hand. A player gains an advantage if he observes and understands the meaning of another player's tell, particularly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}