The transformation is magical. John Smith, the star of the sales
team leaves work Friday evening. John Smith arrives at work
Monday morning and over the weekend, he has seen the light,
received magical powers and is ready to deliver great results.
What is this magical scenario? Simply, John Smith has been
promoted from sales executive to sales manager. Over the weekend
all sorts of new skills, behaviours and knowledge have been
magically acquired.
Ridiculous? Of course. However, in many organisations, there
seems to be a belief that a successful sales executive will be a
successful sales manager without any specific development or
preparation.
“…they confuse a talent for sales with a talent for managing
people -- they encourage the promotion of the wrong people. The
best managerial candidates are not always the people who attain
the highest sales.” Benson Smith Co-author Discover Your Sales
Strengths, 2003
Star sales executives achieve their results because they have
great sales skills and apply appropriate behaviours to get the
job done. They love the thrill of the chase the wheeling and
dealing, the autonomy and the recognition of bringing in the
deal.
As a manager their role is different. However, letting go of old
behaviours is sometimes difficult. This can cause problems for
their direct reports, for their bosses and for the organisation
as a whole. Successful sales people are driven and know how to
get things done. When their reports have problems, a new
manager’s natural behaviour is to jump in and solve the problem.
This can mean 2 things. The direct report doesn’t get the
opportunity to learn how to solve the problem himself. If this
pattern is repeated, the direct report may feel disheartened by
a constant interference in what is their job. A manager’s job is
to coach and support not to do, the majority of the time. A
sales manager who insists on selling is like a football manager
running onto the pitch to score a goal.
Organisations that promote people on the basis of past
performance and not on potential and/or matched abilities,
aspirations and values are asking for trouble.
“…despite these frequently one off, training based
interventions, many IT organisations still report difficulty in
building a robust pipeline of next generation leaders. …(they
are) lacking a set of repeatable processes to ensure responsive
and ongoing IT leadership development for the long term”
Strengthening The IT Leadership Bench. Working Council for CIOs
2003
So how can organisations spot future sales managers, groom them
for that role and support them to deliver?
Senior executives and those that make recruitment and
development decisions need to go through a fundamental mid
shift. There are different sets of skills, behaviours and
outcomes required of a sales executive than of a sales manager.
Until this is recognised, any recruitment and development
programme will not sustain a successful management and
leadership pipeline.
The Leadership Pipeline Charan, Drotter Noel 2001, identifies 3
core areas that first time managers need to be proficient in;
Defining and assigning work to be done, enabling direct reports
to do the work and building social contracts.
In Portrait of a Star Sales Manager, Sales Executive Council
2004 again 3 core areas are highlighted; planning and strategy
to deploy their teams to best effect, coaching and mentoring
their reports and supporting the most important parts of the
actual sale (initial presentation and deal closure)
There are 4 steps to consider
1.Identify organisational expectations for your sales managers
i.e. what are the results, behaviours and values expected,
irrespective of whether they are sourced internally or
externally.
2.Develop a management pipeline process i.e. a way of
identifying potential managers
3.Create a learning pathway for aspiring sales managers (see
article on Learning Pathways in November 2004 issue of
Salesforce)
4.Create a learning and development culture within your
organisation though the provision of resources e.g coaching
programmes, to support aspiring managers, managers in transition
and aspiring senior managers or leaders. Make people accountable
for their own and their teams’ development
Step 4 is crucial to ongoing success. The creation of a learning
and development culture for all employees offers numerous
benefits
vEmployees feel they are cared for and supported
vEmployees can plan their own development and make appropriate
career choices
vLeaders can see their internal, growth potential and therefore
better plan the business strategy and resource needs
vLeaders can manage planned departures of key individuals and
know replacements are ready to go
>From a sales perspective the manager activity most closely
associated with sales team success is coaching. Sales teams that
report having 3 or more hours of coaching per month, achieve
107% of target. Sales teams that report having little or no
coaching under perform, reaching only 90-92% of target. Portrait
of a Star Sales Manager, Sales Executive Council 2004.
To summarise, successful sales executives do not automatically
make successful sales managers. The skills, behaviours and
values are different. Organisations must recognise this and
recruit, train and coach sales managers against different
criteria.
Sales managers play a vital role in the success of any
organisation. Do you want to leave the development and therefore
success of aspiring and new managers to some magical
transformation?
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