The Toughest Sales Management Role

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Sales managers play many roles, but there is one that challenges them the most. Listen to this episode of “The Sales Management Minute” to learn the toughest sales management role and how to overcome success obstacles.

One of my favorite hobbies is managing my son’s Little League team. These 9-year olds play their hearts out on the field. But, they are also still learning the game. Balls go through their legs. They run when they aren’t supposed to. And, they swing and miss often. Gosh, I just want to go out there and do it for them!

As a sales manager, you probably feel this way almost every day. You enjoyed a great career as a salesperson which led to your being promoted to sales manager. When you go on sales calls with your reps and see the ball going through their legs, you want to dive and save the play for them, but you can’t always do that.

There are different types of coaching calls and if this is one where your role is to observe and provide feedback after the call, you are experiencing the toughest part of being the sales manager. With the 9-year olds, the restraint is easy because they won’t let me on the field. As a sales manager, sometimes you have to bite your tongue and wait until the game is over to provide the coaching that helps your salespeople improve.

See you next time on the Sales Management Minute.

AUTHOR: LEE B. SALZ

Lee B. Salz is a leading sales management strategist specializing in helping companies build scalable, high-performance sales organizations through hiring the right salespeople, effectively onboarding them, and aligning their sales activities with business objectives through process, metrics and compensation. He is the Founder and CEO of Sales Architects, Business Expert Webinars and The Revenue Accelerator. Lee has authored several books including award-winning, best-seller “Hire Right, Higher Profits.” He is a results-driven sales management consultant and a passionate, dynamic speaker . Lee can be reached at lsalz@SalesArchitects.net or 763.416.4321.