SIX KEYS FOR CAREER GROWTH :
FROM SALES FRONTLINER TO NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
KEY ONE; BELEIVE IN YOURSELF
The Self Doubter: A sales rep that sees and believes
everything they do is wrong.
These frontliner are extremely
challenging to coach. If you provide direct feedback it may be met with “I already
do
that” or reasons why
they don’t. The Self Doubter
perceives any critiquing as weakness and personalizes it
as confirmation that they are
doing a horrible
job!
The trick with this type of individual is
to
lead them
through a process of self-discovery
and
improvement. By asking them a series of questions you can guide
them through a process of self-awareness that will lead
to an “ah ha” moment. This breakthrough may seem
labour-intensive, but the payback is a stronger rep and increased performance.
KEY TWO: Proactively Manage your Boss
Your boss
is no
different than you. All bosses want to know two
things: one, that you know what your issues
are and, two, that you are doing something about them. Put yourself in your
boss’s shoes. S/he has enough to worry about. If your boss is spending time wondering
what you are doing about your issues than they are really questioning
whether
you are effectively doing
your
job.
Before your boss figures out your
issues,
communicate and demonstrate
that you have
a plan to proactively
address them yourself. Remember, the best defence is an offence.
KEY THREE: Manage
Your
Own
Motivation
Welcome
to
management.
As a rep
you
lived in a highly
supportive environment. In management the
environment is less supportive and filled with stress. It
is incumbent on you to stay inspired so you can inspire
your sales people. The word inspiration comes from
the
Latin word “spiarae” which means to breathe, to
live. I
have found
that there are many ways to
keep
oneself motivated. You can read a leadership book or take a leadership course. Make sure you take care
of yourself, take
mental health days, exercise and eat
well.
Regardless which options you choose, it is essential that
you stay inspired because your people
need your energy as a source of
motivation.
KEY FOUR : LET YOUR ATTITUDE
LEAD YOU
OK, you have two candidates that you really
like.
One
knows the products,
customers and the industry. The other candidate is passionate,
driven and eager to prove them selves. The easy answer for a busy manager is to hire
the
sales rep that comes with all the experience. But have you thought about
what else they bring
to the
table? Have you considered the infamous industry baggage?
The experienced rep may be easier on the manager for
the first 6 months whereas the driven rep will have
a slower start, but in 6 months he/she will likely
have
achieved better sales. Hire attitude over aptitude!
KEY FIVE : COMMIT AND SWEAR BY YOUR PERSONAL GOALS
To increase the chance that your sales frontliner will achieve a goal they
have set for themselves it is critical to have
them commit their plan to paper, write it down! When
people put pen to paper it has two key benefits. Firstly,
they have thought out what specific activities/steps they
need to do to achieve their goal(s) and secondly
the
process of
writing crystallizes in the
brain what they
intend to do.
This speaks to commitment. With
a
written commitment the sales rep takes ownership of
the
outcome.
KEY SIX: SHARPEN YOU SELLING TECHNQIUES AFTER EVERY SALES CALL
Time and time again I have seen it. Sales frontliner going through their daily activities
like robots.
They have little impact on each call, they just show up and expect the business. I call this “failure to impact syndrome.” It is contagious and can spread throughout an entire sales force. It works as long as the business grows. Everyone gets high fives and there is
no
need to dig any deeper.But what happens when sales are
down and senior
management starts asking questions?
Sales managers struggle to come up with the answers and frontliner
get nervous.The cure: Get out in the field and inspire your frontliner to be innovative.SO IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS EVERY SALES MANAGER IS A SALES COACH
