What are the different roles we play as sales managers? Is it more than just writing performance reviews and holding the sales team members to quotas and metrics? Is it signing off on expense reports? Giving the CEO forecasts? What does it mean to be a leader in the sales manager role?
I’ve come to discover four leadership roles for sales managers:
- Instructional
- Supportive developmental process or coaching
- Mentoring
- Employee oversight
So, what is involved in the instructional leadership role? Imagine you’ve completed the salesperson interview process, hired him or her, and they are coming to work for the first day. The HR folks are done with him/her and you are now with your new salesperson. You show him/her to his/her desk, phone and computer, and say, “Check in with me at the end of the week.” As the Sales Manager, have you done any on-boarding, explained basic product/service knowledge or shared best job practices? In the following months, have you challenged your new salesperson to improve sales process skills, or product/service sophistication; trained you new person to function in other company core divisions, or have them focused on improving performance problems? This is how you lead.
Leading by coaching is more straightforward. You teach, rehearse, perform and review a competency until it is second nature to the salesperson. With continued reinforcement and praise, you set the expectation for behaviors and success. Your investment of time, skill and knowledge is how you lead.
Mentoring is a leadership role that is borne out over time. It evolves a history of work task success, a positive cultural opinion from peers and superiors, and a willingness to share insights and time with a less proven newcomer to the company. Not only are you leading by sharing knowledge, but also giving back to a junior member of the company that probably will not move your career aspirations forward. This is very much an altruistic leadership role. In terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy, you are at the top.
Finally, the role of oversight (supervising) rounds out the sales management leadership model. Expense reports, call schedules, accountability to metrics/quotas, performance reviews, leading sales meetings all contribute to the daily touches you have to your individual salespeople. Do you lead by heavy-handed tactics or through measured nurturing? How you guide and cajole your individual team members is how you demonstrate your leadership.
Dave Harman is an associate with Sandler Training. He has over 30 years’ experience in sales and sales management with Fortune 500 companies as well as small, family-owned organizations. He has held positions from sales to senior management with companies such as Conoco/Vista, Amresco and Ohio Awning, and owns his own business. He earned his MBA with a concentration in Marketing from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. You can reach him at [email protected] or (888) 448-2030.
