| I was in the depths of a major depression.
As a third year salesperson with a good company, I was doing well, and was on my way to
becoming the top salesperson in the nation for that company. But business had slowed down
a little, and I didn't have my usual number of proposals out for consideration. So, I
wasn't as busy as usual. As my activity slowed, I began to worry. My doubts increased to
the point where I had thought myself into a real depression, stuck on the question of
"What's the use of trying?" The more negative my thoughts became, the less
energy I had. My lack of energy led to fewer and fewer sales calls, which of course, led
to less activity. And that led to more depressing thoughts. I was caught in a powerful
downward spiral.
It was then that I caught a glimpse of what a professional
sales manager is like.
Ned was my boss -- a sales manager of the highest caliber.
He could see the symptoms of my sour state spilling over into everything I was doing. So
Ned intervened. He arranged to have lunch with me, and listened patiently as I rambled on
and on about my problems, my doubts, and my lack of activity. Finally, after I had dumped
all my depression and negative thoughts on him, he looked me straight in the eye and said,
with all the authority and resolve of someone who is absolutely sure of what they are
saying, "Kahle, that's enough."
I was stunned. I was expecting empathy, an understanding
shoulder to cry on. Instead, I got a simple, straightforward mandate. Ned knew me well
enough to cut through all the fluff and come right to the heart of the matter. He said,
"That's enough. That's enough feeling sorry for yourself. That's enough thinking all
these negative thoughts. That's enough sitting back and not working as hard as you're used
to. Stop it. You're better than all this. Stop it right now, today, and get your .....
back to work."
He saw my situation clearly. And he provided me the
direction I needed. That conversation turned me around. I left my depression and
negativity at that lunch table, and started back into my job with a renewed sense of the
possible. A year later I was the number one salesperson in the nation for that company.
What made the difference in my performance was the skillful
intervention of an astute and professional sales manager. He made the difference in my job
performance, and that made a difference in my standing with that company. And that made a
difference in my career. And that lead me to my current practice. It's entirely possible
that I would not be doing what I do now, speaking and consulting with sales forces around
the world, if it weren't for his timely intervention.
All of us have become what we are, at least in part, due to
the impact other people have had on us. A professional sales manager is gifted with a rare
and precious opportunity -- the opportunity to play a pivotal role in the lives of his/her
charges. I so value the role that Ned played in my career, that the last paragraph on the
"Acknowledgment" page of my first book reads, "Finally, I must make
special, post-humus acknowledgement of the contribution made by Ned Shaheen, the best
manager I ever worked for. It was Ned who, years ago, urged me to 'write the
book...'"
So what does this have to do with being a
"Professional Sales Manager?" During my 30 + years of sales experience and 16
years of experience as a sales consultant and sales trainer, I've encountered many sales
managers. Some of have been good, many mediocre. But Ned was the best sales manager I ever
met. He serves as a model for me. We can learn a number of lessons from him.
First, Ned knew the difference between the job of a
salesperson and that of a sales manager. He had been a great salesperson -- like many
sales managers around the world -- and had been promoted to sales manager. Yet he knew the
jobs of sales manager and salesperson are completely different. A salesperson is
responsible for building accounts and making sales. A sales manager, while ultimately
responsible for the same results, understands that his/her job is to achieve those means
through other people. A sales manager builds people, who in turn build the business.
Salespeople focus on selling; sales managers focus on building salespeople.
As a sales person, I could comfortably take Ned into any
account, secure in the knowledge that he wouldn't try to take over the presentation or
usurp my relationship with the customer. I knew Ned was more concerned with me than he was
about any one sale.
Ned knew that a salesperson was essentially a loaner, an
individual who did most of his/her most important work by themselves, while a sales
manager was a coach, whose only success derived from the success of his team. A sales
manager's best work is always done, not with the customers, but with the people he/she
supervises.
Ultimately, a sales manager is measured by the results
achieved by his people. Sales, gross profits, market share, key product selling, -- all
these typical measurements of sales performance are also one of the rulers by which a
sales manager is measured.
So, an excellent sales manager, like a great soccer coach,
is ultimately measured by his numbers. It doesn't matter how empathetic he is, nor how his
players respect or like him, if year after year he produces a losing team. So it is with a
sales manager. Ultimately, an excellent sales manager produces excellent numbers for his
company.
In the five years that I worked for Ned, my own territory
grew by $1 million a year, and the branch for which he was responsible grew from about $6
million to about $30 million.
Ned was excellent at one of the key competencies of the
professional sales manager -- he had an eye for talent. He knew how to hire good people.
After all, he hired me! Over the years, I watched him take his time, allowing a sales
territory to go vacant for months, if necessary, while he waited for the right person to
bubble up through his pipeline. Only one of his hires didn't work out -- which gave him an
incredible winning percentage.
A professional sales manager understands the importance of
making the right hire, is always recruiting in order to keep the pipeline of prospective
salespeople full, and spares no expense to make sure the person he hires meets all the
necessary criteria. When I was hired, I went through four interviews, and a full 10-hour
day of tests with an industrial psychologist.
With all the time he took to make sure he was hiring the
right person, Ned confided in me one day that, "It is more important to fire well
then it is to hire well." He went on to explain that hiring sales people is an
extremely difficult task, and that even the best sales managers fail at it frequently.
Therefore, it was important to recognize your mistake quickly, and act decisively to fix
it.
A professional sales manager, then, understands that when
it is clear that a salesperson is not right for the job, he acts quickly, kindly, and
decisively to terminate the individual, allowing both the individual and the company an
opportunity to find a better match. Acting quickly to terminate a salesperson who isn't
working out is both good business as well as good ethics. To allow a mediocre situation to
fester to the detriment of the company, the salesperson, and the customers is to persist
in a dishonesty.
Understanding that he works only through his sales people,
and that he has the opportunity to make a great impact on his people, a professional sales
manager makes it his business to know his people. Ned spent days with me in the field,
talking not only about business, but also working at understanding the person I was as
well. He'd arrange to meet me for breakfast or lunch regularly, even if he weren't
spending the day with me. He wanted to get to know my wife as well, and paid close
attention to her opinions. Several times over the five years we went to dinner as a
foursome.
I could never stop in the office without being expected to
sit in his office and talk about things. And, of course, there was the annual pig roast at
his house, where all his salespeople and their families were invited to spend a fun day
while the pig roasted over the spit. I was always a person to Ned, never just a
"salesperson."
Because he took the time to get to know me, he was equipped
with the knowledge of exactly how to best manage me. And he always saw the potential in
me, and was ready to correct me when necessary. In the first year of my employment, I was
earning the reputation among the inside customer support and purchasing people of being
difficult and demanding. I was a hot-shot superstar who didn't take their feelings into
consideration, and came into the office and dumped work on them. Ned let me know that my
ways needed to change. At first, I didn't pay much attention. My numbers were too good for
anybody to be concerned. So Ned let me know a second time that I was going to have to
change. The situation was so acute, that the operations manager was lobbying to get me
fired! Guided by his firm hand, I swallowed my pride, adopted a more humble attitude, and
bought all the customer service reps a six pack of premium beer as a gift. My stock inside
the company spring up dramatically, my ways corrected, and my future assured.
A professional sales manager guides and corrects his
charges in order to help them achieve their potential.
Ned never stopped learning. He would often tell me about
seminars he'd attended, books he'd read, or ideas he'd picked up by talking with other
people. He knew that he never "knew it all." So it is with every professional
sales manager. A real professional never stops learning. He understands that the world is
changing rapidly, continually demanding new skills, new ideas, and new competencies from
him. At the same time, his salespeople and their customers are changing also. So, he
understands that he has a challenge to continuously grow and improve, to learn more and
become better at his job. Sales management isn't just a job, it's a challenge of a
lifetime of improvement.
One more observation. Understanding that a professional
sales manager is only successful when his charges are successful, an excellent sales
manager supports, encourages and gives his sales people the credit.
It was the fourth year of my tenure, and Ned was lobbying
for me to be awarded the "Salesperson of the year" award. It was given not only
for sales performance, but for more subjective things - supporting the company's
objectives and ethics, getting along with other people in the company, etc. The award was
a great honor, and extremely difficult to win. Each sales manager nominated their favorite
salesperson, and lobbied for one of their charges with the company's executives, who made
the final choice.
The annual awards banquet was held at an exclusive country
club, where the men wore tuxedos and the women formal evening gowns. When dinner was done,
the speeches were finished and the lesser awards announced, it came time for the big one,
the one I wanted.
The climate was tense and expectant. The entire room silent
as the time approached for the announcement. Then, as the company president announced my
name, it was Ned who thrust his fist in the air and shouted "YES!"
The photograph that hangs on my bedroom wall shows me
shaking hands with the president and accepting the award. Look carefully and you'll see
Ned standing proudly in the background.
There is a song that I find particularly moving. Perhaps
you know the words made popular by Bette Midler. It goes like this,
"It must have been lonely there in my shadow...
Without the sun upon your face I was the one with all the glory You were the one with all
the strength.
I can fly higher than an eagle Because you are the wind
beneath my wings."
Want to excel as a sales manger? Want to be a true
professional? Look at your job as a unique opportunity to impact others, to select,
correct, support and encourage your salespeople, to achieve your company's objectives by
become a positive force in their lives. It's not a job, it's a mission. Be the wind
beneath their wings.
And perhaps, one day, fifteen years from now, someone will
write about you.
Copyright © 2005 Dave Kahle |
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