Congratulations! You were a top salesperson. Now, you’re a newly appointed sales leader. The good news is you have the pivotal job for improving the sales effectiveness of your organization. The bad news is that many perils and pitfalls are lurking in the shadows.
Let’s take a look at seven ways for making the transition from salesperson to sales leader a little bit easier.
Don’t assume what worked for you will work for your sales team. An important first step is to develop an understanding of the performance profile of your sales team. Coaching them to be better at what they do is more about their strengths and weaknesses than it is about what you do well.
Protect your team from “administrivia.” Be a filter, not a funnel for your sales team. Although this is particularly tough when you are a new sales manager, it’s a big deal. If you can provide your sales team with more time to work with customers and not on paper work, you can make a big difference quickly.
Remember, you are now a sales leader. One of the most frequent comments we hear from salespeople about new sales leaders is that they adopt the role of super-salesperson. Selling is what your sales team does. You need to lead your sales team; it’s more than a full time job. Don’t hold on to your old accounts – transition them to your salespeople. From a selling perspective, go on sales calls only when a leadership presence is needed and when you can help build the credibility of your salespeople. Or, go on sales calls when the purpose is sales coaching. And speaking of sales coaching, try to maximize coaching time.
Be careful with off-the-cuff comments. As a sales leader, off-the-cuff comments have a different impact than when you make them as a salesperson. You are now part of management, and what you say takes on added weight and importance.
It’s more about strategy than tactics. As a salesperson, you knew “everything” about your accounts. As a sales leader, you’ll be working with your sales team on accounts where you won’t know everything. As a sales leader, you need to leverage your experience, ask the right questions, and help them anticipate the unexpected and to assess the alternatives and options. It’s about strategy.
Don’t forget motivation is now part of the job. When you were a salesperson, motivation was primarily about knowing yourself – that is no longer the case. You need to know the art and science of motivation. Are there age cohort and gender differences? What is the role of nonfinancial rewards? How do you motivate the high-performer versus the underachiever? Fortunately, this is all written down, and there are others you can go to for help.
Understand and leverage institutional resources. In complex sales, the sales team cannot do it alone – they need to leverage other institutional resources. Your job is to develop the relationships and political awareness to make that happen.
Become an advocate for personal development. Today, salespeople need to know more at a higher level of proficiency than ever before. That can’t happen without a serious commitment and investment in training and development by the leadership. Sales leaders need to help define what that training looks like and be an advocate for making it happen.
Being a sales leader is a challenging job with high expectations, so invest the time to get the right start.