Sales managers are far too deferential, way to easygoing.
Let me rephrase that, if I may.
Many of them, despite their tough, take-no-prisoners auras, are wimps.
They're afraid to MAKE their people make sales.
Sales, generally speaking, don't happen by themselves. They're not received, or accepted, or handled, or experienced.
They're MADE.
Like transforming coal into diamonds, salespeople require pressure to become wealth producing.
Either salespeople pressure themselves, or managers pressure them, or both.
But left alone, like most things in nature, salespeople die on the vine, wither, and shrink from view.
It is the role of the sales manager to prevent that, to struggle against inertia to make people do unnatural things.
Sleeping late; that's natural. Blowing off otherwise good leads because of laziness or poor work habits—that's natural, too.
Never giving up, creating something out of nothing, making people say yes when their natural tendency is to say no; these things, are UNNATURAL, BUT NECESSARY.
A sales manager that is reluctant to get into his people's faces like Coach Bobby Knight used to invade the space of his privileged players; is a wimp.
A sales manager's goal is not popularity, but productivity.
Get into your people's faces, today, and don't let up.
Like a strict teacher who is ridiculed today, everyone will thank you tomorrow.
Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 800 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered a foremost expert in telephone effectiveness, customer service, and sales development. A top-rated speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com. |
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