Top Sales Manager Blog

Do you remember Robert Goizueta? The “visual leader“?

Robert was a different breed of leader. He knew how to rally his troops into working together to achieve a singular vision. He had talent.

But Robert also had one thing in common with many of today’s successful sales managers – he always had a plan. Robert Goizueta recognized the power of good planning and modern sales managers must do the same.

Good sales planning is done before the call—not during and not afterward. Too many average sales managers show their faces during sales calls without a cohesive plan of their own in mind. They may figure that since they are believers in sales rep empowerment that the sales reps has it all taken care of everything.

Top students of sales management know that this is a recipe for disaster.

On the other hand, the top sales manager helps his people and empowers them collaborating with them before the big call, drawing on their own experiences, maybe telling the rep about past stories of success in similar situations, all the while ironing out a solid strategy for attack. If you empower your sales reps and don’t concern yourself with their plan, you’re making a big mistake. Empower, yes…but leave it all to them – no way!

Likewise, when spending time with a salesperson, you need to have prepared a concrete sales plan before the start of any coaching session. Maybe just jot down a few notes. I always keep a file of all the goings on of my reps and on the front of the cover of the file, I jot down five or six items I needs to discuss with them – be it immediate action items or coaching opportunities.

As a sales manager you should also do your homework before riding or spending time with the rep, gather some extensive knowledge of the account before attempting to teach any form of account strategy to your sales reps. You may have learned this knowledge either through experience or by analyzing the account beforehand. Different accounts demand different ways of thinking and means of approaching them. It is your responsibility as a sales manager to put down a plan on how you’re going to coach your sales reps and how you will both tackle the accounts assigned to them, as well as plan how the sales reps should react and handle every potential situation that might arise.

Without a sales plan, everything is fragile – one wrong move leads to another, like a stack of dominoes falling on top of each other. We all know we want our sales reps to be the last person surprised during a meeting with a client. Sales managers can avoid this by doing their homework ahead of time.

Sales planning skill is a game breaking factor for any sales manager striving to make his or her way to the top. Like Robert Goizueta, who formed his vision and unique style of coaching through careful planning of what steps he needed to take in order to empower his people to the next level.

As a sales manager, what are your plans?

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Filed under: Coaching, Leading, Motivation by ralphburns