OK, OK I give up! Here you go…think of it as a little “St. Paddy’s Day Gift” from us to you.

This is one of the introductory videos we have as a part of The Roadmap, our first “pre-course” which sets up the whole online program. As always, you can test drive The Sales Management Mastery Academy by clicking here

Enjoy!

“Once there was a bright young man who was looking for an effective manager…” and so begins this wonderful book.

The One Minute Manager basically boils down to three secrets to efficient and productive management – all easily applicable to the field of sales management. Like its name says, the book focuses on the importance of doing specific “one minute” tasks essential for motivating, leading and encouraging people to top performance. Many have written about these concepts being far too “simple” or “plain” and that they don’t easily translate well into the world of sales management today.

Rubbish!

The One Minute Manager is STILL one of the greatest books ever written and a personal favorite Top Sales Manager Blog.

Its like teaching someone to hit a baseball (which I’m now doing with my 7-year old son)…if you don’t do the basic stuff (keep your eye on the ball, hold the bat with two hands, watch the ball hit the bat, etc), I don’t care who you are…you will never hit home runs, let alone get on base.

The One Minute Manager brings sales management back to the basics…

So what makes the one minute manager so special? Read on.

The first secret is the one minute goals: This means setting up a meeting between the sales manager – you – and his or her employees, to make sure the goals are clear for both parties and how the sales manager and employees intend to achieve them. “One minute” means this is going to be a quick meeting. The aim is to confirm both short-term and long-term goals, as well as how each employee must to contribute to achieve those goals.

The second is the one minute praising: The one minute manager doesn’t hold back praise when talking to his or her people about their good performance. This is something we are all AWFUL at doing. It’s the real key to motivation, performance and excellent leadership. He does it simply: he praises them immediately and tells them exactly what they did right that deserved praising. Simple, basic, but hugely effective.

The third and last secret is the one minute reprimand: Honesty by praising is one thing, and honesty by reprimanding is another. The one minute manager doesn’t hesitate to reprimand immediately, pointing out specifically what went wrong so the employee has a clearer picture of what and what not to do next time around. This is then followed by reassurance to help the employee get back on track.

The One Minute Manager is a great read, whether you’ve been working as a professional sales manager for twenty years or simply just starting out. We all forget the basics. Books like this reinforce the most essential elements which are the essential skills necessary for top sales management.

Top Sales Manager Blog recommends it from cover to cover.

So read it, get it on audio book and use it daily. Get your copy here.  The concepts are so easy to incorporate into your sales management style it makes it almost TOO easy.

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get your choice of free sales management training courses.

Share your insights on The One Minute Manager by leaving a comment below this post.

But if you are always talking and never listening, then youre going to have a real hard time leading your sales team…because you’ll never know what really matters to them.

Being a great sales manager is more than just knowing to say the right things at the right time. It’s also knowing when the close your mouth and let the other person do the talking.

Simply put, a top sales manager asks more than tells, listens more than talks.

A top sales manager is first a listener, and then a speaker.

Average sales managers never know when to shut up. They speak their mind bluntly, thinking the best solution to every problem is to rush into it head-on. On the other hand, a top sales manager withholds his, or her, ideas and opinions—he or she will say it when the time is ripe. The top sales manager also recognizes that the solution must come from the sales person himself. The top sales manager is simply there to guide, not direct.

How do you do this? Simple. You ask questions that encourage awareness and self-assessment. Listen carefully to your sales reps’ feedback in order to gain a thorough understanding of their likes and dislikes, their strengths and their weaknesses. This sort of information is your trump card to great sales management.

Lastly a top sales manager isn’t afraid to ask for feedback on his or her own performance. We are all learning and growing in our respective careers, including you, the sales manager. You are not exempted from having to face your own strengths and weaknesses as a team leader. If you could make the time to listen to the problems of your sales reps, why not go all the way and ask their suggestions for coaching practices and ideas, as well as what they think of your performance as sales manager?

Remember, a top sales manager is a good speaker, but he is first and foremost a great listener.

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get your choice of free sales management training courses.

Share your thoughts on best sales management practices by leaving a comment after this post.

Just about a year ago the Jets offered Ryan the head coaching job in New York after an illustrious 10 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He’s been about as unconventional an NFL head coach as you could ever imaging since then, stirring the pot by stating that he “didn’t come into the league to kiss Bill Belichick‘s rings” not to mention many other colorful comments.

Unconventional most definitely, especially in the hot media glare of New York City.

And his unconventional leadership style is exactly why we like him so much.

Even though his team was eliminated by the might Indianapolis Colts this sunday, a sales manager can learn alot from him…and here’s why:

He supports his players: When the season appeared to be over, he announced the Jets were out of the playoff hunt, but weeks later, he declared they should be the Super Bowl favorite. And they came very close to getting there. He standsup for them in public…and criticizes them privately. A top sales manager could learn a few things form him here.

When quarterback Mark Sanchez was struggling mid-season after a brilliant rookie start, he would lean on Ryan dn ask him how these things could happen? After a storied career at USC, Sanchez had never dealt with this level of frustration or pain.

Ryan responded telling him, “This is what you signed up for. Its all right. Its going to get better. You’re working at it. You’re studying. You’re doing all the right things.” He was.

Then he started winning again…taking the Jets all the way to the AFC Championship.

He does not take himself too seriously: He oftentimes makes cracks about his large frame to take the attention away form them and put it on him, in a good way.

After a notorious defeat to the Jaguars in Week 13, Ryan held a team meeting and got so emotional he cried. When news reached the media, the next day Ryan brought a box of Kleenex to his next press conference.

He makes a connection with his players: It doesn’t matter if it the star rookie quarterback or the practice squad player, Ryan gets to know each player and makes a connection and a bond with them. Not matter how despaired the season got, Ryan always believed that each of his players would respond and turn things around. They did.

He has confidence in his players: He wears his emotions on his sleeve no doubt, but according to center Nick Mangold “He’s not afraid to put out what he thinks. His confidence in us, I think, is a big help to the guys in the locker room. When your coach has confidence in you, you want ot work that much harder to make sure that its not unfounded”.

He adapts a proven system and duplicates it in a  new environment: For 10 years he was the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. He helped to create a defensive scheme that consistently place them among the very best defensive teams in the NFL. He brought elements of that system to New York, which paid off with a berth in the game one step from the Super Bowl.

He tells the truth: Ryan’s players believe in him because he’s up front and honest with him. And when they trust you they follow you…

“At the end of the day, you just always want coaches that tell the truth” receiver Braylon Edwards said. “I mean, as players, that’s all we ever ask, is for Coach to protect me and always tell me the truth, and he’s that and more.”

As a sales manager, take few lessons from Coach Rex Ryan. Even if yours not leading your team to the Super Bowl, you can take a few of his techniques with you and hlep you become an NFL-caliber sales manager.

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get your choice of free sales management training courses.

Post a comment bleow and tell me how you lead your salespeople like Rex Ryan.

Do your best sales reps

They hate it!

In fact, they feel that it’s a sign of disrespect, as well as a complete lack of belief (yours) in their inherent abilities (which they feel are enormous).

There is a “real life” trick that you can use to turn even the harshest dissenters into followers by simply changing the way you deal with them. It doesn’t take much, all it takes is for you to release a little control and let them feel the excitement of being on the business end of some kind of relevant policy change…especially one that directly impacts them.

So here’s the trick…clue them in on the decision making process, get them to make the decision for you, and you’ll see the sparks start to fly. You’ll also start to lead a whole lot more effectively in all aspects of your position.

And once you start leading this way, you’ll notice your salespeople are far more engaged and tuned into whatever initiative or blitz you spearhead.

The bottom line is this: salespeople love to be included in on the decision making process. They like to be thought of as important instead of just anonymous cogs in the machinery…and who wouldn’t?

All you need to do is just respect your salesperson’s opinions and in the end, they’ll end up respecting yours. And when you really need them to do something for your, they will do it…without question.

OK, here’s a “real world” example from the last few weeks:

I was in a meeting to determine some new “policy” that would definitely affect my sales team. The wrong decision would crush one of my senior reps territory sales for the remainder of the year. However, if it went our way, it could help him to blow out quota for months and quarters to come.

The problem was that I actually had no earthly idea what the right answer should be…so I was kinda freaking out. Worse yet, I could see that my turn was coming up soon…so I had to render an real opinion. Worse yet, my opinion could conceivably swing the vote…and I knew it.

So surreptitiously, (under the conference table so nobody would see), I text messaged my senior sales rep who would be most affected by the decision as to what they would do (knowing full well that he’s hyper-responsive and would immediately text me back).

Sure enough, (and lucky for me) I got my answer in under a minute, seemingly effortlessly relayed it to the group (as if I had known the answer for a milenium) and the decision was made…in my (and our) favor.

I called my sales rep after the meeting and told him the decision. He was thrilled. I actually think he was even more thrilled that I had asked him his opinion in a time of crisis (although I didn’t really tell him I was panicked – although I think he figured it out).

THAT is leadership. Unassuming. Transparent. Non-egotistical. Unconventional. Panicked in a time of need, yes.

However, real leadership that works.

The irony is, the more REAL you are, the better leader you become….

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get your choice of free sales management training courses.

Post a comment and tell me how you lead your salespeople in times of panic.

If you work in sales, you’ve probably heard someone use the word in conversation a couple of times. Maybe you’ve even worked for one in the past. In any case, the term “seagull” in sales doesn’t imply anything good.

A “Seagull Sales Manager” is a sales manager who rarely interacts with his sales reps and the people that work under him.

He’s around. He’s in the office. He’s in his chair. But he simply isn’t there.

In times of crisis, when the situation calls for it, he’d swoop down, dump on every one of his sales reps, who’d just realized they had a sales manager in the office, and then fly away again. Seagulls do that; sales managers should not. Now you know what Michael Madison was trying to get across when he coined the term back in ‘88.

One look at the definition should tell you it isn’t the kind of leadership we advocate at TopSalesManagerBlog. Seagull sales managers aren’t welcome here.

We understand. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep your feet on the ground especially when there’s too much stress coming in from all directions. The wave of problems flowing in is overwhelming, and no one – not even you – could come up with a half-decent solution.

But here is the thing: a true sales manager doesn’t fold. Instead he or she sees it as an opportunity to take center stage.

Step up when everyone else is stepping down. Open your shop when everyone else is closing down theirs.

You need to get this in your psyche, and then you need to carve it into the minds of your sales reps. Times are bad. What they need now is a leader they can count on. You could either play seagull sales manager and dump on them, or you could ELEVATE them by teaching them to act their best when everything else is at its worst.

This is “the crucible” of sales management.

Don’t be a “seagull”. Teach them the true value of work by doing a good job with yours—that is, by establishing a connection with your sales people.

Get off your comfortable office chair and show your face from behind the computer. Know your sales people on a personal level. Ken Blanchard called it “Management By Walking Around”. We here at TopSalesManagerBlog call it “the only way to be an effective sales manager.”

So whatever you do, stay away from the seagulls.

To learn more about sales management, click here to get your choice of free sales management training courses.

Post a comment to this blog and tell me how you make a connection with your sales people.