My team and I, were recently talking about the worst sales managers we had come across. There was common theme that bad managers tended to turn up to teams with the following comment "I've used this process for the last 20 years and so I will use this process in my new role".
There was then a list of things that the new sales manager had implemented, that had (most likely) made no difference.
The new CRM
The new forecasting spreadsheet
The spreadsheet that gave a number of appointments you had made - process
The Monday morning, 08:00 AM in the office meeting (with no Vegetarian options)
Wearing suits and ties
No working at home
The list goes on, they are all crutches and things that will make little or no difference. What it will do is "smoke" out the people who want to leave, so the new manager can pull in his new people.
And we all know that the world of sales and marketing has changed. We all use the internet, social media and our mobile and so do our buyers.
New Sales Managers need to create an environment that salespeople will thrive in the world of the new buyer. We might not like the fact that our buyers are using the internet, social media and mobile, but it's a matter of fact. Of course there are people that will tell you that nothing has changed, ironically, they will do this on social media. If nothing had changed, surely that would phone you up to tell you, and that is the sales truth!
As sales leaders we need to now construct prospecting methodologies in this new world, using the tools, the people and the processes that we have around us. And of course, you have two choices to build this yourself or buy in the expertise.
The critical elements is not to buy quick fixes, as they don't work. Neither does a tool save you. A fool with a tool, is still a fool, after all.
Prospecting is a programmatic methodology and you need to look for a program that will:-
Get you inbound
Provides mindset change
Provides habit change
otherwise everybody will go back to the processes and methods that didn't work before.
The world has changed, and we have to change with it. Sales has always changed and for our clients we are also agents of change, so grasping and changing and not doing what we did twenty years ago should be a "no brainer".
It's time to challenge ourselves and our teams!
Are you a new sales manager, or have you just been promoted into a sales manager role? The odds of failure are high! I am going to share the number one reason why new sales managers fail. Time and time again companies promote their best sales reps into managerial roles. Heads of sales feel that they owe it to their best salespeople to give them an opportunity to advance. Conversely, top salespeople think that they would make great managers because of their success in sales. It makes sense, but the reality is different. We have seen this in the business where companies lose twice when they make that decision. They lose their best sales rep, and they negatively impact the sales team.
