3 Characteristics That Make a Quality Sales Manager

Sales force performance depends directly on the quality of management, yet frequently sales managers are promoted from within the sales force rather than honing their managerial skills in more junior supervisory positions and then being promoted into a more senior management position. So why should people who have not managed anyone before be promoted to what is often considered by management training experts to be the toughest of all managerial assignments?

Often such promotions are because the person has an outstanding track record of success in selling. It is therefore assumed that such top quality sales people will automatically make top quality sales managers. Unfortunately, this is rarely true because the characteristics that are needed to be successful in a sales leadership position are very different to those needed to be a super star sales person.

There are three essential characteristics that the newly promoted sales manager needs to demonstrate and which will help them lead their sales team to success. 

The first characteristic is the ability to enjoy the success of others. This characteristic is almost the opposite of what a good sales person does - which is to enjoy and be motivated by their own successes. The reason why this characteristic is important is because management is about achieving results through others, and if you take the credit for what your sales team achieves you will very quickly end up with an unhappy and demotivated sales force.

The second characteristic is to have more of a hands-off than a hands-on approach to selling. This is also contrary to the natural inclinations of the successful sales person - who tend to be what is known as an activist in nature and so prefer to get stuck in and do everything themselves. Good sales managers do need to control the sales operation, but they need to do so without constantly interfering in the accounts managed by their own good sales people. Again, if you get this wrong you will demotivate your top performers and sales performance will drop.

To achieve control in a hands-off fashion requires you to know how to set up and run an effective sales reporting and information system. An effective information system will allow you to be hands-off whilst still being in touch with what is going on, and so in a position to address any sales performance issues in a timely and appropriate manner.

Associated with being hands-off is the ability to delegate. Because this is a skill not used by sales people, newly promoted sales managers should receive some basic management training to show them how to delegate effectively, so achieving the right level of monitoring and control.

The third, and final, characteristic is the ability to motivate and inspire others. The inexperienced sales manager often assumes that providing good extrinsic rewards, such as a bonus system, are all that is required to motivate the people in their team. This is simply not true, as anyone who has attended a sales management training course will testify, as motivation is a combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. The motivational manager balances providing personal support with the challenges faced by their team to create a motivational, high performance environment.

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By Richard A Stone

Richard Stone ( richard.stone@spearhead-training.co.uk) is a Director for Spearhead Training Limited ( http://www.spearhead-training.co.uk/ ) a company that specialises in running management and sales training courses. Richard provides consultancy advice for numerous world leading companies.

B2B Telemarketing Vs B2C Telemarketing

What is the difference between B2B telemarketing & B2C telemarketing?

There are two types of telemarketing services, B2B telemarketing (Business to Business) and B2C telemarketing (Business to Consumer). Here is a brief summary of the similarities and differences between the two types of telemarketing.

The commonalities

First, the responsiveness of a potential customer is proportional to the confidence he has to you or the company you represent. It is therefore very important to maintain your credibility and continually reinforced. It is also of great importance to have a customer service outstanding. Moreover, it is critical to create and maintain a relationship with a potential customer. This maintains the confidence he has in you. All this applies to both B2B and B2C.

More differences than similarities

The term B2B telemarketing is on everyone's lips. When we make B2B calls, we make more use of the rational part of our potential customer. He will think long before going ahead with our offer. It will take time to plan everything. The sale process is long term. When we conduct B2C, it's more the emotional side of our interlocutor who is arrested. It will react according to its immediate need. So the sales process in this case is short.

B2B requires greater experience and rigorous, simply because customers have not asked the same language as B2C. These are decision makers and their decisions can change many things within a company. While B2C, decisions are important for the individual, but buying a sweeper will not change completely the life of our interlocutor. That is why the B2C requires no experience.

Which of the two types of telemarketing is more profitable? It depends on your vision, short or long term. It is therefore clear that in the short term, B2C telemarketing is more profitable, since the decisions of potential customers are made quickly. By cons, long term, it is more profitable to do B2B telemarketing. Even during a temporary promotion, B2B telemarketing is through the good help to be expected.

A disadvantage of B2B is that the number of prospects is limited. There are fewer companies than individuals. It is therefore very well target the markets you want to develop.

Side longevity of customer relations, it is clear that B2B relationships will last much longer. The reason why this relationship is longer in time is that initially the cost of the product or service provided is much higher than B2C.

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By David J.A. Evans

David, for more than 10 years in sales and marketing positions in the IT industry. And if you are looking for telemarketing support - we will be happy to hear!

How to Manage Your Sales Effectively in 2009!

2009 is undoubtedly going to be one of the hardest years for many businesses. But with a lull in sales, take the time to ensure your company and your employees are working efficiently and to maximum capability.

Workflow at its simplest is the movement of documents and/or tasks through a work process. More specifically, workflow is the operational aspect of: how tasks are structured, who performs them, what their relative order is, how information flows to support the tasks and how tasks are being tracked.

Making Workflow a success for you...

For successful workflow management to be carried out, you must first understand the underlying processes that make up workflow.

Best Practice Management - Measure and improve your business processes

Sales Team Management - Manage your sales team for profit and success

Automated Documentation - Reduce administrative time and errors through automation

Each component plays a vital part in the smooth running of your business and the efficiency of your staff. When you have every aspect of your business processes up to scratch and working in harmony together, you can expect your customer service to be unbeatable, your profits increase and your customers happy!

Workflow is an integral part of making your business more efficient. There are automated systems available to you on the market which will have tools designed to assist you with the successful management of your sales. Automation technologies are some of the most important timesaving strategies for both your salespeople and managers, they promote a best practice approach outlining a precise definition of what ought to be done, how, when and by whom.

With the help of a software solution to provide the best workflow for your business, you can't fail to see your profits rise and your business become more efficient. So what now?

Research! The internet will help you find a software solution perfect for you and your business and some companies off free demonstrations of how their product will fit your business. Take advantage of these free web demos and you can see for yourself the benefits Workflow will bring to your company.

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By Virginia Hull

Virginia Hull is an employee of Sawfish software and specialises in Workflow solutions.

Writing A Winning Business Plan

First - stop thinking like a business owner. I know, you might think this is odd. However, the reason most business owners don't write a business plan is because they are too close to their challenges and can't decide what they need to do. Stepping out of character will help you see the big picture and the little details so you can focus on what to do.

Since this was written during championship football season, I want you to assume the role of a winning college or professional sports coach. It doesn't matter if you are a woman or a man for this job. The goal will be the same. You will want to prepare your team to win the championship game by as many points as possible. If you have trouble with football, pick any team sport and the concept will work. The idea is to get into the character of a winning coach to help you create a plan.

Think like 60 Minutes is all You Have

A football game is divided up like a business year. There are four quarters and two minute warnings you must plan for. You will need plays and actions for kicking things off, receiving special team opportunities and think offense and defense to win.

Understand You and Your Opponent

Winning coaches invest time to research opponents and you need to determine both your strengths and weaknesses. If you don't take time for this, you will get clobbered by the other teams. Use this research and analysis to formulate your complete game strategies and special plays.

Plan For Special Plays

Every team will need specials plays to kick off, receive, punt, and defend the red zone and two minute warning. These are special opportunities you have in the year from new equipment, vendor specials, trade shows or open houses you can plan for.

The Offensive Game Plays

You will need a list of offensive running and passing plays to execute during the game. These are easy to think about and you must plan for them.

• Action plans to start a new business relationship and move forward.
• Actions to build a stronger customer base.
• Actions to generate referrals for new clients from existing ones.
• Open house and networking actions you will execute for new business.

The Defensive Plays

You will need a list of defensive plays that protect your accounts and seize opportunities. These could include a blitz or a pass rush that capitalizes on an opportunity.

• Action plans that develop satisfied clients and builds strong relationships.
• Surveys that will help determine if you have new opportunities or lost business.
• Monitor and track competitive actions that may impact your current business.
• If you can, have contingency plans for injuries, bad calls and penalties in the game.

I hope you see the advantage of planning from a different perspective to make your sales plan fun and much easier to write. Your business plan doesn't have to be 20 pages long. You need a single sheet that covers the actions you will take to win the game in your business. When you finish writing your business plan, it should be on a 12 month calendar with goals and objectives for each quarter.

A complete game plan makes it easier to adjust actions during the game and in your case, the business year so you can motivate your team throughout the year. If you need help with your plan, I suggest you take time to watch a championship game. Think of it as research. You will be done with your sales plan sooner than you think and it will be fun.

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By Steve Martinez

3 Tips to Help You Sell Your Fashion Company

And you thought the decision to open a business was difficult?
While many believe that selling a company is an even more difficult decision, it doesn't have to be. In fact, it can be a very rewarding one that creates great value or opportunity for a fashion business owner.
1. START PLANNING BEFORE YOU OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Know this: the fashion M&A industry is very robust one today. Apparel and accessory companies of all shapes and sizes, and all across the globe are looking to buy, sell, or merge with other fashion or related businesses.
For this reason, a smart business owner should enter into its market prepared for the possibility of acquiring another company or building a brand that can then be sold.
Failing to plan an exit strategy is a common one. After all, how many people go into business planning to get out of one? (In truth, there are people who build businesses with that exact plan in mind -- create value and sell at a large profit).
Similar to buying a stock, it pays to have an idea as to when you will sell, or how you move towards building a brand that is at least "sale-able" so that you have options available to you as you build your business.
2. CONSULT AN EXPERT ...IN YOUR NICHE!
Selling a restaurant is a different animal than selling a fashion company. As you research options for selling or merging your company, look for experts who have experience in your particular field.
Their understanding of the current industry outlook and how to facilitate valuing your business (and building value) can have a substantial effect on the final deal value. Moreover, a fashion M&A advisor's contact base with fashion companies, bankers and investors interested in the fashion and accessory niche, and other industry professionals can be a great asset that non-specialized M&A companies cannot offer.
"This is a highly active period for fashion M&A, with many businesses looking for strategic partners and others seeking acquisitions at rational prices," notes Jack Hendler, President of Net Worth Solutions, Inc, a New York-based M&A advisory services firm. "There is a great deal of potential in the current market, but companies need all the information they can gather to make insightful decisions that will enhance their long-term profitability."
3. TIMING IS EVERYTHING, SO BE PREPARED
An ancient proverb says, "All roads lead to Rome," meaning all paths or activities lead to the center of things. If you plan ahead from the start, the decision to sell your company will be easier because the process will not be foreign to you. This hold especially true if you are entering into a business with partners, an even more when those partners are close friends or family.
While it's impossible to define a perfect time to sell your fashion business -- since it does depend on economic and personal factor -- knowing your options and having an understanding of what drives the fashion M&A market, will reduce surprises, simplify the process of finding a target, and creating overall great value.

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By Matt Kaden
Matt Kaden is an Associate Director for Net Worth Solutions, Inc (NeWS), a specialized M&A advisory and investment banking firm focusing on retail mergers and acquisitions, including apparel, accessory, consumer products and fashion M&A. For more information and a list of past clients visit http://www.NetWorthSolutionsInc.com

Sales Performance Improvement

Each year companies need to improve their performance in sales not only because of cost pressures but more importantly because they will lose between 5-20% of their customer base each year. This means that in 3 years they will be less than half the size they are now if they do nothing else!
Due largely to companies going into receivership, mergers and takeovers or exit, it is nonetheless a critical factor in the success or otherwise of any business. Just to stand still every company needs to find more business from existing customers as well as finding new ones. The need to improve sales performance is self evident.
Under these circumstances most business owners exhort their sales staff to work harder as if somehow doing more of the same thing will result in better figures when doing more of the same thing brings in more of the same results. It is important to recognise the need to work smarter and not necessarily harder.
So how can we bring about these "smarter" results?
There are a number of areas that can be considered in improving sales performance, not all of them may apply to your situation.
Focus Are your sales staff focusing on the right customers with the right products? Do they assess customers and prospects potential? Or do they just rely on what they did in the past?
Motivation.
It is important that they understand their role in the business. Often this is not the case. If in doubt ask them! The vision you have for the company should be shared by everyone to promote involvement and motivation.
Objectives
Their objectives should be aligned with that vision. It is surprising how many companies do not do this. For instance, there was one case where a company needed growth but the sales team were targeted with maintaining existing customer business.
Cross-Sell and Up-sell
Every opportunity should be taken to cross-sell and up-sell. Cross-selling (other products) and up-selling (superior product, higher grade service) increase the take from the customer for little or no increase in costs of selling to that customer.
Skills
Ensure the sales force is trained in the latest sales techniques because you can be sure the buyer is trained in how to combat them! Training, development and reinforcement of the skills they learn as well as feedback on their performance is vital to ensure that you are getting the best out of the work force
Prospecting
Does the sales team spend time on prospecting? This is the feedstock of your sales pipeline. If they do not, you are running on empty. Do they know which markets to tackle, where and what type of customer the company needs.
Needs and Offer
Do your sales team identify you customers' needs or do they just sell the features of the product or service? Do they consider the whole of your offer or just the products and services? In many cases customers are persuaded not just by the product but by other items such as delivery, terms and conditions or just want to deal with you!
There are of course many other areas to be discussed in an article such as this but simply asking yourself and your team the questions posed above will put you and your business on the road to Sales Performance Improvement.

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By Bob Francis

Bob Francis is an experienced business consultant spending most of his time helping clients with sales and marketing issues. His expertise lies primarily in strategy, sales and marketing and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He is an expert at sales performance measurement and improvement.

Sales Force Management - How to Hire and Employ Talented Sales Professionals

Hiring Sales Professionals: Don't Trust Your Gut
Anyone who has managed salespeople has made hiring mistakes. At one time or another, all of us have found ourselves unable to resist hiring a candidate who seemed to be a sales superstar, even though our intuition made us uneasy or something in their story just didn't jibe with reality. In an increasingly competitive world, success will depend on getting the right people on the sales team and making sure they are doing jobs that best use their innate talents.
Get The Right People On The Team
According to the International Personnel Management Association, typical hiring methods are ineffective. If you simply pointed, blindfolded, to one among a group of candidates and hired that person, your hiring method would depend entirely on chance. If your hiring process includes a typical employment interview, your odds of improving over chance increase about 1%.
If your hiring process includes a standard personality test, you will improve your odds over chance by another 1%. If, along with the interview and personality test, you require a candidate to have relevant job experience your chances of a good hire increase to 5%. If you include a scoreable interview in your hiring process your odds of a good hire increase to about 7%.
If your company is among a growing number of firms that include validated and objectively administered selection tests in the hiring process, you can increase your chances of a good hire by up to 25%. An improvement of 25% may not impress you, but the math shows that this is an improvement of 257% over even the best interview processes that lack selection tests!
So, exactly how would a validated and objectively administered selection test help you avoid making hiring mistakes? These tests reveal not only aptitude for performance, but also a candidate's willingness to perform the duties of the particular sales position. The tests answer the questions: Can the candidate do the job, and is the candidate likely to do the job?
Allocating Sales Talent: Don't Send Ducks to Eagles School!
Assuming you've hired a salesperson based on the results of a validated selection test, it is now imperative to place the new employee in the right position on the team.
I once heard someone admonish sales managers: "Don't send your ducks to eagle school!" It just won't work. Unlike eagles, which are skilled predators hard-wired with a hunter's instinct, ducks are friendly creatures. You send the ducks out hunting, they find a rabbit and they make friends with it! You then yell to the ducks, "No, no, reread page twenty-one of your hunting manual!"
The same thing happens when you send the wrong salespeople on a hunting expedition for new prospects. They make friends with potential customers, buy them lunch, treat them to sporting events, and shower them with expensive gifts, all in the hope of winning business through friendship. But the new business seldom materializes. In frustration, you yell, "No, no, bring in the orders, close the prospects, close the prospects!"
Nearly 2500 years ago in his essay on The Art Of War, Sun Tzu, the great Chinese military thinker admonished, "Do not demand accomplishment of those who have no talent." He continued, "Do not charge people to do what they cannot do. Select them and give them responsibilities commensurate with their abilities." This wisdom has been largely lost on leaders who manage sales organizations.
Talent can't be trained. You either can or cannot sing like an American Idol. In the world of selling, the characteristics of great strategic account managers - by definition - limit their success as business development sales professionals. Likewise, great business development salespeople rarely have what it takes to become great strategic account managers. Both require different skills and different talents! Yet somehow sales leaders believe that talent in one area naturally translates into an ability to perform equally well in other areas.
Coaching Talent
Although you've done your best to select the right talent, and to make sure she has the right position on the team, how do you retain her and develop her innate abilities? First, you continually review your employee's assessment test to remain knowledgeable about her natural abilities and willingness to perform certain job functions. Second - and this is a key to successful talent management- you resist the temptation to place her in a job for which her talent and interests are not aligned.
When it comes to utilizing sales talent, perhaps the biggest error most sales leaders make is promoting great salespeople to the role of sales manager. Most often, when a great salesperson is promoted to sales manager, four things happen:

1) the company loses a great salesperson;

2) the company gets a mediocre - or worse - sales manager

3) customers suffer in the transition;

4) failure prompts the great salesperson to flee to another company.
We believe that much of the money spent by business on sales training is spent educating people in roles they should not occupy. At some point companies will demand a better system for selecting salespeople and sales management candidates with the talent and the will to perform up to management's expectations. For many companies this, and not simply more sales skills training, may become their single most important investment to improve market share and profitability. Using statistically validated assessment tests in the hiring process, placing salespeople only in jobs for which their talents and interests are aligned and developing career paths that allow employees to expand their natural talents is a win-win for the employees and the company.

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By Steve Chriest
Steve Chriest is a sought-after sales consultant, author and speaker. He is a founding partner of Selling Up, a San Francisco-based sales development consulting firm. Selling Up can be found on the Web at http://www.selling-up.com Steve can be reached by email at schriest@selling-up.com

Ten Key Factors That Maximize Sales

Sales representatives are successful today because they gain the majority of their targeted customers business. They manage the relationship and continuously build relationship equity. That doesn't mean they operate with the old lone wolf mentality doing everything under the sun for the customer. They are successful because they take full advantage of all the resources their company has to offer. Transactions and promos flow through a managed relationship. They also dedicate a specific amount of their time to new account development and penetration of those accounts with high potential rather than over providing service functions to existing accounts. Ten Key identifying factors that will help maximize sales success include;
1. Not being afraid to prospect for new accounts and new business. Have enough confidence to view rejection as simply a step closer to success.
2. Understanding the value of planning and actually documenting the key actions necessary to meet specific objectives at specific accounts.
3. Become professional with your planned presentations whether it is to an individual buyer or a group of customer decision makers. Perfect your 25 word elevator speech that clearly outlines your value proposition. Get it down pat for those opportunistic moments that may occur.
4. Goals are a matter of course and they include more than just revenue and margin growth. Milestones are established for target accounts to highlight progress toward their major goals.
5. No one likes record keeping and paperwork but the really successful sales professional understands the necessity and the value received in return for being methodical with their record keeping.
6. Time management should be forever on your mind and you need to continuously practice efficient time control.
7. You've got to be Hunnnnggggrrrry! Hungry for knowledge to improve your skills and demonstrate enough curiosity that you don't wait for company sponsored seminars for education and training. Read, listen to tapes and finance your own self improvement in addition to company programs.
8. Don't chase orders, chase customers. Be willing to lose an order but fight aggressively to never lose a customer unless you need to prune your territory garden due to unacceptable profitability.
9. Your objective on every sales call is to identify the customer's real needs, not to just take an order. Take pride in being a solution provider and demand creator instead of a demand fulfiller.
10. Understand that often a key to your success lies in your ability to educate the customer. This may range in the form of business acumen to helping the customer understand real value. Become an expert at demonstrating the difference between price and cost.
The formula for success is simple:
FIND THE CUSTOMER PAIN -------TAKE THE PAIN AWAY SET YOUR PRICE
Customers will pay plenty, if you can reduce their "PAIN" Find out what the customer's problems are and where they are in pain. Look at it from their point of view, not yours.
Customers no longer spout off about quality products and reliable deliveries. That's a given. Although all customers are trained to say "Your Price is to High", if you find the pain, price is not an issue. Remember the emerging role of the sales professional today is not to increase sales. Let me repeat that--- your role today is not to increase sales. Your role as a sales professional today is to systematically and consistently increase the number of customers who choose you to be their #1 supplier........
It's not about Features and Benefits
Today it's not about the features and benefits of your product. It's about value and how your customers are going to make a profit. You no longer just sell yourself and everything falls into place. Today, relationships are still very important but they are the ante to play. Customers are smarter and more educated. You must bring every resource your company has into play and leverage those resources to create competitive advantage. Learn to really listen to your customers. Let them talk and when there seems to be a pause in the conversation resist the temptation to start talking again. Chances are good that the customer has more to say. The quieter you are the more they will tell you. Listen long enough with a few strategically placed questions and the customer might just tell you exactly how to gain his business. (And it won't just be about price)
http://www.ceostrategist.com - Sign up to receive "The Howl" a free monthly newsletter that addresses real world industry issues. - Straight talk about today's issues. Rick Johnson, expert speaker, wholesale distribution's "Leadership Strategist", founder of CEO Strategist, LLC a firm that helps clients create and maintain competitive advantage. Need a speaker for your next event, E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com
Don't forget to check out the Lead Wolf Series that can help you put more profit into your business.

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By Rick Johnson