Butch Bellah

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-26-2022

Being a successful sales manager means so much more than being a good sales person (although that certainly is a big part of it). You have to be skilled at identifying new talent, know how to run an effective sales meeting, and set and track the progress of goals for your team. Nobody said the job was easy, but it's certainly never dull.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

No sales manager has ever been successful without his sales team. There’s no way for you to win if they lose. While the word team gets thrown around a lot and has become somewhat of a buzzword, teamwork is vital to a sales manager and sales organization. For without successful individual salespeople there is no successful manager or company. Building a team of champions takes time. Unless you’re starting from scratch, expect to have to weed out some whiners to get to some winners. But, it all starts with you. Are you a team player? While it’s easy to give the “rah rah,” go team speech at a sales meeting, your people will notice how you respond and react in other situations which are even more critical. When a goal is exceeded or a new achievement is met, do you talk to the rest of the management team about what “I” did or what “we” did? When making a decision on a major change in direction that will affect your people, do you include them — especially your top performers? Not just for show, but to really listen to their ideas and concerns? If you’ve personally received an industry award or some other recognition, is it displayed in your office or in the sales room? The teamwork vibe has to run through everything you do, not just when you need your people to step up and get motivated before hitting the sales floor. Great sales teams work with each other not against each other. The top salesperson in the organization should be willing to help the new person coming on board and be as happy for other’s success as much their own. Teams that work that well together solve problems, innovate and are extremely hard to beat. It’s easier to build one than to beat one.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

A good sales meeting can set the tone for a phenomenal day with your sales team. A bad sales meeting or one where they feel their time is wasted can have the exact opposite effect. When deciding to have a sales meeting—or any of meeting where you bring your sales team together, here are five things you need remember. Have a purpose: Don’t meet just to have a meeting. Just because the calendar says it’s time, make sure there is something of value you are bringing to your salespeople. Just as you ask them to always have new, relevant information for their prospects and customers, you should have the same respect for their time. Make sure it requires meeting: Can the agenda be handled through a conference call, email or other means of communication? Remember, you are taking your people away from doing something else — they didn’t just have this time available on their calendar. Is the meeting more important than what they would be doing otherwise? If not, it’s okay to communicate via email, phone or even a short newsletter. Don’t take them away from selling: Can you schedule your sales meeting at a time where you don’t interrupt their sales hours. A professional salesperson has a finite number of hours in a day, week or month in which to meet with prospects and wait on customers. Try to keep from pulling them out of the field or off the sale floor whenever possible. Stick to your agenda: If you take time to put an agenda together, stick to it. Don’t let anyone or anything derail the meeting. Everyone’s time is valuable so don’t waste it with mindless chatter and conversations that don’t require everyone’s input. Make it about them: The sales meeting is for your salespeople. It’s not for you. It’s not for your manufacturer or vendor partners — it’s designed to inform and educate your salespeople. Make sure you don’t get off track and lose sight of why you’re having a meeting in the first place.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

If you’ve got salespeople who have been “in the business” for five minutes, five years or five decades they all need one thing: training. Training is essential to a salesperson’s success and you, as the manager have to ensure there is continuing education happening at all times. You have to keep them at the forefront of industry knowledge, product knowledge and always be practicing and improving their sales skills. Sales is something very few people ever completely master — even the greatest continue to learn every day. That’s what makes them great. Most professions require ongoing training and schooling annually in order to continue to be accredited or certified. Airline pilots, doctors, dentists and other professionals are always learning new techniques, testing themselves and otherwise continuing to grow their skills. This is another area where you, as the sales manager have to lead by example. If you let your skills become stagnant, what message does that send? If you’re not reading good books, attending seminars, webinars and otherwise putting good, positive information in your mind, how can you expect your salespeople to do so? Successful managers have the heart of a teacher and the mind of a student and never stop learning and growing. They are naturally curios and want to know as much as possible about their industry and how to better serve it. Are you challenging your people to always be better? Once you’ve established high expectations and proven yourself to be open to training, your people will generally follow suit. However, if you have someone who “knows it all” and doesn’t need to waste time reading or learning you’re better off ridding yourself of that person. Their attitude is contagious and will adversely affect other within your department. Being successful is a process. You never get there — you’re always on the way.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Being a professional sales manager has some tremendous benefits. You have the opportunity to grow, develop and impact countless salespeople while building your company. You have the power to influence the direction of their careers and lives — it’s a responsibility you should take very seriously. It can be so rewarding to watch a salesperson flourish under your own leadership. However, there are things that will give pause you have you asking yourself if it’s all worth it at times. Yes, it is. When you have to fire someone you really like or perhaps demote someone who isn’t performing in a supervisory capacity it is extremely hard. You don’t turn off your human compassion when you take the job — there’s no way to avoid it. Just because your title now says Sales Manager doesn’t mean you’ve lost the ability to care about the people around you. In fact, it should cause you to care more. You have to care in order to help them succeed. But, that same care and concern can come back to haunt you should things go wrong and you have to make some of those hard decisions. When it’s time to handle “the hard stuff” always do so with compassion and care. You’re dealing with another human being — someone who most likely has looked up to and respected you. Some have called things like this “tough love,” well it’s still tough. Is it necessary? Yes. But, it doesn’t make it any more enjoyable. It’s okay to dread it. It’s okay to have it punch you in the gut — that means you’re doing your job. If it ever gets to where it has no effect on you, it’s time to do something else because you’ve stopped truly caring for your people. And that’s never good.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The following checklist provides you and your salespeople with the opportunity to write down your goals and use "mile markers" to make sure you stay on target. Click here to view a printable PDF of the sales team goals checklist.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Here's a quick checklist you can use to help put on the best sales meeting possible. You may have a few more specific to your industry, but this is a good start and will get you thinking. Also, immediately following a sales meeting, have a debriefing with your key people to see what you could've done better to improve your next meeting. Venue booked or room reserved Theme/Content selected and created All department heads notified Vendor partners invited and confirmed Other guest(s) invited and confirmed Food and beverage ordered Product samples ordered and arranged for delivery Hotel rooms booked and confirmed for out-of-town salespeople Schedules arranged to cover sales floor (if meeting is during working hours) Agenda created and provided to everyone Copies of all documents, new item information and data sheets printed Post-meeting cleanup arranged

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Sooner or later you're going to find yourself needing to hire a new salesperson and you'll be faced with that daunting stack of resumes or applications. After you work your way through it deciding who to talk to and who to eliminate, you'll need to interview the select few to find your next sales superstar. Everybody is (or should be) ready to answer the age-old, "Tell me about yourself". Many of them have pat answers that sound so great — but they end up being better at being interviewed than they do at selling. Here are a few helpful questions in getting people to open up and talk in the sales interview: (If they aren't employed) Most great salespeople seldom find themselves without a job. What led to you being here today? (If they are employed) I see you have a job now, what puts you in the market to find another one? Who was the best sales manager you ever worked for and why? Who was the worst sales manager you ever worked for and why? Give me an example of a time when you had to be really creative to either save a customer or make a sale. What's the last good business book you read? What type of personal development and continuous education are you currently practicing? As you can see, these aren't your run-of-the-mill interview questions they've practiced for over and over. You're likely to get a good idea of a person's true capabilities when they have to think on their feet and answer honestly. If they struggle or squirm, let them. Don't throw them a lifeline and skip over the question. These are meant to be tough. But, that's the type of talent you want for your department, isn't it?

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

As the sales manager for your organization, it's your responsibility to lead and manage the sales team. If you're like many first time sales managers, that one statement leaves you glassy-eyed with a bead of sweat forming on your forehead. Relax. That broad definition can be overwhelming and being overwhelmed kills the very traits you've exemplified in your career: creativity, a positive attitude, a desire for growth and leadership. More than likely, your roles as sales manager includes: Manage the sales team. This simply means that you're responsible for your people. You are now the manager and anything (positive or negative) affecting the sales of the company begins and ends with you. You're the face of the only department in the company contributing to revenue. Establish goals and quotas. In a perfect world, each salesperson sets goals and quotas that allow her to stretch and reach new heights every year. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen. It's up to you to set the goals, objectives, and quotas for individual salespeople and for the team as a whole. Train and develop sales skills. This is where your past success as a salesperson comes into play. You must help each member of the sales department improve her skills. Everyone can get better at some part of the sales process — your job is to identify weaknesses and help convert them to strengths. And contrary to what they tell you in the initial interview, they all have weaknesses. Assign and define geographical territories. After you're in management and can see more of the big picture, some things jump out at you as obvious. Why are two people spending time in the same market on different days? One of the greatest wastes of time for salespeople is windshield time: those countless wasted hours between appointments where instead of seeing a prospect, you're staring at the road. Counsel and lead individual salespeople. In order to get the entire team pulling in the same direction, you must work on the individuals first. Because you're their sales manager, your team needs you to take the lead and create an environment where they can succeed. Don't wait for people to ask for help (some never will). Understand that you most likely manage each person differently, so in order to find out what makes each person tick you must get to know each and every member of your team. Report data to upper management. Good news, bad news, any news — it all comes from you. This is one particular area you should never accept the answer, "That's the way we've always done it!" That has killed more organizations than anything. It's up to you to find ways to use data to drive sales and provide yourself and others in management with good, actionable information. The things you wished you'd known as a salesperson are now the things you must know as a sales manager. Create incentive programs. Whether you're using in-house programs or working with manufacturers and vendors, it's important to keep your salespeople engaged; keep them interested and striving to grow. Build and maintain a special incentive calendar and make the job fun! Additionally, a good sales manager will create team or departmental based incentives to reward the achievement of overall goals. This is just another way to create an atmosphere of working together and not against each other. Establish budgets. Working out the budget is the second worst part of the job. The skills you used to become successful probably aren't related to sitting and going over spreadsheet after spreadsheet of numbers and projections. However, you now have the responsibility to create the budget for the sales department. It's not necessarily fun, but it has to be done. Hire and fire salespeople. If budgets are the second worst part of the job, this is the worst (especially the firing part). But the buck stops with you. It's your responsibility to continually upgrade the team in the field. To do so, sometimes you have to fire the bad ones and hire some more good ones.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

There are two words you must use in order to become a successful sales manager. They're both small words, but they have to be a part of your vocabulary on a daily basis. The words are no and delegate. Nowhere in sales training do you learn to use these words, but as a sales manager they can save you time, frustration, and heartache. As a new manager you will have not only salespeople try to dump their problems and issues on you but other departments trying to do the same. It's almost as if they smell fresh blood. Everyone knows you're eager to please and be a part of the management team. But, never let someone else hand you their problem — and many people are just waiting for you to get your desk unpacked so they can. Some people trying to foist their problems on you act as if it's natural and insist that the previous sales manager did the same thing. Before you accept their burdens, ask yourself these two questions: Who is the best person to handle this? Just as you aren't a secretary for the salespeople, you're also not a data entry clerk for another department. Don't accept handoffs without asking yourself, "Am I the best person to handle this?" If you aren't, don't be afraid to tell that person no. Don't agonize over letting others down — you haven't. Instead of letting them down, you've let them know your time is valuable. One of the biggest problems many people see in young sales managers is that they take on tasks and projects in order to keep from putting others out and end up put themselves out. Sales managers may bring on so much unnecessary stress and worry over things they had nothing to do with because they let others hand them their problem. Don't be like this. Does this task directly lead to sales growth? Every project, task, and program you take on should be with the express intention of moving sales forward and growing your team. Now, there will be projects you work on as part of a team that don't fit these criteria, but that's not what this is talking about. You can certainly sit on a company committee working on the annual employee appreciation day, but be sure to spend your sales hours on projects or tasks related to sales. No is a perfectly acceptable answer. You don't have to qualify it or explain yourself, but if you'd like to, try this: "I'd like to help, but I'm really not the best person to do that. I need to focus on the sales department right now. Thanks for asking, though." That's the best way in the world to not accept that handoff. Very close behind no is delegate. Think about this: You didn't get your position so you could do everything yourself. You're the sales manager — notice the word manager. Your job is to lead and manage — not do everything by yourself. As you develop your task list, ask yourself the two questions in the preceding list. But, this time, ask whether someone in your department should be doing the task. If you have an assistant, you may experience a bit of uneasiness in asking her to do things for you. But that's her job. Some managers believe success comes down to three little words: del e gate. There will be times where upper management may hand you tasks that take away from your job of managing the sales department. Once again, clarify what is most important. Simply ask, "Just so I'm understanding and prioritizing correctly, I am going to put aside working on the new account development program (or whatever you were working on) and get this done for you." Sometimes that's all it takes for them to suddenly think of someone else who would be better suited for the job. This is not in any way suggesting you don't let your superiors hand you projects — that means they have confidence in you — but it can be a juggling act. Just make sure your time is being used properly and they are aware of what you are not doing while you're handling their new project. Industry associations have some sort of sixth sense when it comes to new managers. You will be invited to be a part of every board, committee, meeting and association possible. Choose wisely. Some of these can turn into full time jobs will little or no direct benefit other than being seen as a mover and a shaker in your industry. Don't bog yourself down with menial tasks — spend your time on the big picture and pass off the rest.