(By Loyd Ford) You see this most visibly in sports franchises. People place a lot of value on high impact coaches and finding those coaches. But it often gets confusing to actually value high impact coaches. You see teams that pay too much for what they get. How does this happen and how can you make sure it doesn’t happen when you need a great coach (market manager, sales manager)?
Traits of a Great Sales or Market Manager
Let’s start our winning journey with these traits (they are excellent for helping you locate great sales leaders as well as other leadership).
- They lead by example. These individuals don’t come into your organization sharing what they know and sitting back to watch the team. They move forward into the field and show what they know. They see everything and help each team member consistently.
- Accountability is always clear and present. When they are ‘coaching,’ they always talk accountability and reinforce personal responsibility of each team member. This creates a very strong backbone for any team. If you manage sellers, you know what this does. Finally, I will go further. The best people want accountability. Apply liberally.
- They consistently focus on how to make doing business with “us” easier and making the process easier for sellers. Frankly, there are always problems in business. The key to a great coach (manager) now involves how they get a grip on making business easier for all involved.
- They consistently educate the team. This makes a much stronger difference than most people recognize. Think about how better armed sellers are when they know more. By consistently educating each team member, the entire team grows stronger.
- They catch people doing things right. This is another way of saying they almost avoid catching people doing something wrong. Another version of “you get what you reward,” these coaches and managers know that you are much more able to move people by rewarding the positive than micromanaging the negative. Additionally, because some people need to hear this, if you have consistent problems with people continuing to do the wrong things, you may have the wrong people on your bus.
- They listen to their people. The older I get, the more I think listening should be 65 – 75% of what you do. Smart managers and coaches know what is happening on the field. Who knows that better? The coach or the player? I rest my cause.
- When things go wrong, they step up and take the blame. The people who report to them know it, too. In most cases, this one thing makes individuals on the team work harder for the coach and the team.
- They encourage. You can tell when you sit in with a sales team where the manager is encouraging. They want to be there. Often, they are fired up because they are working with someone and for someone who cares about them.
Just for fun, go back and read this again. Only this time think about this as a list of questions to ask a sales recruit. Where you do think future rockstar sales managers come from? Oh, and wouldn’t it be great to have a new seller on your team with these traits?
Loyd Ford is president and chief strategic officer at the branding consulting practice Rainmaker Pathway Consulting Works (RPC). They help solve programming and sales challenges. Reach him anytime at 864.448.4169 or [email protected].
