The Job of Sales Management:
A Prescriptive Approach to Defining Duties and Responsibilities

By Ken Thorseon

The ideal sales manager acts as a sales leader, a catalyst for change and continuous improvement, and a positive force within the larger organization. The best managers understand their priorities and their teams—and they have a vision for the future.
The report is designed to define key actions that the sales manager (SM) must take to be effective, then describe each action’s purpose and explain its importance. Among the areas we’ll cover are sales achievement, marketing plan development and execution, salesperson development, systematic management, recruitment and management communication. Note: The actions aren’t listed in order of priority.

Sales Achievement

• Purpose: Sales management’s top objectives are driving sales, capturing new revenue and exceeding monthly sales and margin objectives. The following action list is designed to keep those objectives—also known as sales achievement—constantly in focus.

  • Action: Undertake sales‐strategy development with each salesperson on Monday morning and in a formal one‐on‐one meeting during the week.
    • This step helps ensure that each salesperson has effective strategies in place and is focused on the right opportunities (for additional assistance, see Acumen’s tools at www.acumenmgmt.com./salesmanager.php ).
      
      
  • Action: Use strategic tools and questioning techniques to ensure that your team is going after qualified prospects and using valid strategies to reach them.
    • This step will also teach salespeople to use the right tool sets, think strategically and work smarter.
      
      
  • Action: Attend key sales calls early in the sales process and help close sales opportunities.
    • By taking this action, you can better understand the opportunity and the people involved. Getting involved at the end of the sales process also helps strengthen relationships with prospects.
    • The SM’s role is in these calls is important for establishing the company’s credibility. You’ll also learn to be a better coach.
      
      
  • Action: Review pipeline analysis and qualification to ensure that adequate values exist.
    • The SM should always be looking 90 days beyond the current date to ensure that sales and marketing pipelines carry the opportunities needed to meet the organization’s goals.
    • The SM should track both values and numbers of opportunities and should know the ratios between future pipeline values and future monthly quotas. It’s important to undertake this exercise twice a month, and to launch new marketing campaigns as needed.
      
      
  • Action: Document and post the top 10 largest sales opportunities in a highly visible location.
    • This action showcases large opportunities that can “make” the month as well as average opportunities that help move the team toward achieving quota.
    • Posting the top 10 opportunities helps keep the sale team focused. Failing to do so increases the likelihood of “out‐of‐sight, out‐of‐mind” syndrome, with opportunities buried inside the company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system.
      
      
  • Action: Keep the top sales opportunities‐‐by salesperson, by month‐‐constantly visible.
    • Keep in mind that visibility breeds focus. Have salespeople post reminders of those top opportunities in their personal workspaces.
    • As the SM, you should keep close tabs on pipeline values and specific accounts to make sure that each salesperson is keeping both top of mind. Encourage salespeople to bring the opportunity lists to the weekly Monday morning meeting.
      
      
  • Action: Create a defined sales process. Ensure that the sales team understands and follows it.
    • This workflow is designed to keep salespeople working their opportunities in a consistent, proven format. It’s important for the sales process to build trust and confidence—but it must also prove your value proposition.
    • The SM should design, document and manage the process to make sure sales actions are in alignment with the buyer’s purchasing process.
      
      
  • Action: Clearly monitor and track monthly objectives versus sales and revenues and metrics by salesperson.
    • This action helps you create the correct formulas for measuring the effectiveness of the organization’s marketing, sales and sales activities. The goal is not only to track numbers, but also to work with individual salespeople on improving the results.
    • Because capabilities differ widely from salesperson to salesperson, it’s important to personalize action plans. Creating a “dashboard” or scorecard helps document the correct level of activities for each salesperson.

Marketing Plan Development and Execution

• Purpose: Creating an effective company marketing program requires both careful design and brilliant execution. Effective marketing will ensure creation of the correct number and value of opportunities along with long‐term brand recognition.
  

  • Action: Create key marketing messages and value propositions for the company.
    • This action is critical to ensure transmit these messages.
    • The SM must focus on the value proposition is to ensure that it clearly describes what the company
      
      
  • Action: Create a rolling six‐month marketing calendar that incorporates all a spects of a go‐to‐market campaign for touching key market segments.
    • This action helps sales management to build an ongoing level of lead generation and generate local, regional and/or national recognition.
    • Be sure to include public‐relations initiatives, networking events, monthly seminars, industry events and the like.
  • Action: Develop an ongoing series of marketing events to drive lead generationby product, practice or service.
    • This action ensures that these practices are included in the marketingprogram.
    • The SM must focus on a balanced sales program to ensure there iseffective use of all support teams and that sales are in alignment with corporate goals.
  • Action: Develop an ongoing series of networking events to build marketawareness.
    • This action, part of the overall marketing plan, is designed to ensure thatall salespeople attend specific networking events.
    • The SM should be involved in networking, along with the salespeople and others in the organization. That helps ensure that the sales teamexpanding the company’s sphere of influence, understanding trends and seeking partners to leverage for additional sales opportunities.
  • Action: Develop a public‐relations program to build market awareness. Create a media outreach campaign, focusing on reaching key writers and editors whoare cover the company’s industry.
    • This action, also part of the overall marketing plan, focuses on building long‐term relationships with key media representatives.
    • The SM should nurture these local and national PR campaigns to lower marketing costs and create a unique position of awareness in the community.
      
  • Action: Within the defined sales process, create a methodology to prove thevalue proposition in conjunction with sales actions above.
    • The SM must build in actions or steps that allow prospects to see and feel why the company’s messaging is real. That’s important because many salespeople simply speak to the value proposition‐‐but don’t actually demonstrate it.
  • Action: Create creative brochures, website pages and other sales informationthat represent your company’s various offerings. Be sure that each of these collateral items is clear and focuses on your key messages.
    • This action ensures that the sales team has the appropriate“leave‐behinds” and tools that describe the benefits your organization provides.
    • Use these materials to assist salespeople in selling the companyand help prospective clients better understand your messaging. In many cases, those messages get diluted during the sales process. In addition, marketing needs the sales organization’s front‐line input.
  • Action: Create a client‐advisory council made up of five to seven clients. Meewith the council three times a year to gain insights into the market.
    • This step can help the SM better understand the market and build opportunities accordingly. Client‐advisory council members can help the SM evaluate the quality of existing offerings and tes

Salesperson Training and Development

• Purpose: Actively focusing on salesperson development is essential for building a culture that breeds long‐term sales success. Sales management must focus on training sales teams both in the office and in the field. A well‐trained sales team is sharp, strong and confident, steadily increasing win rates. Following are examples of training actions:

  • Action: Establish a new hire on‐boarding process and closely track closely the new salesperson’s development.
    • This action is critical for helping the new hire ramp up quickly, gaining the knowledge and skills needed to sell effectively.
    • By overseeing the quick‐start program, the SM also sets initial performance expectations.
  • Action: Create and publish a 90‐day sales training program for the entire sales team. The program should covers sales skills, product and industry knowledge and company operations.
    • This action helps sales managers keep their teams sharp and updated. Tip: Assign your own salespeople to serve as trainers in these events.
    • Why 90 days? Because it helps the entire team move forward each quarter in terms of skills development. A 90‐plan also allows enough time to thoroughly cover a wide variety of skills, making the longer‐term approach better than weekly or 30‐day sales training programs.
      
  • Action: Bring in outside speakers, customers and training organizations to reinforce sales skills development and performance.
    • Introducing new voices can help reinforce existing sales policy while still introducing fresh ideas to your team.
    • Using professional sales educators as well as in‐house training broadens skill levels and creates a common language for the sales team.
      
  • Action: Create a salesperson development process and use it twice a year to review each person (for details on Acumen’s Sales Certification Program, visit acumenmgmt.com/certificates.phtml ).
    • This plan helps individual team members grow professionally as they progress toward their goals.
      
    • Using the formal development review process helps sales managers evaluate and better communicate with salespeople while setting clearer expectations for all.
  • Action: Coach and mentor each salesperson before and after sales calls to prospects, using Acumen’s coaching tips.
    • This practice helps sales managers teach salespeople proper pre‐call planning discipline and assists them with evaluating the effectiveness of their sales calls.
    • Make the following a routine question in all training and mentoring sessions: “If you had that call to do over again, what—if anything—would you do differently?” Coaching this way will help teach salespeople to coach themselves when the SM isn’t with them on future sales calls.
      
  • Action: Twice each year, have each salesperson read a high‐quality book on sales, then discuss it with the SM and the rest of the team.
    • Incorporating reading into the sales training process helps leverage and reinforce training concepts.
    • During the reading period, assign each salesperson a certain number of book chapters to read each week. Schedule a time for salespeople to discuss what they’ve learned and how it applies to your company and your sales processes.
      
  • Action: Make sales calls with sales‐team members each month to monitor their performance.
    • This action helps you, as the SM, evaluate the team’s development by “inspecting what you expect” from them in real‐life situations. The goal: assessing whether individual salespeople are applying the right skills at the right time in the field.
  • Action: Role‐play during training sessions.
    • This step allows salespeople to practice their skills before going out to live customer meetings—and reassures the SM that team members know how to sell the company.

Systematic Management

• Purpose: Taking a systematic approach to management allows the SM to operate easily and effectively operate in a high‐pressure environment that’s filled with distractions and requires multi‐taking. Following are activities that support a systematic approach.

  • Action: Use an agenda for your weekly sales meetings.
    • A formal agenda helps keep the meeting on track and assists the SM in focusing on core issues such as revenue generation and staff development.
    • It also ensures that salespeople know what’s expected of them so that they’ll be prepared to share information as needed.
  • Action: Create team and individual dashboards or scorecards to track the success of sales and marketing activities.
    • These tools can help the SM evaluate the performance of both individual salespeople and the team, pinpointing needed areas of improvement.
    • Scorecards can also provide information for quickly updating other managers about the sales team’s current performance levels.
  • Action: Analyze sales pipelines to ensure that the levels of sales activity is sufficient to achieve future quotas.
    • The SM should measure the existing dollar value of pipelines levels at each sales stage and in each future monthly sales period, then compare that to the pipeline dollar values required to exceed future actual quotas.
    • By understanding pipeline management, the SM can provide accurate cash‐flow and receivables forecasts to the management team.
      
  • Action: Run an annual sales‐trip contest and quarterly sales games to spotlight team activity. Create clearly defined rules and tracking systems for each contest.
    • Sales contests offer a way for the SM to create a culture that combines fun, performance recognition and competition—while, at the same time, keeping the sales team focused on shared objectives.
  • Action: Meet with clients regularly to review their satisfaction with your sales and implementation processes.
    • These meetings allow the SM—and, if appropriate, other executives—to check in with a large percentage of the client base. The SM should meet with key clients three times a year and others less frequently, as needed.
    • Obviously, satisfied clients make sales objectives easier to achieve.
      
  • Action: Periodically compile win/loss reports to test sales effectiveness.
    • Contact both existing customers and unsuccessful prospects to find out what worked and what didn’t. Seek their input on improving sales approaches, sales processes and the actual products or services being sold.
    • This process also helps sales managers stay on top of competitive threats, changing markets and the type of training that salespeople need most.
      
  • Action: Determine the appropriate market/territory coverage strategy—defined, open, mixed, account driven.
    • This step allows the SM to assess staffing requirements and sales‐organizational designs. It can also assist in market‐segmentation strategies.
    • Considering a variety of sales‐coverage strategies lets the SM evaluate cost of sales, designs for marketing programs and ratios of market penetration.
  • Action: Bring compensation plans into alignment with corporate strategies and objectives.
    • The SM must ensure that sales compensation is effectively tracked, that the accounting department prepares compensation‐reconciliation statements and that those statements are accurate.
    • Make this assessment quarterly. Ensure that sales activities and compensation models complement the organization’s overall strategies and goals. Work to remove any barrier preventing salespeople from hitting those objectives‐‐and doing so on time.
    • Ultimately, the SM must understand and oversee compensation‐plan to make sure that it’s driving the desired activity and results.

Recruitment

• Purpose: The sales manager’s most critical function is making sure the sales teams are staffed with high‐quality talent. Recruiting should be an ongoing effort. Remember: The best salespeople may not be actively seeking a job just when you happen to have a job opening.

  • Action: Create an active, ongoing recruiting campaign using a variety of resources. Run ads in the business section of the newspaper and on appropriate job websites. Post a job at least once every 60 days and conduct interviews regularly, even when you don’t have specific vacancies.
    • Top‐performing sales managers place high priority on finding and retaining top salespeople‐‐and refusing to live with weak talent. Often, sales managers retain salespeople too long either because they feel they’ve invested too much to let them go or because there’s no replacement readily available.
    • Another reason that sales managers should focusing on finding and developing great sales talent: Having a high‐quality sales team makes their own lives easier!
      
  • Action: Use Acumen tools and assessments to create an effective interviewing process that involves at least three other people at your company (for information on Acumen tools, visit www.acumenmgmt.com./seminars2.phtml ).
    • Sales managers should follow a well‐defined interviewing process for the same reasons they follow a well‐defined sales process: Skipping key steps can lead to big mistakes. In fact, making a bad hire is the most expensive mistake that an SM can make.
    • By involving other colleagues in the hiring process, the SM can consider other viewpoints about particular candidates—which increases the chances of making the right hire.
      
  • Action: Network with vendors and others in the industry who can help you find quality candidates.
    • Use conferences, industry events and vendor meetings to help further your search for talent.

Management Communication

• Purpose: Management must be kept informed of plans, actions and potential issues at all times. Communication can resolve or prevent all types of political and other challenges that sales managers face each day. A recurring task schedule in Outlook can help ensure regular communication—by regular face‐to‐face meetings, if possible.

• Action: Prepare weekly sales/marketing plans and results to review with other members of the management team.
  • This step helps sales managers build respect with other management‐team members. It also opens the door for discussions about how those other managers might assist the sales team in exceeding targets.
  • Frequent communications between the SM and other managers can help increase the management team’s trust and confidence in the sales team.
    
• Action: Meet weekly with department heads whose activities impact sales delivery.
  • These meetings can help the SM build rapport with key individuals whose cooperation might assist the sales team. The gatherings can help ensure that monthly and quarterly quotas are attained and help the SM shift resources as necessary to achieve goals.
    
• Action: Prepare rolling six‐ and 12‐month sales plans and communicate at monthly and quarterly meetings.
  • Rolling sales and marketing plans help ensure that the team attains predictable revenue, evening out the peaks and valleys.
  • This action by the SM assists in long‐range planning and documents the sales‐team’s needs.
    
• Action: Focus communications and actions on removing any barriers to a creating sales‐driven culture.
  • Sales barriers, such dealing with an excessive number of sales documents or having too many people involved in proposal development, can limit the organization’s ability to achieve its sales objectives.
    
• Action: Make recommendations to management for new business growth.
  • Sales managers are well‐positioned to make such recommendations because of their intimate knowledge of customer needs. Sales managers are on the forefront of customer ideas and market conditions, and their ideas can help keep product and service offerings fresh and competitive.
• Action: Make recommendations to management on salesperson terminations.
  • Sales managers must be proactive in developing exactly the right sales team and organization environment.
    
• Action: Schedule regular, formal meetings with the company president.
  • Meet with the chief executive weekly, if possible, to ensure that sales team activity is properly aligned with company priorities.
  • Meet quarterly with the chief executive to review activities and plan for the future.

For additional information:

Visit our website, www.AcumenManagement.com.
Read our blog, www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com.
See Ken Thoreson’s LinkedIn site at www.linkedin.com/in/kenthoreson
Contact Ken by e‐mail at [email protected] or by phone at 423‐884‐6328