Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/280096
36 | www.cedmag.com | Construction Equipment Distribution | March 2014 Sales Manager Professional selling in the 21st century continues to change and evolve. This is especially true for sales managers in the equipment industry who face a significant number of challenges. Manufacturers increasingly insist that dealers deliver more market share. Cost-conscious customers are driving market commoditization, demanding more value while offering less loyalty. Dealer principals need greater perfor- mance and a strong return on invest- ment while yet cautiously controlling inventory. Salespeople want more inventory and internal support to build better customer relationships, maintain the competitive edge required to win more deals, and achieve career success. And sales managers in the 21st century sales must bridge wide gaps between numerous people who all have increasingly demanding expectations. There is a universal expectation for growth and increase. Regardless of how well your business performed last year, the expectations are greater this year. Moreover, if business revenue is to grow, then your sales people will have to grow, too. Success in sales management hinges on attracting top sales talent, facilitating growth, and developing the latent potential within each sales person. An effective sales manager must enhance the performance of the entire sales team. His or her leadership must drive team performance, collectively yielding more sales revenue than what would otherwise occur if (s)he were personally selling to contribute to the team's total sales revenue. Therefore, if the sales manager is managing five sales people, who each annually average $6 million in sales, then as a manager, his minimum contribution to each sales person's performance should be collectively more than an additional $6 million or a minimum team total sales revenue of $36 million. As a responsible sales manager, (s)he has an obligation to lead each $6 million sales rep along the path to becoming a $7.2M sales rep. A sales team's perfor- mance is an absolute reflection of the sales manager's leadership. Great sales managers must help each salesperson spend more time engaged in high-payoff, revenue- generating activities. A salesperson must understand the real value of a single hour. An hour, for a salesperson netting $7.2 million in annual sales revenue for the dealership equates to $3,000 per hour. Financial reality forces the best sales people to quickly eliminate low-payoff activities and poorly qualified prospects from their schedules. Average and below-average salespeople frequently waste time chasing wrong priorities. A great sales manager creates clarity about what high-payoff, revenue-generating activi- ties really are. Holding It All Together Sales teams are a disparate collection of talent, not unlike the diverse musi- cians in a symphony. And like myriad instruments, successful salespeople come with all kinds of temperaments, personalities, backgrounds, technical levels, diversity of age, and ethnic culture. There are common traits like motivation, drive, communication, and customer empathy, but it is amazing to observe the diversity that exists among top performing salespeople. A sales manager must inevitably deal with varying performance levels. Top performers set the bar for the rest of the team, while others consistently Every Sales Rep Has a Limitation Attack What Holds Them Back You don't have to fix everything – just find and resolve each salesperson's weakest point, and watch their numbers fly. BY BOBBY WEBER