Whether your manager is getting promoted or fired you one day you will have new leadership.  This new leadership will gety to know you.  You need to decide to show this individual the ‘y0u’ you that they will be getting acquainted with.  Here’s how!

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When you started your day in the office yesterday, one of your fellow sales professionals steps to your desk and says “We are supposed to meet in the conference room in 10 minutes.  Something is up!”

While sitting in the conference room, you are informed that your current manager is taking a different position, and a new individual will manage your unit.  The new manager will be meeting with each of you individually within the next two weeks to get to know you, and to stimulate sales in the unit.

There certainly is nothing unusual here.  If you are fortunate enough to be in a sales position for any length of time, you are likely to get a new sales manager.  A new manager might come as a result of a promotion on the part of your current manager, or possibly a termination.  Regardless of how it happens, it moves you into a special mode that will force you to prove up!

The new manager who might be from the outside, or might be a peer, yet they would be “new to you” in terms of managing you and your team’s performance.

What does this mean?  For many of you, this is the chance you need in order to start over.  For some of the others, it is time to prove yourself all over again.  Getting the opportunity to show your worth, and your ability to “make rain” is important when you remember that it is your career and your near-term future at risk.

Politics or Good Business?

Job moves come as a result of a number of factors, including office politics, lack of results, promotions, transfers out, or even death.  When they happen, the ripple effect that they cause can be either a shock, or a benefit to sales professionals as it signals not only change, but a new order as well.

This type of change can have a positive effect on the careers of some, or a negative jolt to those who thrived under a particular manager, or type of management.  If the management change is a good one you may even have an equal amount of positives and negatives to the new order.

Overall, it is good to have change, and you as a sales professional can benefit from the “new order” if you take a few measures of preparation.

Always be Prepared

You know that this is going to happen, so let’s plan how we benefit from this inevitability.  Your new manager could come from your own sales unit, a neighboring sales unit, or from the outside of the organization.  The tenets of what I am proposing will work regardless of the origin of the new manager.

• Treat the discussion like an interview. Be prepared to discuss your sales process (Black Sales Journal 9/12/11, An Interviewing Essential – Communicate Why You are Successful).
• Discuss your short and long term plan.
• Admit your shortcomings, if any. Be prepared to admit your shortcomings and how you are remedying them.
• Discuss key prospects and customers in depth. Remember, that is the job of a sales manager, and they will have to answer questions from their superiors on these important issues
• Set-up your follow-up meetings. As you know open communications with your manager are important.

Make the New Management Work for You

Arrange as early as possible to do the following items:

Tap the knowledge

Here is your opportunity to get something you might of value.  Seize upon the knowledge and skill base of the new manager for any benefit you can get.  Learn anything and everything that you can from the new manager – this includes product specialties, sales skills, and prospecting tips.

Involve the new manager

As early as possible invite the new manager to go on some good sales calls with you.  You choose the calls and clients, and thus the situation.  Show them that you are the sales professional in front of the client.

Ask for advice

As difficult as it may be to do it, ask for advice.  A new manager that formerly was a peer might be the last person you want to ask this question, yet it serves to show what they are going to suggest in the future.  Swallow some pride and ask questions.

There is something to learn from any sales professional, and it is your job to pull from those areas that can give you benefit.

Keep In Mind

You are powerless to do anything about a change in management, but you’re not without the ability to make the change a positive.

Spend some time and effort in establishing the communications, and realize that anything that you can take from the new manager that will increase your effectiveness is a dividend.

This gives even more credence to the fact that you must always be the professional, as you have no idea who your next manager will be.  He or she could be sitting next to you.

We welcome your comments.

Whether your encounter is face-to-face or you are on the phone “dialing for dollars” you know that you only have a moment to get across a cogent well-timed message to supplement your original sales intro that spurs the buyer to consider you, and your company.

Your ability to include the right elements, coupled with the strength of your delivery may get you that appointment that you desire.  Remember, when cold calling, or phone prospecting the “end game” is to get in front of the customer, and this is the tool that you will use to show your understanding of the following elements:

• Your understanding of the customer’s needs – Why would they consider and buy?
• The important features of your product – What makes it desirable?
• The key considerations of your company – Why is ABC company a leader or an upstart?

Yes, this can be done in one brief passage, and you had better be good at it as attention spans and time constraints require it to be short and on point.  I business this is called an elevator pitch as the time that it takes to go from the 1st to the 7th floor might be all you have get the point across, and ask for the appointment.

The good part is that you can and should practice it over and over until you feel that it is natural and ready for delivery.

Key Points

The above bullets indicate the elements that you are going to convey.  Your objective is to leave someone with a short, almost precise, indication of who you are, what your organization is known for, and why he or she should interact with you.

Here is an example:

Set Up – You are selling widgets in a large metropolitan area.  Your company is one of the largest widget manufacturers and distributors in the northeast.  It is a proven performer, a Fortune 1,000 company with a “state of the art” research and development facility and clever innovation.  Your ability to fill large orders quickly is a big plus.

You are at the airport, preparing to board a flight from Hartford, Connecticut to Dallas, Texas and your winning personality comes through when you have a discussion with a businessman who needs…you guessed it, widgets!

Businessman – Exclaims with exasperation “Our supplier for widgets has basically advised they cannot keep up with our growth and demand.  They are top-flight widgets, yet as a result of our tolerances we are going to have to consider having two suppliers.”

Sales Professional – Sees the opportunity and says, “I certainly understand that situation.  I am in the widget business, and we have been successful in sourcing high quality widgets to our customers with the highest tolerances and in high volumes, with short lead times.  Your widgets are probably the most important component of your product.”

As he hands the businessman a card he says, “I work for ABC Widgets out of Hartford.  You might be aware that we are the largest, most technologically advanced widget manufacturer in the country according to Manufacturer’s Digest.  Our ability to meet tight tolerances, large orders, and ‘just-in-time’ requests ranks with the best of any widget manufacturers.  Also, since we manufacture and wholesale for other widget producers, we know that we can supply all of your needs. We will do everything possible to keep you from having multiple suppliers.  Give me your card and I will touch base with you Thursday?”

Businessman – “What a coincidence! Here is my card.  Make it Friday when I return and I will look forward to it.”

In this vignette the sale professional seized on the opportunity by describing who ABC Widgets is, and then using a known proof source to get credibility.  He then states that what they are known for, tight tolerances, large orders, and responsiveness.  He was in the right place at the right time, yet while boarding, he had a few seconds, and a ready pitch.

What does it mean for you?

If you are a Black sales professional your pitch should be well rehearsed, delivered with aplomb, and focused on the strength of your company or organization.

When you get deeper into the solicitation process and are delivering solutions, you can begin to stress the assets that you bring.  If all goes well, you will get that chance.

By the way, you may need more than one elevator pitch for different types of industries or products.  Yes, this example may seem oversimplified, yet it you will see the worth of having this prepared discussion many times over in your sales career.

Practice it and make it work for you.

Your comments are welcome.