Black Sales Journal

It is a great job, and someone has got to do it!  Sales management is one of the best and most important jobs in any organization.  How do you land this important position?  What tools is your employer looking for?  What do you have to do to stand out?

This job, which is the logical ‘next step’ is sought after by those that realize that there is more to a career than money, although the job pays well.  This job is an important ‘gateway’ to the management ranks in your organization.  Knowing the customer as well as you do gives a leg up to sales managers when other jobs open up in an organization if they perform well.

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The role of sales manager was one of the most rewarding positions I ever worked.  To be able to bring fresh new sales talent into an organization was always exciting.  To make the moves to mold an existing sales unit into a conglomeration of individuals who reached and exceed sales goals with regularity was exciting as well.

The patience and determination that job required was amazing, while at the same time, it required one to quickly see thought the mud while pressing for accountability from sales the professionals.

It is a fact that sales managers, if they are solid in all aspects of management, make good managers in total.  They understand the customer better that others as well as the process of business development.

Even more important is the reality that the Black sales professional, even when moderately successful in sales, should consider a pitch for that important sales management job.  We will touch on that in this post.

Being prepared, and having the tools is important.  Let’s discuss some of the ways that you can be prepared for the opportunity.

The Most Important Tools for Sales Management

There are requisite skills for every job out there, and that is true for the job of sales manager as well.  Most sales managers are given a first assignment in a field unit, then increasing responsibility as District Sales Managers, Regional Sales Managers, and Vice Presidents of Sales.

Someone with responsibility for an operation, such as a General Manager, will want in their employ someone who does not resort to excuses or finger pointing at other units.  They need someone who understands the sales process.  I listed some of the skills and attributes that individuals responsible for operations look for when they seek a leader for a sales unit:

• Leadership
• Coach and Trainer
• Visionary
• Team Builder
• Motivator

Now, couple these with the fact that you also want these attributes in the leader of your sales unit:

• Intelligence
• Responsibility and Integrity
• Mental Toughness
• Accountability

If you can get these items, in various amounts, even with need for improvement, you can be an effective manager.

Do you have these skills?  If you have them, have you been able to demonstrate them? These are important questions as this is where you can make a difference.

Let’s Take A Closer Look

Leadership - This most important attribute can be demonstrated by your accepting responsibility in meetings, projects, breakout groups, and other assignments.  Don’t be in the “everyone else took a step back” situation.  Step to the front and claim the role as a leader.

Coach and Trainer – This is an important role for a sales manager, so to the degree that you can demonstrate it, you will show initiative and skill.  Best suggestion; mentor other sales professionals in your organization.  Nothing works better than another professional saying that you helped with his or her career.  You also learn in the process.

Visionary – This is an attribute more than a skill, yet totally necessary in the sales management realm.  I speak of it in Black Sales Journal, March 7, 2010, Be The Consummate Professional. It is what happens when you know what you are doing well as a professional, and knowing your organization, and are able to determine ways processes or products can be done better.  It is foreseeing the change before it is necessary.

Team Builder – This one you can do, and are probably doing already.  Now, remember why it is important … Sales professionals are used to being mavericks.  They are used to a “zero sum” game, “I win, or you win, we both don’t win.”  The ranks of sales is not stocked with team builders, you can stand out from those that are faking it.

Motivator – It might be hard to prove your level of skill on this one.  You can show energy, enthusiasm, as well as drive in interacting with your manager and others.  They must see you as being able to provide an atmosphere of motivation that will benefit others.

Intelligence – This one is one that cannot be faked.  You need to have the basic intelligence to run the business of distributing the company’s product.  They will not give you an aptitude test, yet they will look at everything you have done lately, and how you handled it.  Do you understand business functions, and can you think “on the fly?”

Responsibility and Integrity – I put these two together for a reason. These, as is intelligence, are reasons that professionals don’t get into sales management.  If you are whiney, and complaining, even when you are correct, you will not get there.  If you “fudge” on expense reports, and the only reason that actions are not taken are that they cannot prove you did, you will not get there.  Show responsibility and always exude integrity, and you will be looked on favorably.

Mental Toughness and Balance – You cannot be a sales manager if you don’t exude mental toughness.  You cannot be down one day and up the next.  It does not work that way when you are responsible for others.  Know that the “sun will come up tomorrow” in everything you do.  Know the law of large numbers and be able to teach it to others.

Accountability – Be accountable, and be able to expect it from others.  Avoid excuses, and always know your role, your goals, and everyone else’s.  Accountability is the rule in management, and even more in sales management.

How You Can Get Prepared?

If you are Black, you recognize that Blacks are underrepresented in sales.   It suffices to say that they are well underrepresented in sales management.  We, frankly have woeful numbers in the sales management ranks.

The way to have more Black sales managers is to perform well and formulate and implement strategies that make you successful.  Black Sales Journal can help you in that regard.   Perform well as sales professional, and strategize as to the best time to make the move to management.  The positions come up when managers retire, get promotions, or are terminated.

That means you need to draw up ‘your own’ succession plan for your organization.  How long does your managers, or his or her peers have to work before promotion, retirement, or termination?  Who is your competition, and what do they have as their attributes as compared you?  Show your motivation, always increase your knowledge, and above all, do everything you do with integrity.

You will get your chance to show your  preparation and you qualifications.  Don’t waste it.  Always be prepared!

We welcome your comments.  Write me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.

During my days as a sales manager I was often asked by fledgling sales professionals as to what they could do to compete with the wealth of sales professionals out there with greater experience and knowledge?  What could they do that could negate that experience and make them the sales professional of choice?

The answer may well be nothing! Nothing negates the advantages that knowledge and experience gives.  It is something that cannot be taken away from the sales professional and there will be a day that you all will be glad about it.

However, there are some actions that you can undertake that will put you in a position to win, and your ‘weaknesses’ will be your strongest assets.

Know Your Assets and Use Them

Know your most plentiful assets and know how to constructively employs them to make the difference in how the client/prospect perceives a sales professional.

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Question:  What does a new sales professional have in abundance over the successful sales professional?
Answer: Time

The new sales professional has the ability to spend mountains of time on individual prospects and clients, ultimately impressing them with his or her attention and presence.  Be wise about it; yet note the relationship building aspect of spending face-time and effort impressing the buyer and how this will pay dividends.

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Question:  How can you make the client ‘dependent’ on you?
Answer: Make yourself indispensable and memorable.

How can you use your ability to focus on the customer?  Create memorable moments (Black Sales Journal 2/3/2011 – Make Yourself Memorable) by sending personally signed cards and notes that share information about products, industry news, and economic data.  Share outlooks and comment on how that might affect your customer/prospect. Increase the customer’s dependency on you, and a relationship is created.

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Question:  Does your customer have a perplexing problem?
Answer:  Do Extensive research

Take on a project of solving a problem that could be a game changer.  I once was acquainted with sales professional that was asked to advise how to insure a totally new energy concept.  He researched, and researched, and once finished presented to the prospect and the prospects two biggest suppliers.  The project never got off of the ground, but the sales professional ended up winning the account for both of the suppliers (he already had the other principal) as a result of his spirited work.

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Situation:  You need to find prospects…now!
Answer:  Use your ability to access technology for a full-out prospect blitz.

Find new, untapped prospects using your ability to research online.  Most experienced sales professionals have a wealth of work to do with existing accounts, and they are also about the business of sourcing prospects.  They won’t have nearly the amount of time, and potentially technology background to do this.  I have seen it done often, and it is often difficult for the vets to keep up.

Sound too Simple?

It is simple.  The problem with sales is that cumulative sales and existing clients generate a significant amount of work.  The sales professional who is the beneficiary of that account either does the maintenance work, or delegates it to an assistant or inside sales person.

Sales professionals vary in their ability to delegate, but no matter what, it takes time to do the actual work, or to delegate.  The new, but lean, sales professional can use that time to develop prospects and relationships as well as source them by spending the adequate amount of time finding those that have not been claimed.

Use your intrinsic energy to master the prospect system, find the relationships and then deliver solutions so that you can sell.  Spend valuable time working at relationships as you have the time to do it.  It is still a lot of work, but this is what you can be doing.

Here is the time to put together a good plan regarding which prospects to attack, and what sales assets to exploit.  You have something to offer, and it does not work with every buyer/customer/prospect, but with many it makes a significant difference.

Being effective when you are new is important.  Your sales plan executed well is the true meaning of effectiveness.

Always be effective!

Your comments are appreciated.