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52 SALES MANAGEMENT TIPS

THE SALES MANAGER’S SUCCESS GUIDE

STEVEN ROSEN

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Copyright © 2012 by Star Solutions That Achieve

Results Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval

system.

Published by:

STAR Solutions That Achieve Results Inc.

20 Pickett Crescent,

Richmond Hill, Ontario

Canada

L4C 9K9

Website: http://www.starresults.com

E-Mail: steven@starresults.com

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Praise for 52 Sales Management Tips:

Wow, Steven has got it right…Focus on sales

management to increase sales performance. No

complicated strategy, just actionable coaching tidbits

that guide you to the right tool for the right situation at

the right time. You will be amazed at how you can

tackle so many management issues in so few

words…52 times. This book is a must for the sales

management professional.

William “Skip” Miller, author, ProActive Sales

Management

“The sales manager is the pivotal person in the sales-

driven organization, and Steven’s book shows you how

to excel!”

Brian Tracy, author, Getting Rich Your Own Way

“52 Sales Management Tips is a must read for any

front line sales manager or for anyone aspiring to be a

front line sales manager! Sadly over the last 30 years

there has been a documented decline in the professional

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development of front line sales managers by too many

corporations.

52 Sales Management Tips is short, concise, relevant

and insightful. Follow Steven’s advice, implement 1 tip

a week and watch your people transform while sales

soar!”

Andy Miller, Founder and Senior Partner, Big Swift

Kick

“In 52 Sales Management Tips, Rosen offers

practical, actionable tips for sales managers to "up"

their game. By acting on these tidbits of wisdom, you’ll

see a big difference in your sales results.”

Jill Konrath, author, SNAP Selling and Selling to

Big Companies

“The role of the sales manager is far more important

than the sales profession realizes. Fortunately, Steven

Rosen has written a “go-to” book for sales managers

looking to improve their skills. I’m recommending this

must-have reference guide to the sales managers I

know, so that they can begin today to be better

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equipped for any challenges and opportunities that

come their way.”

Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter”

“Few if any (until now) sales books on the market

currently address one of the most critical elements for

consistent sales success, specifically the front line sales

manager. Steven Rosen’s brilliant book is concise, to

the point, and most importantly executable. It is a fact

that the ROI on a dollar invested in front line sales

manager is much greater than a dollar invested in sale

reps, your first investment to maximize your returns

should be in this book.”

Tibor Shanto, Principal – Renbor Sales Solutions Inc.

“Steven has put together a concise handbook that's easy

to understand and applicable. Steven's expert gems are

truly golden for sales managers wrestling with hiring,

training and coaching sales people, managing

customers and winning business and managing

executive expectations all at the same time."

Craig Klein, President/CEO Sales Nexus

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Introduction:

Thank you for picking up 52 Sales Management Tips:

The Sales Manager’s Success Guide. You have just

taken the first step towards changing your life. This

book is designed for sales managers who struggle

within a corporate environment that doesn’t always

support them or their development needs. Whether you

are a sales executive, senior sales leader or a new,

experienced or aspiring sales manager I’m confident

you will find this book to be a valuable guide to consult

whenever you are experiencing problems.

Front line sales managers are facing unprecedented

change. Managers are dealing with increased demands

to do more with less and are still expected to drive sales

performance. With little support from the next-line of

sales management and a lack of relevant courses and

ongoing development you may feel stretched to the

limit.

Your role is paramount to the success of your

organization. Front line sales managers are the key to

unlocking the potential of the sales force and driving

sales performance.

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Here’s why:

1. The #1 performance factor for sales people is the

quality of their manager. A high quality manger

has far greater impact on performance than skills

training or compensation.

2. The #1 manager activity associated with rep

success is coaching. Coaching is the single most

impactful activity that front lines sales managers

perform. Studies show that effectual coaching

can impact sales performance by as much as

20%!

3. The #1 reason why top performing sales reps

leave an organization is their relationship with

their manager. Great front line sales managers do

a better job retaining top performing sales people

than mediocre managers.

Most CEO’s recognise the upside of coaching and yet

are still reluctant to embrace change. The fact is most

organizations don’t invest sufficient funds to support

the growth and development of their front line sales

managers. As a result, corporations are not reaping the

true value from their investments in sales forces and the

numbers continue to decline.

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I have coached dozens of front line sales managers and

have seen firsthand, the impact they can have on

performance if given proper support and development.

Overworked and under-supported front line sales

managers are desperately looking for resources to

improve their performance. This book was written for

sales managers who understand the need to develop

themselves. They have figured out that they must take

charge of their own success.

For this book, I distilled over 20 years of my sales

management, sales executive and sales executive

coaching insights into one simple reference guide. I am

always amazed at the positive reaction I continually

receive when I share these tips with the sales leaders

that I coach. Once you begin, you will immediately

begin to benefit from my experience coaching mediocre

managers into “star sales leaders.” You, yourself will

become a sales leader to follow.

That’s the reason why I wrote 52 Sales Management

Tips. It is my hope that the insights I share will help

you with the many challenges you face in your

workplace. I have carefully chosen my 52 top tips

based on recurring themes I have seen with my

coaching clients. Over and over again, I find myself

quoting from my list of tried and true tips. After a

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while, I have realized that I could extend my reach and

create a book to share my tips with a wider audience on

coaching to excellence.

I have found that sales managers struggle the most with

how to:

1. Be a more effective coach

2. Handle their boss

3. Hire sales STARS

4. Drive sales performance and

5. Manage different types of people

This book has my top 52 tips of what to do as a sales

manager. It is intended to provide provoking, inspiring

and witty insights from my 20 years of extensive

experience in the area of sales management. My goal is

to share with you a year’s worth of weekly tips to guide

you to success.

I understand that many of you are busy and like me

have short attention spans. This book doesn’t read like

a novel. I have taken my best insights and shared them

with you in a concise, easy to read format. My goal is

not to lecture or speak theoretically. I want to share

with you my best practical tips, the nuggets of truth that

will provide you with the know-how in how to succeed

as a sales manager.

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My bet is that you are going to want to read this book

cover to cover. Each tip can be implemented

immediately or stored for future use when a situation

arises.

I have helped many sales leaders and front line sales

managers’ breakthrough, and I can help you as well. I

want you to achieve the success you desire in a sales

management role. Time and time again the top sales

managers are able to drive sales performance through

people. Managers, who can effectively help their sales

people improve, will rise to the top. Let the tips in this

book be a guide to your success.

I hope you enjoy reading my six free tips.

Click here to purchase 52 Sales Management Tips

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Tip #6: The Power of the Pen

To increase the chance that your sales reps will achieve

a goal they have set for themselves it is critical to have

them commit their plan to paper, write it down! When

people put pen to paper it has two key benefits. Firstly,

they have thought out what specific activities/steps they

need to do to achieve their goal(s) and secondly the

process of writing crystallizes in the brain what they

intend to do. This speaks to commitment. With a

written commitment the sales rep takes ownership of

the outcome.

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Tip #12: Proactively Manage your Boss

Your boss is no different than you. All bosses want to

know two things: one, that you know what your issues

are and, two, that you are doing something about them.

Put yourself in your boss’s shoes. S/he has enough to

worry about. If your boss is spending time wondering

what you are doing about your issues than they are

really questioning whether you are effectively doing

your job.

Before your boss figures out your issues, communicate

and demonstrate that you have a plan to proactively

address them yourself. Remember, the best defence is

an offence.

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Tip #27: Manage Your Own Motivation

Welcome to management. As a rep you lived in a

highly supportive environment. In management the

environment is less supportive and filled with stress. It

is incumbent on you to stay inspired so you can inspire

your sales people. The word inspiration comes from

the Latin word “spiarae” which means to breathe, to

live. I have found that there are many ways to keep

oneself motivated. You can read a leadership book or

take a leadership course. Make sure you take care of

yourself, take mental health days, exercise and eat well.

Regardless which options you choose, it is essential that

you stay inspired because your people need your energy

as a source of motivation.

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Tip #30: Avoid the Plug and Play

OK, you have two candidates that you really like. One

knows the products, customers and the industry. The

other candidate is passionate, driven and eager to prove

themself. The easy answer for a busy manager is to hire

the sales rep that comes with all the experience. But

have you thought about what else they bring to the

table? Have you considered the infamous industry

baggage?

The experienced rep may be easier on the manager for

the first 6 months whereas the driven rep will have a

slower start, but in 6 months he/she will likely have

achieved better sales. Hire attitude over aptitude!

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Tip #42: The Self-Doubter

The Self Doubter: A sales rep that sees and believes

everything they do is wrong.

These reps are extremely challenging to coach. If you

provide direct feedback it may be met with “I already

do that” or reasons why they don’t. The Self Doubter

perceives any critiquing as weakness and personalizes it

as confirmation that they are doing a horrible job!

The trick with this type of individual is to lead them

through a process of self-discovery and improvement.

By asking them a series of questions you can guide

them through a process of self-awareness that will lead

to an “ah ha” moment. This breakthrough may seem

labour-intensive, but the payback is a stronger rep and

increased performance.

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Tip #50: Beware of Failure to Impact Syndrome

Time and time again I have seen it. Sales reps going

through their daily activities like robots. They have

little impact on each call, they just show up and expect

the business. I call this “failure to impact syndrome.”

It is contagious and can spread throughout an entire

sales force. It works as long as the business grows.

Everyone gets high fives and there is no need to dig any

deeper.

But what happens when sales are down and senior

management starts asking questions? Sales managers

struggle to come up with the answers and reps get

nervous.

The cure: Get out in the field and inspire your reps to

be innovative.

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About Steven Rosen:

Steven Rosen, is a sales management expert who

transforms sales managers into great sales coaches.

Steven works with sales executives to hire better reps

and managers, develop sales teams that outperform the

competition, and by doing so achieve greater personal

and professional success.

He has authored many articles in the areas of sales

management coaching and training. He is a regular

contributor to a variety of sales web sites and writes a

sales management blog called, Stirring it Up.

Steven’s mission is to inspire sales leaders, managers

and reps to achieve their full business potential. When

you hire Steven, you get Steven. He has a hands-on

approach and thrives on working directly with his

clients in helping them to discover and achieve their

vision.

Steven knows sales -- inside and out. He’s been in the

trenches and commanded the troops. Steven builds high

performance teams, mentoring senior sales executives

and front line sales managers to grow their businesses

to new heights.

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His results orientated approach to corporate leadership,

strategy development, execution and building high

performance teams in the pharmaceutical and packaged

goods sectors defined his success. His expertise in

aligning sales and marketing initiatives to achieve key

business results and exceed customer expectations has

delivered STAR Results from his days as a sales rep to

his tenure as a VP of sales for two multi-national

pharmaceutical corporations.

He is a high energy and colourful speaker who will

inspire your organization to realise STAR Results.

Skip the learning curve, and let Steven motivate you to

achieve the balance and success you deserve.

If you are ready to achieve STAR results through a

personalized program of leadership coaching, contact

Steven at steven@starresults.com or 905-737-4548.

Click here to purchase 52 Sales Management Tips

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