Sales Managers Must Manage

published in Top Sales Magazine, February 2019
Probably the most common complaint I’ve heard throughout my career from C-level executives about their sales colleagues concerns the latter’s ability to manage, not sell.
As one senior executive puts it, “I want sales executives: people with one eye on a sales number [and] another eye on serving a market, making customers successful, and representing the company.” The complaint concerns sales managers’ inability or unwillingness to embrace this role and “own the business” as well as the top line.
Nearly every firm has examples of successful salespeople who are poor managers because they persist in their behaviors as reps rather than managers. There are inherent challenges in selecting and developing sales managers. Moreover, multiple factors are making this a bigger, more visible issue with implications for building and sustaining a career as a sales executive.
What Sales Managers (Should) Do. Frontline sales managers hire reps and influence