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A Sales Manager may or may not be an outstanding sales person. The important thing is that he or she should be a good manager. This is their individual and unique contribution to their company. The essentials of management are: Measurement or assessment Planning, which includes organising Direction and control Plans, and the direction and control of activities to put the plans into effect, depend on the collection and analysis of information, from which decisions are made. The initial plans (say for 12 months, on which a budget will be based) results from analysis of the market and environmental factors (such as economic conditions) and from the assessment of the resources available to the manager. Control requires an input of information about performance which has to be measured against the standards set in the plans. Where there are discrepancies the manager must decide what to do about them. The two basic requirements for good management (apart from personal qualities which make the manager an acceptable leader) are therefore: Adequate information Decisions which take account of the relevant information Adequate information about markets is hard to get, and the cost of obtaining it may outweigh the advantages of having it. The Sales Manager is therefore often in the position of having to make decisions on the basis of incomplete information or assumptions. They must then rely to some extent on past experience and their own judgement of the probability that this or that will happen. The important thing in these circumstances it to record (preferably in writing) the assumptions that have been made so that, if subsequently information becomes available which falsifies these assumptions, some assessment can be made of consequences for plans based on them. Management Skills: Management, and particularly sales management, operates on and obtains its results from the staff that are managed. This clearly puts emphasis on the behavioural skills required to promote good human relations and helpful attitudes. These skills are developed mainly from:- - An interest in individual needs and points of view - Readiness to direct time and thought to analysing attitudes - A sense of justice or fair dealing - Respect for the personality of others To enable the staff that are managed to develop their abilities profitably for themselves and their company good human relations alone are not enough. The manager has to define tasks, set proper objectives, and maintain firm control. The basic skills required to do these things are: • Analytical Ability Information coming to Sales Managers is of all kinds, from verifiable facts to rumour. It is important to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff, to see the relevance of items of information to one another, and to draw conclusions which seem to fit the facts. Again, when a problem arises it is necessary to analyse it to seek its causes (is it a symptom of something wrong elsewhere?) and establish it’s true importance. • Judgement All their decisions express the judgement of the manager on a situation or a person. Having analysed the available information he must then judicially weigh the evidence in order to decide on the best course of action. Few decisions can be wholly right or wrong. Most involve a balance of advantages and disadvantages - “Trade Offs”. • Communication What is clear to them must be made clear to other people also. They should ask themselves what every individual needs to know, and why, what reaction they expect from them, and how they will know whether it has occurred. Good communication is not only a matter of clear thinking and expression. Since it takes place between at least two people the communicator should be able to see their communication through the recipient’s eyes. And finally let’s identify the core competencies of the very best Sales Managers The Attainment of Targets: Always attaining targets by the time deadlines Knowing what to do and doing it, when performance deviates from plan Ability to Get Things Done: A good “objective” setter, planner and above all controller Always finishing what they start Co-Operation: The ability to work with others in a friendly co-operative manner - inspiring others to co-operate Initiative: Having both the desire and the ability to ornate and develop constructive ideas A self-starter able to work with minimum brief Dependability: Really dependable, thorough and accurate in everything they undertake The Selection of People: Ability to meet manpower quotas and surround themselves with good people Skilled at getting the facts and making good judgements Delegation: Produce results THROUGH others - as opposed to trying to doing everything themselves i.e. delegate wisely Planning and Organising: Have written down objectives and plan in detail HOW those objectives will be attained Anticipate problems and plan HOW they will be overcome Vision: Ability to look well ahead, be a good forecaster and consider the future, its opportunities and problems that will have to be overcome Creativity: Able to generate ideas frequently and always be working out ways and means of ‘doing it better’? ‘Selling’ Company Policies: Absolutely loyal under all conditions and a ‘Company Man/Woman’ Always ‘sell’ rather than ‘tell’ Human Relations: Possess the desire to develop from a “Boss” to a Leader Ensuring that people enjoy working for them and being a good team builder Developing Subordinates: Always practicing what they preach Using all opportunities to show their people the benefits to them of reading, analysing, practising and improving Problem Solving: A positive thinker Able to quickly pinpoint problems, come up with solutions and get the action going Technical Knowledge: Have an exceptional understanding of their speciality area and continually striving to improve that knowledge and keep up-to-date Management Knowledge: Have a sound knowledge of modern management techniques applicable to their field and continually developing themselves in this area Knowledge of Policies: Have a complete understanding of company policies and procedures Common-Sense: Have a highly mature approach to most situations, have and exercise a great deal of commonsense Enthusiasm: Possess a zest for the job and always seen to be enthusiastic Smile easily and have a positive, eager and responsive attitude Ability to Work Under Pressure: Be able to maintain enthusiasm and good attitudes when the going is tough Summary Pick up a typical report and what words do you find? Verbs like analyse, forecast, plan, assess and schedule are used in pursuit of organisations that are efficient, productive and predictable. What set of people are required? Obviously, people who are efficient, effective, proficient, competent, productive and co-operative. But we believe we need to go beyond – we need to be inspired, motivated, creators, who are enthusiastic and able to consistently deliver against our key objectives. We should be developing individuals who are not afraid to challenge paradigms, who are prepared to go that extra yard in search of excellence and who understand that success is 80% attitude and only 20% aptitude. The moral right of the author, Jonathan Farrington, has been asserted. 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Article Source: http://www.associatedigest.com
Jonathan Farrington is a business coach, mentor, author, and consultant who has helped hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world achieve their full potential and consequently, optimum performance levels in his capacity as Managing Partner of The jfa Group – www.jf-assocs.com Jonathan formed jfa in 1995, with the primary objective to deliver unique leadership and sales team development programmes to both the corporate and SME sectors. Since then, he has authored in excess of three hundred skills development programmes, designed a range of unique and innovative process tools and written extensively on organisational and sales team development. www.jonathanfarrington.com
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