These 3 Things Make a Great Sales Manager

By Greta Schulz

Q. I have been a CEO of a tech company for over 10 years. I have been overseeing our sales team myself, and now it’s too much with my other responsibilities. My question is, how do I hire the best person to build our team and hit our goals?

A. Congratulations on the success you’ve had. There are several things that help you build your team, but a sales director is the most important hire you’ll make.

• Hire right. We often fall for a great résumé. But experience doesn’t necessarily mean past success—and often doesn’t. Best advice? Search for someone currently working and not looking for a job. Approach them about talking to you. If you continue to do this, when they become frustrated at their current job, they will call you.

• Create accountabilities through a sales process right away. No matter what a sales director has done in the past, if you create your own processes, you will manage easier, identify issues quicker and be able to coach to success more quickly. It’s not “babysitting” to know what your salespeople are doing. Your responsibility is to create activity tools, track those activities and use this to coach to success.

• Understand the difference between management and leadership. You manage things, you lead people. People are not led by telling. They are led best by laying out a plan, creating accountabilities and leading to success. This also is where true motivation of the team will come into play. Once the groundwork is created and understood, ask questions about what they would do and help them engage with you, don’t dictate what you would do.

Want more information on leading a sales team? Go to www.salesleadersalliance.com.

Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business, a sales consulting and training firm. She is the best-selling author of “To Sell is NOT to Sell” and works with Fortune 1000 companies and entrepreneurs. For more information or free sales tips, go to schulzbusiness.com and sign up for “GretaNomics,” a weekly video tip series, or email sales questions to greta@schulzbusiness.com.