By Trevin Bensko-Wecks

Managing a sales team effectively is difficult. Many sales managers find themselves promoted to the position directly from sales because of their outstanding individual sales performance. They often have no previous management experience and are given little training to develop leadership skills. In the absence of direction and development they’re usually compelled to take control of their sales force rather than develop and lead it. Here is a list of the top 7 mistakes made by sales managers, and how to overcome them:

* Micromanaging. While delegation is an exceptional tool for experienced leaders, it is extremely difficult for inexperienced managers to grasp. In the absence of confidence and self-awareness they frequently attempt to control every facet of a salespersons work day. They often base these instructions on what worked well for them in their own sales careers without taking into account individual strengths, personalities, habits and learning styles. Instead of removing roadblocks they create them, making a salespersons job more difficult and less rewarding. Efficiency, effectiveness and moral all suffer as a result.
* Creating blanket policies. Issues that arise in management are often specific to an individual salesperson(s) rather than the team as a whole. Individual conversations take time however, and can be uncomfortable. Sales managers tend to avoid confrontation by issuing blanket policies and communications that negatively impact the entire team. The team doesn’t understand the reason for the policy/communication and as a result, feels unjustly suppressed. Mean while the individual(s) that was the cause never has the benefit of a direct conversation enabling them to understand the root issue and participate in the discovery of a solution.
* Requiring excessive paperwork & reporting. Insisting that all team members produce exhaustive reports about their daily activities is both inefficient and ineffective. While call activity might be an important coaching opportunity for a new salesperson, it probably isn’t a good use of time for your top performer(s). “What’s good for one is good for all” is nonsense. Team members should be assessed on an individual basis and asked to report on information that can positively impact them. Make sure the information tracked is relevant and important to their success and give them access to any tools and technology that can increase the efficiency of their reporting.
* Allowing mediocrity. There are almost always people on a sales team that will never perform at a high level, regardless of how much training and technology is invested in them. Evaluate people fairly but if it’s clear that they aren’t going to cut it, get rid of them. Putting off the inevitable is not good for them or the company.
* Not providing enough 1-on-1 time. We all have different strengths, personalities, learning styles, and needs. For sales people to grow they need individual attention and help. Figure out a way to get time alone with every member of your team regularly and consistently. Review the information you intend to discuss a day in advance – this will help you do a better job of listening and discovering areas of need. It’s no different than selling; if you don’t understand their needs, you can’t show them how you can be a benefit to them.
* Not spending enough time on the street. To really understand how a sales team is performing managers need to get out on the street with them. There isn’t a coach in the world that shows up for practice but skips the game. The field is where we see theory put into practice, and it’s where true coachable moments appear.
* Not listening. Telling team members how to perform better isn’t the same as teaching them how. We have to listen to fully understand issues, roadblocks, and what the solutions might be. There is always something to learn, even for managers.
* Not giving credit. Sales managers too often assume that they have to prove their worth by demonstrating the effectiveness of their own efforts. The reality is that managements effectiveness is reflected in the performance of the team. Give credit where credit is do. Promote the successes of individuals and of the team. It boosts their confidence and moral, and shows that you are more concerned with the success of the company than with your own success.

It’s difficult to manage a sales team effectively, but by identifying common mistakes and working hard to correct them, over the course of time, sales managers will find themselves capable of elevating individuals and teams to a new level of success.

Sales Manager Duties: Is being on Twitter one of them? Here are 10 Reasons why it should be.

As a sales manager your duties are many and varied never more so than now in the new business economy. The question is will updating Twitter be one of them.

Now that is an interesting one. Am I on twitter? the answer is yes. Have I found any value? Actually yes. For another part of our business.

The value of twitter is really rapid communication in 140 characters or less. Now that really does focus the mind.

The question I would ask you is what would be your outcome for signing up for twitter be is it part of your overall long range plan or strategy?

If it is then go for it. If not could it be?

Lets just think of some top reasons Twitter could help you:

1. It generates leads for you. Period. People you can then direct message. How good is that!

2. Its friendly to techno phobes and non geeks.

3. It gives free advertising to you, your product or service no outrageous PPC fees or yellow page advertising. Basically it costs
nothing to join.

4. You can search for contacts using an advanced search.

Type in a key word and it will bring up all the conversations going on with that word..amazing?. So say you are interested in
one particular type of customer e.g. real estate put that in your search.You will then see a list of people.
Have a look at them and their profile if they look interesting follow them. Top tip follow the people they follow as well.

5. The law of reciprocity works. If you follow some one they will follow you back. Therefore a potential new customer. It is one
of the easiest ways to develop a tribe of followers

6. Building relationships to create wealth. Easy to do with Twitter. Don’t just twitter about your product all the time with
every tweet…boring and a great way to switch people off. Reveal a little more about you. What you like doing.
Share some free resources, top tips.This way you wiil get noticed.

I unfollow people who straight away say ” go and look at my free report” Long term sales growth comes from building
a relationship first never forget that

7. Use your communications i.e. Tweets as a way to add value to potential customers.Use somethin like www.tinycc.com to short url websites you are sharing. This will save you lots of characters!

8. With a focussed attitude it does not take much time. Check out ping.fm.

Sign up for a free account. You can even manage to tweet from your phone by SMS text in you live in the US.
In fact with ping.fm you can link all your social network accounts.

9. Make sure you have a compelling bio that draws people in and ideally a website url that offers something of value.

10. It enhances your brand helps people get a sense of you and your service. Costs very little time or effort.

It is really easy to sign up to. A top tip is go and get yourself a google mail account it is really easy to do and will help you stream line all those people that start following you when you sign up to twitter.

There are many guides out there about twitter. PLus some different software programmes some free and some paid that help you generate followers on auto pilot. Easy Tweets is one that is very popular.

Then log in and either use your own name as we do or?? why not use a keywod that is associated with your product or service offering.

So that is very much top line. to get you started. I have linked to a couple of low cost resources you can buy.

One a guide with instructional videos.

The other some software to fast track your results.

Or just google twitter advice or guides. It will get you started.

To you and your teams success

Best Wishes

Denise and Sharon