Saad Elhalafawy2nd Feb 2017From: CSE text bookSMEI-USA

Supervising, Managing, and Leading Salespeople individually and in teams

Learning objectives:

• Explain & describe the difference between sales supervision, management & leadership

• Identify the skills & abilities a person needs to become a good sales manager• Understand the elements of teamwork & how to successfully develop & work

with teams including those that are virtual

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Supervising

• Supervision is generally used today to refer to time spent working with employees to be certain they are aware of the responsibilities of their job & to perform them correctly

• Because of the independent nature of the sales job, most of the supervisory activities sales managers engage in occur when they are working with new hires

• It is a simple but potentially time consuming task that should not be taken lightly , as it is a critical element of sales manager’s responsibility

• Supervision was an important element in managers position when “management” was first studied, and it continue to be in the 21th century although the term supervision is seldom heard today!

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Supervising

• Supervising people performing new tasks include the following:• Observe• Offer suggestions & feedback• Assist• Time for “Hands on”• Coaching• Counseling• Helping to answer questions & handle objections

• Sometimes sales managers don’t supervise new hires, more experienced sales personnel do “delegation”, who can be referred to as a first line manager in some companies

• Technology (CRM) is another source of supervisory assistance, to track an employee’s daily activities, how an employee is progressing, achieving his/her objectives during the call, using his/her time wisely….

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MANAGING

• More experienced sales people usually don’t require supervisoin. They more do need to manage their work responsibilities to achieve the goal of their sales organization unit

• Managing sales force requires the sales manager to be skilled in several areas including:• Setting objectives or their units & sales perolpe• Organize the tasks• Motivating the sales force• Problem solving• Developing a budget to support team (incentive plan)• Organizing & staffing sales force (how, who, whom..)• Training, developing, coaching• Measuring & analyzing performance of the sales force• Taking corrective actions• Problem solving

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Sources of Power

• To accomplish their goals, sales managers need power, which can stem from different sources

• The amount of power a leader had with their team varied depending on:• The compositing of the team• The skill set of the individual manager or the leader

• The 2 sources of power are:A. Formal:

1. Legitimate power: the power given to a particular position2. Reward power: the ability to distribute rewards3. Coercive power: power to withhold rewards, negative verbal, the least.4. Informational power: from the ability to access & control info that other people don’t

have

B. Informal:1. Expert power2. Referent power3. Charismatic power

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SOURCES OF POWER

• Which source of power is most effective for sales manager to use?

Without some formal power the SM have a very limited ability to direct the efforts of his/her sales reps.But also, sales managers with only formal power might find that their sales reps are just minimally dedicated to their jobs.

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Ethics in Sales Management

• Ideally leaders work to achieve good work outcomes• Unethical practice includes practices that lead to either:

• Incapability to achieve those outcomes, or• Working toward outcomes that benefit themselves versus their organizations,

customers, teams or the general public

• Researches showed 7 traits associated with bad leaders:1. Incompetent: lacking the well or skill to sustain effective actions2. Rigid: stiff, unyielding, unwilling to adapt to new ideas, info or changing times3. Intemperate: lacking self-control4. Callus: uncaring or unkind, ignoring the needs of the team or the organization5. Corrupt: lies, cheats, steals for his/her self interest6. Insular: minimizing the welfare of those outside his small group7. Evil: disregarding the worth of others

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The Up-Close perspective: Becoming the BOSS

• Misperceptions around being the manager or the boss are as follow:1. Is that their jobs will revolve around implementing their own ideas, while it should

be more about working together & combining everyone’s ideas2. Power will come from their positions, while it comes more from their informal basis

of power. Controlling people is not as important as getting their commitment3. Managing one-on-one through building relations with individual subordinates. The

right is to create a culture to clear the path and allow the group to fulfill its potential & make great achievement

• Experts recommend the Low-Key entry• Once SM established in his/her position, should always work to improve &

expand their expertise in terms of people management skills

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• Behaviors that new SM should find actionable & would serve him well:1. Clarify the direction your business is taking2. Set goals & objectives3. Give frequent, specific & immediate feedback4. Be decisive & timely5. Be accessible6. Demonstrate honesty7. Offer an equitable compensation plan

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From the perspective of sales rep..

• What it takes to be a good SM from the perspective of your team:

1. Flexible: work through people & doing the job themselves2. A good communicator: available, can offer immediate help, has an open-door

policy3. Works for the good of the team4. Considered trustworthy: through actions & examples5. Can motivate & lead the team: by formal (rewards & recognition) & informal

actions (offering feedback & assistance)

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LEADING

• Poor SMs can cost a company millions of dollars (10-20 M$/year!!)

• 2/3 of sales vice presidents surveyed indicated that 40% of their sales leaders were not meeting expectations & cited the lack of leadership & coaching skills as the source of their failure

• Studies found that sales force whose manager thinks strategically, provides coaching & feedback to his salespeople, and creates a motivating environment perform much better than others!

• Firms are demanding higher level of leadership & management skills than in the past. The 1st line SM role has changed to become more of training, coaching & development role versus a super salsman

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What leadership competencies SM need

A. Coaching:• Imagine with & without!• How many times/week or month

• Guidelines for coaching:

1. Prepare & observe2. Give feedback: use open ended Q, avoid Y or N. Be specific3. Be a role model: demonstrate the desired behaviour4. Follow up5. Trust: to know other personal problems that may need counseling

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A. Mentoring: it is a long term relationship in which a senior person supports the personal & professional development of a junior person• It doesn’t have a reporting relationship• Can be formally established or more developed informally• “it gives you a leg up because you learn things that are not in any book”

B. Ability to organize & work effectively with teams

C. Being a team member:1. Get invloved2. Generate ideas3. Be willing to collaborate4. Be willing to lead initiatives5. Develop leaders as you develop6. Stay current7. Anticipate market changes8. Drive your own growth

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Virtual teams

• Select the technology

• Communicate frequently

• Track down members who are not participating

• Have agreed-upon ground rules for team’s interaction

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