Congratulations, you just got promoted. You built and managed a successful sales territory, and now your leaders what you to lead the sales team. Great. Now all you need to do is “teach” everyone on the sales team to do what you did…right? No problem. You managed a successful sales territory; teaching others to do the same thing should be easy…right? Anyway, you will be there to go on calls with them….right? If they can’t adapt, you can always find someone else….right? Everything is going to be fine…right? No problem…right?
No – not correct. This new manager is headed for failure, and they will be taking your sales team with them.
Moving a salesperson to a sales manager is a risky process. Success in the territory is not a predictor of success as a manager. Evidence supports the notion that promoting your best salesperson often results in hiring a bad sales manager while losing a good salesperson.
As the emphasis and pressure on the sales function grow, so does the role of the sales manager in leading the company’s revenue generation. The sales manager’s job has to be one of the toughest and most important in management. Salespeople’s future success depends on their sales manager’s ability to develop their skills more than any other business variable. The sales manager is the “critical link” between the company’s senior leadership and the “revenue generating” sales team.
So why do we continue to find great salespeople elevated into leadership roles with little to no consideration for training them for their new roles? Here are some of the “whys” we hear:
“AB knows the company and our customers,,, and AB is our best sales rep.”
“AB is a great sales person with the potential to be a great leader; just give the reps the direction they need and track their performance; what else do they need?”
“We don’t have the time or money to spend on training our managers; we learn on the job.”
“I used to run sales; I will train AB.”
You can insert your own “whys,” but the fact remains that the biggest WHY is…..
Why would you not plan, invest and implement a sales management training program to ensure your sales manager’s (as well as your company’s) success?
The research and our experience tell us that attracting, retaining, and satisfying the development needs of sales managers is critical to assuring the company’s long-term survival – with an emphasis on development.
It would be best if you didn’t think that no one does sales training because sales training is being conducted; according to a 2009 study, over $15 billion was spent annually on sales and sales management training. While estimates for sales management training are not broken out, according to the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), they estimate that 9% of the total spending is devoted to management and supervisor training. In our practice, the on-the-job training (OJT) approach is frequently used. While OJT is one of the most effective training approaches (Lambert 2009), it also consumes vast resources. When you consider the hundreds of competencies a sales manager must master to be successful, if OJT is your only training approach, you will be at it for a considerable time at a high cost. Sales managers are not just “born but are also made” into successful sales leaders. Coming from the sales ranks, the new sales manager soon realizes they have a team to develop, and the new job requires a different set of skills than the ones that got them there.
So what are the best ingredients for sales manager training?
In their study, The Training of Sales Managers: Current Practices, Geoffrey Gordon, Northern Illinois University; C. David Shepard, Georgia Southern University; Brian Lambert, Forrester Research; Rick Ridnour and Dan Wellbaker, both from Northern Illinois University, conducted a study to examine sales manager’s training approaches, methods, and instructors as well as their perceived effectiveness, frequency, and assessment. They performed their analysis with over 300 sales professionals polled from large (+$69B revenue) and small ($500,000 revenue) companies across various services, services, and products and products-based companies.
Training Approaches and Types of Instructors
Approaches
OJT was used by 78% of the participants and was rated the most effective approach. Two approaches coming in second and third were mentoring by senior sales managers (71%) and other managers (51%). Indeed, these resources are native to all organizations and should be used in a well-planned sales management training program. Smaller companies tend to use mentoring, and larger firms use technology and online learning more. However, both large and small companies preferred OJT due to its practicality – successful sales professionals passing along their wisdom. Remember that while it is perceived as the most effective, it should not be your only sales management training approach.
Types of Instructors
Senior sales managers, staff trainers, and senior salespeople were the top 3 resources for training sales managers. Senior sales managers were deemed the most effective (3.79% on a 1-7 scale), followed by staff trainers (3.73%) and senior salespeople (3.69%). These “instructors” are perceived as the most knowledgeable since they have “walked” in similar shoes.
Methodology
Roleplay, field travel, and workshops were the most popular and perceived as the most effective training methodologies (roleplay = 4.63%, field travel = 4.3%, and workshops = 4.18%). As one manager in the study put it, “It is always best to learn how to manage when you are working with or observing others who are either in or have been facing similar situations. Therefore, traininge, traininge, training should be as hands on as possible.”
Topics for Training
The research highlighted 32 training topics, with the ten below receiving the most training time:
- Performance reviews
- Setting Standards and Goals
- Motivational Skills
- Business Ethics
- Forecasting
- Team Building
- Conducting Meetings
- Problem-Solving
- National Account Management
- Time Management
Time and Frequency
The last area researched dealt with the length of time spent training and the frequency of the training encounters and the amount of time varied widely, with 34% of companies providing up to 5 days of training during the first year to 25% of companies providing 16+ days of training during the first year. After the first year, the time devoted to training dropped off. 64% of companies providing up to 5 days of training, and only 7% provide more than 16 days of training per year, post-first year.
Ongoing training was provided by 50% of the companies to their new sales managers (<1yr) every quarter, while over one third provide ongoing quarterly training to their sales managers after the first year. Most companies (71%) offered ongoing sales manager training at least once a year. Follow-up after initial training was the norm by the companies polled. As one sales manager said, “..the shelf life of a good training program is only 5 weeks.”
The Takeaways
- All companies engage in some level of sales management training. The difference is in the degree of engagement. Even with those who acknowledge that they provide only a little sales management training, there is an awareness that sales manager training is “needed.”
- Provide sales management training in the field by either a sales manager senior to the individual being trained or by someone more knowledgeable on a specific topic than the individual being trained. Hands-on training by a “seasoned professional” was deemed the most effective in the field.
- Training methods need to be highly interactive and “participative.” Roleplaying was identified as the most effective method. It allows for “customized simulation” and “immediate feedback,” which result in “specific skills building and rich discussion.”
- Focus on using internal sales training resources first. Internal sales training resources were perceived to be more effective than outside resources. Outside resources should be brought in when you do not have the internal expertise or experience to supplement your internal resources.
- Varied training delivered by diverse instructors (both internal and external) should be used. Just as a successful salesperson may not be a successful sales manager, all sales managers do not possess the skills necessary to teach others.
- (this one is my favorite) There is no “flavor of the day” related to the required content in an effective sales manager training program. The study evaluated 32 content topics. There is no off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all commercial sales training program that touches on all issues, 40% of which were deemed necessary by the study’s participants. From P&L management to sexual harassment to managing diversity and quota setting, each company must look at its needs and build a “customized” sales manager training program that fits its needs. This is not an “instant gratification” undertaking. Spend the time and resources, and your company will be rewarded.
- Company leadership must support post-training issues if fundamental change is to occur. If the sales manager is not held accountable for changes in behavior post-training, then the desired change will not happen.
- Establish goals and continually evaluate your sales management training programs. Make these specific to your organization. Do not skip this critical step.
- Sales managers must be open to the notion that they can learn from others across various industries. The study points out the similarities between the participant companies. Whether a service, service/product or product-only organization, large or small, all had similar challenges and approaches to their sales management training. Look beyond your own industry for training methodologies that work. Adopt them where you can into your program.
High-quality sales management is a competitive advantage. Therefore, companies should do everything possible to design and implement sales management development programs that improve the number and quality of sales managers. High-performance sales managers are an essential element of the high-performance sales team.
When you think about sales effectiveness at your organization, does it seem like you are close but just missing those unique elements that give you that competitive edge? Looking for a way to understand how your buyer thinks, decides, and reveals information? At The Nova Consulting Group, we believe that professional selling is a craft. With the Advanced Sales Conversation©, you have those missing elements that move your salespeople from competency to mastery. With our deep understanding of what makes and sustains high-performance organizations, we provide integrated solutions that do not replace your sales methodology and yet advance a progressive selling mindset. Be bolder, more insightful, and get results. To learn more about how to master the craft of sales and encourage sustainable high performance, call (617) 933-7249 or email info@novaconsultinggrp.com.
