Sales Directors tell us these challenges are a constant. But one thing is always a variable: the capabilities of the Sales Managers and Salespeople working under your direction. You rely on them. Their success means your success. Their effectiveness is the fulcrum through which you try to leverage best practices and grow your business.

However, while you hand-picked some since you became the Manager, you inherited others. It’s fair to say not all are as savvy, hard-working or loyal as you’d like them to be. Results are patchy. And it’s not surprising when you look at the statistics.

76% of today’s Sales Managers used to be Salespeople. But being a top seller doesn’t automatically equip a person to recruit, structure, coach, lead or compensate a sales team. In fact:

• Less than 19% are tested for leadership, responsibility & accountability before being offered a Sales Manager role.

• Less than 6% receive a handover from the outgoing manager.

• Less than 11% are trained for the new job—despite a sales manager role being 72% different to a selling role.

So what becomes of most Sales Managers?

• 44% become “super reps” who never let go of selling, parachute in to the big deals, and put out endless fires (many of which they create). Reps working for these managers average 43% of quota.

• 35% become “spreadsheet jockeys” who command & control from behind a desk, out of touch with their people. Reps working for these managers average 67% of quota.

• 21% become “catalysts” who manage the metrics, lead the people, and follow a process. They’re in control, and inspire results. Reps working for these managers achieve a minimum 107% of quota.



The Emperor’s New Clothes

As a consequence, some teams hit target while others come nowhere near. This volatility would be headline news in other mission-critical functions. Imagine a surgeon, accountant, or pilot who failed half the time! So why is the standard of acceptance different in the salesforce?

In Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale The Emperor's New Clothes, two rogues convince a vain leader they can dress him in beautiful clothes, visible only to those fit for their high positions. But there are no robes or silks; the emperor is walking around naked. The hoax works because of the townspeople’s complicity in keeping up appearances. It takes a child's innocence to call out as false the illusion everyone else was pretending to see.

Ultimately as the Sales Director/VP Sales, it’s your responsibility to see things as they really are, remove risk from the sales equation, and call attention to legacy practices or poor workflows that create risk for the enterprise. Sometimes you simply have to call out what’s not working, and deal with it instead of putting up with it.

SalesLabs is the world leader in sales transformation. As an offshoot from consulting giant Ernst & Young, our proprietary research provides insights to scale a successful enterprise.

Our ideas are published by McGraw-Hill as bestselling sales books. Our award-winning training courses are modern and fresh, used by sales professionals in more than 50 countries to out-think and out-sell their competitors. Our clients have achieved more than $50bn in measurable uplift as a result of our training, deal reviews, and presentation drills. We're the only sales training firm experienced and independent enough to be trusted by Edward Elgar Publishing to compile the new Encyclopedia of Sales and Sales Management, due for publication in 2025.

But our most meaningful contribution to Sales Managers/Directors/VP Sales is the work we do turning them, their direct reports and management peers into more effective strategists, skills coaches and process leaders. Sometimes that begins by privately coaching sales managers on how to sell today. Usually the market has evolved since those now in top manager jobs carried their first quota, and the things that worked in their own sales career may not still be the things that work today. Having the wisdom and humility to stay on top is this is key to maintaining credibility and true effectiveness.

Call to Action

If all your Sales Managers and Salespeople operated like your top 20% do, would your company reduce its risk and lift revenue? Of course it would. We propose to be your partner in driving that change. It's something we do very well.

Areas we tune and improve include:

1. Identification of revenue growth roadblocks.
2. Redesign of the end-to-end sales process.
3. Redesign of your sales funnel metrics.
4. Sizing your optimal team headcount.
5. Sales recruitment & onboarding.
6. Building a culture of accountability.
7. Coaching on sales accompaniments. 
8. Sales opportunity reality checks.
9. Spotting forecasting errors early.
10. Talent retention and targeted motivation.
11. Key account coaching.
12. Sales opportunity coaching.
13. Selling to executives coaching.
14. Running better sales meetings.

Our approach is unique. It's evidence-based. It works. And we guarantee it.

Don't you want to know more?