It’s easy to talk in general terms about how to be a “great” sales manager. But that’s easy to smile and nod and scroll past and forget. We asked ourselves about a few examples and what that really looks like, on a day to day basis in the real world…
-Good Manager seeing calls are down – “Everyone get on the phones!”
-Great Manager seeing calls are down – “What’s going on with the calls, are we having longer conversations? Are we talking to the wrong people? Are our demos down too?”
-Good Manager when a rep says they have nothing to talk about in their 1:1 – “Great, we’ll cancel it and now you have the time back”
-Great Manager when a rep says they have nothing to talk about in their 1:1 – “OK, let’s take a look at a few things I’ve spotted in your messaging”
-Good Manager sees deals aren’t progressing – “You should use pre-emptive quoting on this deal”
-Great Manager sees deals aren’t progressing -”Are you getting hung up on getting specific requirements? How do you think we can change that?”
-Good Manager notices reps are hitting metrics – “Good job team, keep doing what you’re doing”
-Great Manager notices reps are hitting metrics – “Let’s see how we can prioritise your time and get more done”
-Good Manager gives a rep development advice – “You could be aiming for team lead if you make an effort”
-Great Manager gives a rep development advice – “I’d love to see you working towards a team lead position. How about you document the onboarding process and we’ll review it in 2 weeks, then I’ll see about budget for training”
If you’re giving advice to managers, is there a way you can get really specific to show the difference between good and great?