Sales POP - Purveyors of Propserity
7 Key Responsibilities of Sales Managers
Blog / Sales Management / Jun 24, 2015 / Posted by Tom Searcy / 30735

7 Key Responsibilities of Sales Managers

The B2B buying process is shifting, and as a result, selling as we know it has shifted, too. Until lately, salespeople had a lot of control. Armed with a territory, price structure, and targets, they could roam, free-range style, so long as they managed their territory and produced results. Sales management provided oversight, bridged with corporate, and could be hands-off unless support was needed. But today sellers are different — and sales managers need to adapt.

The “State of Sales Productivity 2015” study by Docurated found that only one-third of a sales rep’s day is actually spent selling, while another third of their time is spent searching for or creating content. Twenty percent goes to reporting, administrative, and CRM-related tasks. According to an IKO System study, 82% of sales reps now feel challenged by the amount of data and the time it takes to research a prospect.

If you want to thrive in this new era of sales, it is now up to you as a sales manager to think of territories, customers, and products as if they were a financial portfolio that you’ve invested in. You need to monitor the people, the money, and the allocation of time and resources expended in order to be sure things are moving along on track.

Since your salespeople are part of that investment, you have owned their calendar, workflow, and time management. This is not micromanagement, because the rep doesn’t “own” the investment — the company does.  After the death of selling as we know it, your role must adapt.

Here are 7 responsibilities that you own now:

Selecting Targets

Salespeople are capable and willing to talk to anyone, so you have to steer them to the right people. Are they talking to the decision-makers who have authority and budget for expenditures? With your sales leadership, define and use a filter for the most likely candidates for successful deals.

Defining Priorities

Help your sales force prioritize what opportunities they pursue and how much time and effort they spend on them. Help them understand which leads are key opportunities — real and relevant to the current circumstances.

Defining Time Guidelines

Set and enforce guidelines for how sellers spend their time. Meandering aimlessly through territory or conducting leisurely “check-in” sweeps is unproductive. Salespeople should be directed to take a strategic and surgical approach to identify and pursue targets.

Monitoring Compliance

You are responsible for providing data that allows you and other leaders in the organization to monitor what is happening in the marketplace regarding customers, competitors and surrounding regulations and technology shifts. Consistency in the execution of a sales process gives data to the organization that clarifies what works and what does not. We’re not talking about activity management and monitoring for its own sake. Your focus should be working toward compliance in the sales process to protect the integrity of the data captured so everyone has relevant data for good decision-making.

Navigating the Terrain

Your sales process is the basis of action, but it’s only the start — a two-dimensional representation of a sequential process. The third dimension is using data (including variant data) from the sales process to assess the marketplace. Sometimes you’ll need a covert op — a team of select salespeople — to find out new information. Then it’s up to you to analyze what they bring back and use that information to up the game.

Securing Resources

There will be occasions when competing priorities (including those of other departments) derail progress on landing business. It’s your responsibility to make sure significant opportunities are visible to leadership. You need to take the actions that secure these deals from impeding parties inside your organization, and see that your people have the resources they need for a successful sale.

Knowing When (and When NOT) to Expedite

It’s your job to expedite—and to know when not to expedite. Like the “boy who cried wolf,” people may become jaded to repetitive intervention on your part. ” For the sake of the organization, your reputation (and that of your team), you’ll need to decide when an opportunity needs to be expedited, and when everyone should simply follow the normal sales process.

 

About Author

Tom Searcy is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and the foremost expert in large-account sales. His methods of unlocking explosive growth were developed through years of real-world success growing companies from less than $10 million to up to $200 million using a sales system he developed and implemented.

Author's Publications on Amazon

Warren Buffett didn't become the world's third wealthiest individual on his investing instincts alone. Buffett is a master dealmaker. In fact, one of his greatest single successes came when he closed multiple deals to own 100 percent of the Government Employees Insurance Company--also known as…
Buy on Amazon
Could you close $100,000 - $1,000,000 business-to-business sales if you were not allowed to visit your customer face-to-face? Business changes were already occurring in sales, but are now accelerated. In a world of corporate travel restrictions, global concerns about meetings and the always diminishing availability…
Buy on Amazon
It is estimated that almost 1 million jobs will be eliminated in the traditional role of “salesperson” in the next 5 years in the United States. The signs of change are all around us. Buying processes have been altered in very specific and critical ways.…
Buy on Amazon
It used to be that you could ignore RFPs. Only a small portion of the market used them in their buying process and you could work around those companies. Today, governance rules dictated by boards and administered by finance have made RFPs and RFQs a…
Buy on Amazon
Full of self-deprecating humor and unrelenting optimism, Trades is the anthology of a hopelessly awkward yet adventurous soul. This book provides an intimate and honest look at an amazingly fortuitous yet inauspicious life. From motorcycle racing in Bangkok to encounters with international secret service agents…
Buy on Amazon
Tom Searcy is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and the foremost expert in large account sales.
Buy on Amazon
Using the ancient Inuit whale hunt as a metaphor for big sales, Whale Hunting gives you a clear nine-phase model for successfully finding, landing, and harvesting whale-sized sales account the kind of sales that transform your business. Here, you'll learn how to turn the dangerous…
Buy on Amazon
Using the ancient Inuit whale hunt as a metaphor for big sales, Whale Hunting gives you a clear nine-phase model for successfully finding, landing, and harvesting whale-sized sales account the kind of sales that transform your business. Here, you'll learn how to turn the dangerous…
Buy on Amazon
..
..
.
Sales Process Automation
.
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. For information on cookies and how you can disable them, visit our privacy and cookie policy.