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SALESMANAGEMENTU

Sales Manager: Job Title or Specialized Skill?

Narrowing your focus to industry insiders leaves talented prospects on the sideline

By Lee B. Salz

One of the most critical decisions a company makes is hiring the right sales manager. When hiring a sales manager, many executives make the common mistake of restricting their search to those with industry experience. Sales managers do the same thing when filling middle management or regional sales manager positions. They feel that a sales manager must come from within the industry in order to be successful. Hogwash!

The end result of this approach is that companies hire industry retreads. You may as well state, "No new ideas permitted" in the job posting, because that is what you get when you limit your search to industry people only.

Company executives who fall into this trap think their industry is so unique and has so many nuances that the new manager must have industry background. The fact is that most industry information can be taught. Product knowledge is not the main driver in a successful salesperson, nor is it the primary one for the successful sales manager.

CEOs successfully move from one Fortune 1000 company to another based on their CEO acumen, not their industry knowledge. Similarly, top sales managers have a specialized skill set that, often times, is portable into any industry.

The role of the sales manager is to be both a leader and a manager, which are not usually skills developed in the womb. They are cultivated and developed through training and experience. Some of the elements that companies should be focused on when hiring the right sales manager include:

Recruitment - The best sales managers are on a never-ending quest for strong talent. You need to understand your company's process for screening sales candidates. How do they prime the applicant pump? Can they develop a profile of the ideal salesperson? What is their process for evaluating candidates against the profile? Recruitment is a  very important arrow in the sales manager's quiver.

Onboarding - Another key skill of a sales manager is his method for quickly assimilating new salespeople into the organization. What is the strategy to minimize the amount of time that new salespeople are in a non-revenue generating capacity? What is the plan to make them productive in the least amount of time?

Metrics - What gets measured gets done. The wonderful aspect of sales is that there is so much data that can be reviewed to understand trends and make changes to the business. How has a candidate used metrics to affect the performance of the team? What is her approach to scrutinize a sales pipeline or forecast?

Skill Development - It's easy for salespeople to develop bad habits. Thus, it is critical that a sales manager have a skill development plan for his team. What is the candidate's approach for developing his team members? How does he inspire the overachievers to continue to overachieve? How does he manage the underperformers?

Leadership - Strong sales managers are also leaders. Their salespeople not only want to be successful for themselves, but also for their manager. How does this sales management candidate create an environment where others are inspired to follow them and their teachings? Leadership skills and sales force retention work hand-in-hand. Strong leaders keep their strong players on the team for the long haul.

In addition to cultural fit, using these seven key elements when hiring should help put leadership in place that can create a strong, scalable organization with fresh ideas. Taking this approach will help your company develop long-lasting, fruitful sales marriages.
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Lee B. Salz is the CEO of Business Expert Webinars and President of Sales Architects, as well as the author of Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager (W Business Books, 2007). He is a dynamic keynote speaker and a results-driven business consultant. Salz can be reached via e-mail at lsalz@SalesArchitecture.com or by phone at 763-416-4321..
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