Ch 6: Supervising, Managing, & Leading Salesppl Individually & in Teams

What is Supervising

sales managers observe & direct employee to understand responsibilities of jobs; how to carry out responsibilities correctly.

first line Sales manager

Managers who have individual employees reporting to them and not other managers.

Managing

• Require skills in:

  • Setting objectives

  • Organize tasks to achieve objectives

  • Motivate salesforce

  • Identify & resolve problems.

• Organize & staff salesforce.

• Measure & analyze performance.

Formal Power

• Given on basis of position a person holds in organization; authority given to accomplish his or her job.

• ex: legitimate, reward, coercive, political, informational

Informal Power

Power one has as result of skills, personalities, disposition & sociability levels; can exert more influence than person with only formal power.

• ex: expert, referent, charismatic, connection, moral

Legitimate

formal power

• power given to a particular position to make decisions regarding employment, budgeting, etc.

reward

formal power

• ability to distribute rewards such as desirable territories, gifts, or promotions.

Coercive

formal power

• ability to distribute rewards; typically creates resentment & resistance.

Informational

formal power

• derived from ability to access & control info that others don’t have.

political

formal power

• results from one’s ability to engage in personal & political behaviors.

Expert

informal power

•  Based on a person’s knowledge, skills, & expertise.

Referent

informal power

• based on the degree to which a person is liked due to personalities & interpersonal skills.

Charismatic

informal power

• Based on individual being strongly admired due to personality, physical attractiveness, and other factors.

Connection

informal power

• Based on being acquainted with powerful or well-connected people.

Moral power

informal power

• Ability to lead others based on perceived moral stature.

What will your boss be looking for in 1st manager role?

• Updates about your sales unit’s results, ppl, & selling context. Know your ppl (strengths/weaknesses) & their numbers (results).

• Status of prospecting pipeline & how ppl are performing relative to their specific goals.

• Any roadblocks that are barriers to achieving unit’s goals.

• Who your top performers are & how their methods might be transferred to team as a whole.

• Who your bottom performers are, why they’re substandard, & what actions you have to help them perform better.

• Your plans for coaching over next period (who you will coach & on what dates).

Monthly Questions for New Sales Manager

• Probability of achieving unit’s sales goals.

• Overall level of motherly sales activities. Is it enough to achieve unit’s goals?
  How realistic are sales unit’s goals?

• Whether any sales team members need additional scrutiny about remaining in their roles.

• Best sales strategies identified recently.

• Any new trends that might be surfacing.

Characteristics of effective Sales Managers & Leader

• Ranked #1 by both managers & salesppl: Communication (effectively listening).

• Ranked #2 by managers: Human Relations (developing rapport with members).

• Ranked #1 by salesppl for importance (tied with communication): Knowledgeable (product, market, industry).

Effective Leadership Styles

Transactional

Transformative

Emotional intelligence

Instrumental

Participative

Servant

Transactional leadership

involves rewarding or punishing salespeople for their performance.

Transformative leadership

expressing care, concern, and individualized support.

Emotional intelligence

used to understand & help manage the emotions of other ppl in light of one’s own.

Instrumental leadership

providing clear guidelines, monitoring activities, and providing rewards based on goals.

Participative leadership

managers are supportive, seek input from salesppl, and are creating a friendly environment.

Servant leadership

prioritizing serving customers and serving their salesppl.

Coaching Principles

• be role model

• give feedback

• prepare & observe

• follow up

• trust

The Future of Sales Management: What is The New Normal?

• 61% of workers now prefer to work from home.

• Moving forward, sales managers must understand that “new normal” for work will likely change again in near future.

• Maintaining human connections is vital for supervising, managing, & leading.

• Help reps develop good work life balance in order to return them.

Futurize (Challenge for future leaders)

• Shift to long-term focus & strategies.

• Embrace tech (AI/CRM).

• Track pack of change by embracing new ideas & long-term learning.

• Shift from status quo & welcome risks & new ideas.

Humanize (Challenge for future leaders)

• Embrace diversity.

• Attract & retain top client.

• Reskill employees.

• Ensure org is purpose-driven.

• Humanize the org.

Leadership Characteristics & Skills

• Personal Characteristics (confidence, initiative, energy, creativity, maturity)

• Managerial Skills (problem solving, interpersonal, communication, persuasive)

1st line managers deal with…

day to day operational issues or tactical situations

high level managers…

look at things from wider perspective & are more strategic; establish & delegate.

sales ppl → sales manager

• ‘must change’ thinking from individual achievement & performance to viewing salesppl as new customers needing to be served.

• Key Point: sales managers are more than supervisors. They are LEADERS who empower salesppl & equip them to achieve personal & company goals.

Attributes of Successful leader

personal characteristics that shape outlook & approach to life.

• Empathy (concern)

• Ego Drive (Swagger)

• Innovative (thinking outside the box)

• Assertive (get the job done)

• Flexibility (leading Millennials)

• Integrity (your word is your bond)

• Creative (challenging convention)

Skills of successful leader

abilities one posses that can be learned & tend to improve with practice.

• Listening (premier skill; obtain info, trust and show rep valued)

• Effective speaking (express what you mean)

• Coaching (+/- feedback in unthreatening manner)

• Organizing (time management, acc efficiency, territory routing)

• Political skills (operating tactfully & judiciously with org)

• Diagnostic skills

• Conflict resolution skills

Knowledge

Ppl knowledge

Customer knowledge

Company knowledge

basic management functions

• Planning

• Organizing

• Time management

• Staffing

• Training

• Motivating

• Compensation

• Monitoring

• Coaching

• Informing

leadership types

Transactional & Transformation

Transactional Leadership

• Views leader-follower relationship as process of exchange.

• System involve dispensing rewards and punishments for accomplishing or not accomplishing certain tasks.

Transformation leadership

More visionary approach that seeks to energize followers to accept ideas and achieve particular goals.

What sets transformational leaders apart form transactional leaders?

• Change agents

• Have courage to take risks and be outspoken

• Possess belief in ppl & seek to empower them

• Have set of articulated core values that drive their behavior

• Engage in lifelong learning

• Have ability to deal with complex & ambiguity

• Are visionary

Hersey/Blanchard Leadership Model

• Tells

  • Emphasis placed on task performed than on person performing it

  • Manger makes decisions

• Persuades

  • Emphasis placed on task & person

  • Manager makes decision & then sells idea to subordinates

• Participates

  • Emphasis placed on person rather than task

  • Division in made jointly between manager and subordinate

• Delegates

  • Emphasis placed on neither task nor person

  • Decision is left to subordinate who is responsible for carrying through with appropriate action.

Power & influence in Leadership

• Legitimate – leader has right to request & demand action & subordinate his to comply.

• Reward – giving benefits  rewards for cooperation

• Coercive – ability to issue punishment, negative sanctions or remove rewards (money, potion, support)

• Expert – influence based on knowledge possessed by person & willingness to share it.

• Referent – person admired and others want to emulate or identified with person.

What do leaders really do

1. Create vision

2. Develop team

3. Clarify values

4. Positioning tasks/strategy

5. Communicating

6. Empowering

7. Coaching

8. Measuring

Effective leadership outcome

• Well trained 

• Trust among

• Citizenship behaviors– voluntary behavior important to success of firm (when one rep gives encouragement to fellow, struggling rep)

• Better performance

• Sales force morale– sense of common purpose & belief among members that group goals can be attained.