The tragedy of non-competitive Sales Managers.

The tragedy of non-competitive Sales Managers.

Are you one of those guys (girls) placing tens maybe hundreds of calls on a weekly basis? And besides that, you have this Sales Coach over your head (Manager, Rep, etc) pushing you to achieve your KPI’s and you constantly hear all these advice on how you should do this or that, what tricks you should use to succeed in cold calling or sales.

Fact is that those coaches, most of the time are uneducated idiots with a very limited perception of the world, people that because averagely did a little bit better as cold callers in the past were given this position.

I can explain to you why in those positions you find most of the times idiots with no sales management skills.

First, is the lack of a combined background.

With regards to a Sales Coach, Sales Managerial position you find 2 kinds of people. The ones that started as simple salespeople and climbed their way up. They started as simple salespeople because they did not have another choice.  These ones are most of the times experienced, talented professionals that know the practical aspects of the work done, however their lack of theoretical education, limits them regarding their managerial role. Short-sighted, know how to solve the day in, day out issues, but lack vision and analytical thinking, and incapable of having what is needed for the role of sales manager.

On the other hand, you have those “educated” Sales Managers, the ones that supposedly have the sales manager qualifications, that come straight out of the college and never, ever sold anything, and even if they did, that was just for training purposes and only a job that was made for the experience. They never get under the skin of this job, and although they have analytical thinking and maybe vision, they talk nonsense because they have never sold anything and do not know what it takes.

More than ever in today’s world are missing: Hardcore Salespeople, educated, with analytical skills, marketing knowledge, IT literate, to work as Sales Managers and Sales Coaches.

 

Secondly, is the lack of independent thinking

“Corporate reality” and real-world reality are 2 terms that nowadays distance themselves every day more and more. Leaving and working in a big corporation make people adapt to the norms and “culture” of the corporation, most of the times with disastrous effects not only on the corporation but most of all on themselves. The “politically correct” way of thinking of a corporation, which is the do’s and don’ts, do not only kill creativity, not only prohibit you from thinking outside of the box, and not only distance you from reality and the real responses you would have received if you lived outside of the “big hug” of the corporation where you work but most of all kill your independent thinking and the no-nonsense, no bullshit reality a prospect of yours wants to hear. How possibly are you going to address real issues that a prospect is facing in the real world if your response is the script someone wrote in the company where you work. How is it possible to bring results if your opinion is not going to be listened to?  

 

Thirdly, is the lack of understanding what qualities a really good salesman has

A close friend of mine had an interview with a hiring manager, a 25-year-old guy of a big and known British corporation. During the interview, my friend (a world-class salesman) told the hiring manager that the core of the sales is equal regardless if you sell oranges or super sophisticated IT solutions. The hiring manager’s response was with great disappointment: “Unfortunately sir, we do not sell oranges here.” And my friend’s CV was dumped in the garbage bin.

For some reasons, my friend had a talk with the managing director of the company some weeks after where he referred to the conversation with the hiring manager and the managing director asked him why he said that. His response was: “Sales are generated through the same triggers to all people, and the complexity of the product makes the facade of the sale complex. However, the core of it is based on the same principles the sale of a simple product is based. Diplomacy is not one of my strengths; honesty and sales results are.” The managing director took the chance and gave him the position he asked as a salesman in the company, where he proved to be the best salesperson the company ever – ever had.

When I had interviews in big corporations, I was often asked by the hiring manager, “Is money the only important factor for you to work for us?” A certain poor girl that was put in the position to be the one to judge who the company is going to hire as a salesman and who not to, had been advised by the idiot she had as a manager that salespeople with some “niveau” do not care about how much they earn, other values are more important. So, let me tell you this: GOOD SALES PEOPLE WORK FOR MONEY AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON THEY ARE WORKING IS ONLY MONEY. If a salesperson you are interviewing tells you that money is not important to him, or they are not as important as other things, do not hire him, he is a bad salesperson. Welcome to the real world.

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Alex Valassidis
Alex Valassidis

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Alex is a Managing Director and Supervisor at Vparagon, a sales consultancy that helps companies expand and accelerate their sales in new markets.

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