10 Mistakes Sales Managers Make

by Casey Coffman

Making the top-producing salesperson the sales manager might be seen as a reward, but without the skills and regular management training, the previously successful top sales producer can become a disaster.

Sales managers need to be leaders. Knowing how to inspire, motivate, coach and hold salespeople accountable for their behaviors is the foundation for improving sales. Skill sets for success as a sales manager are not always the same as skill sets for successful salespeople.

Fewer than 50 percent of today’s business-to-business salespeople have ever sold during an economic downturn. An entire generation of sales professionals has worked all of their professional lives knowing nothing about selling in hard times. So it is not surprising that unskilled sales managers with no training can commit many of these fatal errors without recognizing why sales fail to increase.

Here is a list of 10 fatal errors:

Refuse to accept personal accountability for the behaviors and production of the sales force. Spending time blaming the salespeople, the market, the economy, the product or the company will never increase sales. Accepting excuses from salespeople cheats them as well as the company.
Neglect to develop the salespeople you manage. The top job of the sales manager is not to sell. It isn’t even to “get sales up.” It is to develop the salespeople on the team. The problem with promoting the best producing sales person to the sales management position is that they probably think sales would go up if everyone sold the way they did when they were the top producer.
Focus only on results and ignore behaviors and attitudes. Results are clear to everyone. They may even be posted on the wall or the company Intranet. However, knowing that appropriate behaviors and attitudes enable sellers to sell is the first step. The next step is to admit what is getting in the way and make a commitment for change.
Ignore good information; Never evaluate your salespeople. It just doesn’t make sense to stay in the dark about your people, when highly accurate, dependable assessment tools will tell you precisely how and why they sell the way they do.
Manage all your salespeople the same way. Managing everyone the same way will result in frustration, lack of clarity, and missed opportunities for growth in sales ability.
Forget the importance of profit. Sales volume is not the indicator of success. Dropping the price may get the sale, but it leads to leaner margins, lack of confidence and a poorly performing sales force.
Be a buddy not a coach. Your sales force wants to get better. If they don’t, see #1. Salespeople need a mentor, a coach, to spur them to leave their comfort zone to find new success—not someone who they can commiserate with.
Don’t set standards and only rank your salespeople by revenue. Without clear expectations, without the awareness that there are varieties of ways to succeed, and without the knowledge of where they stand, salespeople flounder into isolation and alienation.
Never train your salespeople. Thinking you know everything the sales team needs to know about sales limits them to your experience. Without continual refinement in the rapidly changing marketplace, you can find yourself unprepared to meet unexpected challenges.
Condone incompetence. Salespeople can actually believe their lack of competent performance is acceptable when they see no consequences for lacks in performance. Learn to raise expectations.

So what is the answer? Don’t just find people in sales with the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that will make them successful managers. Train them to manage the sales force. Show them you believe that developing salespeople is their job. Show them you believe that well-developed salespeople with strong coaching and regular tracking will produce sales.

Casey Coffman is owner and president of The Coffman Group, a sales training and development firm. He can be reached at (913) 236-9055 or by e-mail at caseyc@coffmangroup.com.