What Type Of Sales Manager Are You?

Part 1 – The Selling Sales Manager

This is part one of a series of articles on the different types of Sales Managers. Just as there are a variety of sales roles - hunters, farmers, call center reps, independent reps, etc., - there are also different types of Sales Managers. Knowing the different types of Sales Management roles and identifying which type you are can significantly enhance your performance and focus your daily activities on achieving specific sales team objectives. I’ve worked with hundreds of Sales Managers in a variety of industries around the world. From my research, I’ve discovered that there are six unique Sales Management types. The types are:

1. Selling Sales Manager
2. Start-Up Sales Manager
3. Reconstruction Sales Manager
4. Turnaround Sales Manager
5. Maintenance Sales Manager
6. Pure Growth Sales Manager

You may possess characteristics of several Sales Management types. When you read each of these articles though, think about which type is most prevalent in your current job then which type you strive to become.

The first type of Sales Manager is the Selling Sales Manager. The Selling Sales Manager is one who has the dual responsibility of achieving a personal sales quota and, at the same time, manages other salespeople. Don’t get this confused with a typical Sales Manager who goes out on sales calls with his/her salespeople in order to help them close a sale. This type of Sales Manger actually has a personal sales quota just like the salespeople that they manage. It may or may not be as big of a quota but they are still responsible for acquiring new accounts or maintaining existing accounts on their own.

Conditions
There are several conditions that make this type of Sales Manager attractive to certain organizations. First, this type of Sales Manager can work effectively for start-ups, small companies or new divisions where a customer base must first be established in order to produce the revenue required to fund the new office and add additional salespeople.

The short-term strategy, which can range from several months to several years, focuses on the sales development aspect of the job. The Selling Sales Manager is primarily a salesperson. The long–term strategy typically moves the salesperson into more of a Sales Management role in order to provide the sales team with resources, structure, training, support and coaching. Once the Selling Sales Manager achieves certain sales goals, they move from the salesperson role into Sales Management by either eliminating their sales quota or the sales team absorbing it into theirs. Ideally, the Selling Sales Manager should attempt to move from salesperson to Sales Manager as soon as possible in order to replicate their success across the entire sales team for maximum sales results.

The second condition occurs in organizations where the VP or President insists that the Sales Manager remain “in the game”. They don’t want their Sales Manager only managing other salespeople. They want their Sales Managers to continue to sell and retain a personal sales quota. This is the “everybody sells” mentality and is usually a personal preference on the part of the senior leadership. This certainly isn’t the best philosophy, but it does make sense if the focus is on achieving large key accounts.

The third condition I see is when the office or division remains small (by design) and it cannot afford to pay a dedicated Sales Manager. The Selling Sales Manager must continue to produce revenue on their own in order to justify their existence. At the same time, they lend their support and expertise to the other salespeople as needed.

Challenges
The most obvious challenge for the Selling Sales Manager is time. If they are selling, then they can’t train, observe, coach, or support their salespeople. In addition, they may not have the time to establish effective processes and systems necessary to run an effective sales team. This can result in poor sales hires, lackluster sales performance, ineffective coaching, lack of accountability and the inability to achieve certain sales targets. The Selling Sales Manager is torn between selling and helping others to sell.

The second challenge relates to priorities. This is about personal income and motivation. If it’s more lucrative for a Selling Sales Manager to sell than it is for them to benefit from helping the other salespeople sell, then they will most likely spend their time selling instead of coaching and developing their sales team.

Finally, if a salesperson is promoted to a Selling Sales Manager role, they can easily drift to the sale activities and shy away from their Sales Management responsibilities because they are not equipped or patient enough to handle the investment of time required to build and coach a team. The competencies required for success in sales management are different than that of a top performing salesperson and the former superstar will rely on what they do best – sell. As a result, the Sales Management function is diminished.

The Selling Sales Manager is typically not ideal as a long-term strategy unless the division or office chooses to remain small with only a few salespeople. Otherwise, I recommend establishing a time frame for growing the revenue and the sales team to a predetermined level in order to move from a Selling Sales Manager into a Type 6 - Pure Growth Sales Manager.

About the Author
Barrett Riddleberger is an internationally recognized leader in the practice of sales assessment, sales training, sales recruitment and sales consulting. His book, “Blueprint of a Sales Champion,” details how organizations can find, train and retain top performing salespeople… even in a highly competitive market. An accomplished author and sales consultant, Riddleberger is also highly in demand as a business development and motivational speaker for organizations seeking to drive their sales force to greater levels of performance. For more info go to www.resolutionsystemsinc.com or call 336.665.0506.