{"id":4438,"date":"2016-01-21T16:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=4438"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:35:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:35:59","slug":"self-development-sales-managers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/self-development-sales-managers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Self-Development Tips For New Sales Managers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Sales professionals spend a lot of time cultivating deep, meaningful relationships with customers in order to grow their business. If they\u2019re successful enough to be promoted to sales manager, though, they often have to start focusing on building a different kind of relationship: the one between supervisor and team.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, many of the skills and qualities that make for great sales people are also transferable to leadership situations. This includes making decisions based on timely, accurate and relevant data, treating team members as individuals and being focused on delivering some kind of value.<\/p>\n

Although many organizations offer some kind of formal development process as people take on sales management, a lot of the real hard work and initiative will be up to you. We\u2019re gathered some key pieces of advice to begin your self-development journey:<\/p>\n

Be Prepared To Take Action On Data<\/b><\/p>\n

Kevin Hallenbeck, principal of Sandler Training, suggested in a recent article that sales managers need to be strong advocates<\/a> for the role their team plays in the organization\u2019s success and keeping them organized. However he also suggested that the job is not merely to become everyone\u2019s best friend, but to have the tough conversations that create necessary changes and improvements.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the sales supervisor, you will largely determine and enforce the rules for such vital tasks as setting activity goals, using the CRM, accurate call reporting, forecasting and data collection,\u201d Hallenbeck says. \u201cTherefore, it\u2019s your job to analyze results against forecasts, possibly needing to confront anyone on the team whose numbers aren\u2019t on track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offer Smart Questions, Not Just Smart Answers<\/b><\/p>\n

Sometimes when we\u2019re put in charge of a team there may be a sense it\u2019s all about telling people what to do and how to do it. A post on the Canadian Professional Sales Organization<\/a> counters that notion by recommending sales managers routinely probe reps on areas that will stimulate their own self-improvement. Some of these could be as straightforward as \u201cHow much revenue did you generate this month?,\u201d but there are many others. Some of the more intriguing include:<\/p>\n