Even if you’re a former salesperson, managing the sales team isn’t at the top of your fun activities list. It can be a frustrating cat-herding experience that’s hard to measure how well you are doing.
There are no right answers. If you’d like to find a guru who will tell you to drive the volume of sales activity to increase sales, you can. If you’d like a different guru to tell you that volume for the sake of volume doesn’t move the needle, you can.
There are so many levers a sales manager can pull that it can be overwhelming. In order to effectively manage sales, you have to manage and motivate people, understand and leverage technology, have a deep understanding of customer behavior, have classical management skills, and more. It’s a lot.
Add in the 35 other jobs a typical CEO has, and there’s no chance they can effectively manage the sales team on top of that. Classic psychology teaches us that we enjoy things we do well. When a business owner tries to squeeze in sales management on top of all their other responsibilities, it’s usually not done well.
This can create a vicious cycle of dislike and avoidance. I dislike managing sales because I am busy with other activities, so I ignore it. Because I ignore it, things go wrong that frustrate me, but I have no time or motivation to fix it.
If this sounds like you, don’t feel guilty. Nearly every single business owner who is managing sales feels this way. CEOs have too many other responsibilities to have enough time (or inclination) to manage sales.
There is a way out of this “box” if you’d like to discuss it or read more on how business owners are leveraging fractional sales leaders.
