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You’ve seen those leaders who have it.

How they walk, how they speak, how they inspire others.

How they command whatever stage they enter…be it a small room or in front of thousands of people.

They look so cool and put together…so effortless. They make it all look so easy.

What is this “it” that they have?

“It” is called charisma.

Charisma is that intangible something that you know someone has…but can’t quite put your finger on it. Its that ability to have others drawn towards you. And it is essential to successful sales management.

“I can’t do that” you may say to yourself.

“I’m not like those guys”, you might say.

I’m here to tell you that you can be one of those guys!

Why? Because “charisma” leaves clues…

In fact, there are no less than 6 things you can do today to unlock your inner charisma and lead your sales team, teach your sales managers or move your business in the right direction.

And its easier than you think.

Unlock your inner charisma as a sales management master in this week episode.

Get the inside story here.

Now…if you or your company is seriously interested in learning “How to Motivate Your Sales Team, Get More Sales and Lead Your Sales Team to Sales Superstardom”, contact us directly at info@salesmanagementmastery.com for more information on our live sales management training seminars and workshops.

CLICK HERE to get immediate FREE access to your choice of sales management training at The Sales Management Mastery Academy. Get your own free sales manager training course – you can actually choose which one you want.

Courses include: “How to Motivate Your Sales Team to Peak Performance”, “How to Lead Your Sales Reps to Sales Stardom”, “How to Turn Around Your Underperformers in 30 Days” and “How To Hire A Sales Superstar”…plus you’ll get dozens of free tools and resources to turn sales managers into top-performing sales managers. Get it today.

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[audio:http://www.salesmanagementmastery.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/30-SMM-30-_-How-to-Criticize-Your-Sa.mp3]

Salespeople love to be criticized.

They can’t wait for their sales manager to tell them exactly what they have done wrong.

True?

Hardly.

Yes, the majority of salespeople crave feedback on their performance…but that’s much different than being criticized.

The strange thing is that most sales managers hate to criticize their salespeople almost as much as salespeople hate to be criticized by their managers.

So, when a salesperson obviously needs improvement in an area, what does a sales manager do? Knowing that neither side likes the pending situation, how does a sales manager navigate through this mess to make his or her point?

In this episode, we give you 10 tips on exactly how to criticize without demotivating or worse yet, alienating your salespeople. In fact, in every case if the technique is used in the right way, a sales manager can actually motivate his salespeople if its done right!

Get the whole story on how to do it here.

Now…if you or your company is seriously interested in learning “How to Motivate Your Sales Team, Get More Sales and Lead Your Sales Team to Sales Superstardom”, contact us directly at info@salesmanagementmastery.com for more information on our live sales management training seminars and workshops.

CLICK HERE to get immediate FREE access to your choice of sales management training at The Sales Management Mastery Academy. Get your own free sales manager training course – you can actually choose which one you want.

Courses include: “How to Motivate Your Sales Team to Peak Performance”, “How to Lead Your Sales Reps to Sales Stardom”, “How to Turn Around Your Underperformers in 30 Days” and “How To Hire A Sales Superstar”…plus you’ll get dozens of free tools and resources to turn sales managers into top-performing sales managers. Get it today.

Download the MP3

[audio:http://www.salesmanagementmastery.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SMM-29-_-How-To-Motivate-Your-Sales.mp3]

You’re a sales manager who really likes his job…all except one: speaking in front of your salespeople.

Each month, you take out those old power point slides, with all the charts and graphs and go through the monthly sales reports, the stats, the call reporting……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Im getting sleepy just writing this…

Imagine how your salespeople feel?

So what’s the solution?

You can spice things up with even more spiffy charts, graphs and stats using those wicked cool power point “animations” and clip art, right?

That just isn’t gonna cut it though.

Or you can mimic what the cavemen and cavewomen did for eons to pass along information handed down from generation to generation. Its the same technique your forefathers and foremothers used to get their point across for generations. Neither may have been trying to rally their de-motivated troops to sales stardom, but its the same thing.

That tried and true technique is to simply tell stories.

People remember stories much better than they do bars and graphs. Storytelling also naturally lowers our own innate defenses and make us more apt to learn.

Why? Most theorists believe its because its hard-wired into our genetic makeup…hence the cavemen example above.

The good things is that you can use this in one-on-one sales conversations with your salespeople as well. Its not just for public speaking only.

Find out exactly how you too can become more “caveman” and “cavewoman” here.

Now…if you or your company is seriously interested in learning “How to Motivate Your Sales Team, Get More Sales and Lead Your Sales Team to Sales Superstardom”, contact us directly at info@salesmanagementmastery.com for more information on our live sales management training seminars and workshops.

CLICK HERE to get immediate FREE access to your choice of sales management training at The Sales Management Mastery Academy. Get your own free sales manager training course – you can actually choose which one you want.

Courses include: “How to Motivate Your Sales Team to Peak Performance”, “How to Lead Your Sales Reps to Sales Stardom”, “How to Turn Around Your Underperformers in 30 Days” and “How To Hire A Sales Superstar”…plus you’ll get dozens of free tools and resources to turn sales managers into top-performing sales managers. Get it today.

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This is the second in an occasional series of guest posts from James Hughes, sales management coaching expert and founder of Sales Leadership Consulting. You can find Jim at www.salesleadershipconsulting.com

Fire them!?  Train them!?  Develop them!?  Coach them!?

All of these answers may be appropriate, and if you have managed this team and this individual for quite some time, then you have probably done one or all three of the last 3 items and are ready for the first choice.

So, let’s focus on inheriting a new team.

The first thing to establish is what does your boss think needs to be done.  They are not always right, so understand their perspective and accept it or shape your own plan and ask for support in implementing it.

One example is a team of 10 people I inherited (The entire sales force) where 8 covered territories in the US, a person on the west coast covered Asia Pacific and one person was in Europe.  I knew the team was weak, but my boss, the CEO, wanted me to fire 9 of them right away.  He was absolutely right with the goal of eliminating these sales people, but I asked him if he wanted ANY revenue in the next 3-6 months. (As it turns out the decision would not have mattered….see below)  So we agreed on a plan that eliminated the performers who were weak AND had nothing in the pipeline.  We finally got some activity in the pipeline, but less than 3 months later, 9/11 occurred and their key prospects/customers froze all spending in this area.  The point is that you have to define a plan, or one will be made for you.

Once you and your boss get on the same page, it’s time to improve performance.  Where do you start, and what do you do with the remaining poor performers?

Well, it’s easy to say leave your top performers alone, but what if they need just a little help from you to close even more business.  Maybe they need a specific resource?  Maybe they need help in handling an objection?  What if they just need to show management involvement and the prior manager was not involved?  Now, a top performer has probably handled all this, but what if your top performer had just been lucky?  Never seen one of those?  Lucky you!  The key is making sure you ask.  It could be the greatest return on your time investment!

Now what?  Middle of the roaders?  The remaining poor performers?  This depends on a few factors.  1) How quickly can you hire someone and get them up to speed where the revenue will exceed the revenue produced by a poor performer?  There are a lot of variables here to consider. 2) After your first brush with each rep, are there “mid-performers” who have some good skills but are missing on a few key skills.  You may be able to improve their performance faster than hiring, or investing in the poor performer.

Once you have evaluated the team, and tried to decide where you will focus your coaching and development skills, (Your time investment!) Then, check yourself weekly.  Is the investment in this rep working out?  Is this person “Coachable?”  Are there other factors impacting the team’s performance?

The bottom line is that the poor performers on your team, according to this year’s numbers, may not be the first people you fire.  Evaluate their skills, put them on a documented plan, and if you see the kind of performance improvement you expect, then keep going.  Always keep in mind the cost of hiring and training/development.

Here’s wishing you good selling and good coaching.

Jim Hughes

Sales Leadership Consulting

www.salesleadershipconsulting.com

[audio:http://www.salesmanagementmastery.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/24-SMM-24-_-What-Every-Sales-Manager.mp3]

Are you a corporate cheerleader?

Or do you give it to your sales team the way it really is?

There’s two schools of thought on this.

One school says you should just regurgitate what the company says and leave it at that.

The other says you should largely ignore what they say and just do your own thing. You are the boss after all right?

We think there’s a very happy medium between the two…

And it all has to do with enthusiasm.

Not fake enthusiasm. REAL enthusiasm.

The kind that not only affects your sales team, but infects your sales team with optimism and purpose.

The kind of enthusiasm that inspires, motivates and drives sales revenues to new heights…

Isn’t that what you want?

Find out how to do it here.

Now…if you or your company is seriously interested in learning “How to Motivate Your Sales Team, Get More Sales and Lead Your Sales Team to Sales Superstardom” with our live, customized, interactive seminars and workshops, contact us directly at info@salesmanagementmastery.com for more information on availability and pricing.

CLICK HERE to get immediate FREE access to your choice of sales management training at The Sales Management Mastery Academy. Get your own free sales manager training course – you can actually choose which one you want.

Courses include: “How to Lead Your Sales Reps to Sales Stardom”, “How to Turn Around Your Underperformers in 30 Days” and “How To Hire A Sales Superstar”…plus you’ll get dozens of free tools and resources to turn sales managers into top-performing sales managers. Get it today.

Video:

SMM 24 | What Every Sales Manager Ought To Know About Sales Leadership

Transcripts:

SMM 24 | What Every Sales Manager Ought To Know About Sales Leadership

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