Wouldn’t your sales managers love to get more done and make more money with less effort?

That all sounds great, you might say…but how do YOU actually do it?

You simply apply the 80/20 rule.

For those of you who may not know, a little history lesson first is in order…

The 80/20 rule—or the Pareto Principle, named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto—states that 80% of effects is the result of 20% of the causes. For you this simply means that 80% of your sales will come from, roughly, only 20% of your sales people.

But when a sales manager applies the 80/20 rule, he can simply get more done in less time by simplifying and throwing out the time-wasters that just don’t matter.

Before we tell you how to do it, let’s first prepare you first for some eventual consequences. (more…)

There’s a common misconception that sales managers must be good talkers. Its true that any leadership position requires superb communication skills in which you can clearly articulate your thoughts through the words you use and the way you communicate.

But if you are always talking and never listening, then youre going to have a real hard time leading your sales team…because you’ll never know what really matters to them.

Being a great sales manager is more than just (more…)

The thing with underperformers is that because of their failures to hit quota, they start to have a hard time picturing themselves on top. They know they’re performing way below their peers and like a baseball slugger in a slump, they start to lose confidence.

The real challenge for the sales manager is to help underperforming salespeople stop this destructive thought process. Not easy. But a salesperson whose lost confidence in their abilities cannot possibly perform at the level that’s expected of them.

And this is where the third rule comes in. (more…)

The best, high-performing sales managers are a different breed.

They notice stuff.

They notice what their salespeople are good at…as well as what they’re not so good at. They then leverage the stuff they are good at to coax even greater performance out of their salespeople. They largely minimize the weaknesses.

The average sales managers sees those same weaknesses and thinks that he can fix them. He spends all his time doing just that.

That’s why he’s an average sales manager.

Let’s show an example… (more…)

Top sales managers agree that solid sales coaching makes a huge difference between a good and a bad sales quarter. Spending time coaching your sales people is worthwhile, it’s time well-spent, and if your sales managers are spending more time poring over spreadsheets and not coaching their reps, then you need to change your priorities.

What the real top sales managers don’t agree about, however—is how to best go about doing it. It seems everyone has their own opinion of sales coaching.

This difference in opinion and coaching styles has led to a number of useless tips floating around the industry – what top sales managers like to call “sales coaching myths”. Over the next couple of articles we’ll be discussing the different sales coaching myths – so your sales managers can avoid sales coaching mistakes that have the reverse and sometimes debilitating effects.

So without further ado, let’s get on with the show… (more…)