What Saving Private Ryan Can Teach You About Sales Management

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Ralph

sales management war In sales management, sometimes things get hot.

Uncomfortably hot at times…

Most sales leaders have no idea when a major argument breaks out.

They panic instead.

The Sales Management Argument

Your sales team is arguing over a hotly debated sales management issue at one of your sales meetings.

If its a really hot issue, then chances are it has something to do with money or bonus. The hottest sales management issues you face will involve one or the other:

“We’re getting screwed on this new compensation plan”…

“The sales tracking system is missing my sales”…

“Management just cut year end bonuses”…

“I’m not getting paid on all of my sales”…

Or any number of myriad sales management issues you have to deal with, that you have no say in…but have to diffuse somehow.

Things are getting out of control.

Your salespeople are angry, upset, unruly.

People are yelling, they’re angry.

You, the sales leader have lost control.

What do you do?

Do you start yelling?
Do you antagonize?
Do you tell em all to “all of you…shut the hell up!!!!”?

You should do none of that.

You “diffuse the time bomb” instead.

Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) does it brilliantly here in Saving Private Ryan…

What Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) Knows About Great Sales Management

How does Miller Continue reading →

Sales Management Training | How The NFL Is Just Like Sales Management

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Ralph

sales management training and the nfl Ahhhh….it’s football season again.

I love football, there’s just no better sport to watch.

And now that the season is in full swing, this can only mean certain things:

The Indianapolis Colts are in first place in the AFC South
The Detroit Lions are in last place in the NFC North

Uh….hold on for a second….

As of this writing, the Indianapolis Colts haven’t even won a game yet…and Detroit (with the exception of a last minute comeback form the 49ers and would have been undefeated and tied for first in the NFC South) is 5-1 and in second place in the NFC South!

How things change from a year ago….

Its kind of like your sales management business a few years ago before this “world recession” thing hit.

Sales Management Blindside Hits

One day, you’re humming along, customers are placing purchase orders, your reps are making money, sales are flowing then, WHAM! Out of nowhere a global recession blindsides you and your business.

Sales start to tumble, your formerly contented customers are haggling you on price at every turn, low-priced competitors start to steal your market share, your boss starts to lose his cool, your sales reps start leaving for “other opportunities”….

Your sales management ship has suddenly sprung more leaks than Continue reading →

Sales Management Training | Why Stupid Questions Are Really Smart

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Ralph

stupid sales management questions Stupid questions can be your best friend.

And when you are interviewing salespeople, you’ll hear a lot of them.

In this occasional sales management training series on How to Interview a Salesperson, in this session, we delve into the question and answer part of the interview.

The Q & A Part of The Sales Management Interview

Most sales managers think that once their questions are asked, the interview is over. Most sales management training completely discounts this part of the interview.

That’s really too bad because its probably the most important…

The sales interview is only “over” until, as Blake (played by Alec Baldwin – way before 40 Rock and twenty-something appearances on Saturday Night Live) said in the greatest sales management movie of all time Glengarry Glen Ross… “get them to sign on the line that is dotted”…

(Any opportunity for me to show a video clip of Glengarry Glen Ross on this blog I will! :-) )

Unlike Alex Baldwin, you don’t have to swear and insult the sales interview that asks the stupid question…all you need to do is listen for the questions that are the ones that knock them out of the running.

And these questions are the stupid ones.

Because you don’t want to hire those guys.

And “put the coffee down”! Continue reading →

Sales Management Training | How to Discipline Without Being a Dick

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Ralph

sales management dick No sales management professional really wants to be a dick.

But sometimes, you gotta be a dick.

And that “sometimes” occurs when your sales reps are no longer listening to you.

It usually happens when they think your sales management leadership is weak.

Don’t worry.

It’s happened to me and it has happened to every sales management professional who’s reading this post at least once (and there are a few of them) :-)

So what do you do when they start “tuning you out”?

Do you:

Crack down hard and make em all “bow to your every command”?

Just continue as if nothing is happening?

It’s a tough choice. A choice that will in fact determine your sales management leadership for months to come.

So as the Elder Knight states in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, you must not Continue reading →

Sales Management Training | How to Achieve Sales Management Nirvana

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Ralph

sales management nirvana After about twenty years of sales and sales management experience under my belt, I finally realized something.

It only took me over twenty years to realize it, but at least I realized it I suppose.

In those twenty years, I was fortunate to have managed quite a few incredible salespeople.

Their performance enabled me to accumulate a solid track record of success; success and skills I later used to start this blog as well as my online sales management training business and other offline businesses.

When I think back on my sales management career, what I am most proud of is that many of my former salespeople went on to have tremendous careers after they were with me.

Many were promoted within their companies, some went on to different careers outside of sales and many just achieved a higher level of success in their current sales role.

Its amazing to me that I still get requests on LinkedIn to do recommendations for salespeople I had the good fortune to manage, sometimes as far back as fifteen years ago. Every time I get one of these requests, I am humbled but mostly, just plain proud.

When I talk to these old sales reps Continue reading →