7 Steps to Sales Management Coaching, Part 2

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Ralph

sales management Christmas ornament In the last sales management training post, I left you hanging like a cheap ornament on a Christmas tree (which I just took down yesterday and still have pine needles all over my living room)…

The truth is I was catching a plane back East and I just ran out of time to get all 7 steps into the first post.

Then Christmas came, then New Years….

Enough of the excuses, here are the rest of the 7 steps to sales management coaching here.

This is a great way to start off the New Year and really get some momentum going in 2012.

And it all starts with good solid sales management coaching.

As you may recall from our previous post, the first three steps to effective sales management coaching Continue reading →

Maslow’s Guide to Sales Management Motivation

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Ralph

sales management motivation When it comes to sales management, if you cannot motivate your sales force, then you are done.

And when it comes to motivation, no one has gotten more press on motivation than Abraham Maslow.

Don’t know who Maslow is?

Well as a sales management professional, you should.

At the very least you should use a few of his tips to motivate your sales force.

Sales Management Motivation Maslow Style

If you don’t know, Abraham Maslow is commonly known as “the father of modern motivational theory” and is one of the only theorists on motivation whose ideas have actually withstood the test of time…in spite of hundred of eggheads who have tried to dispute his theories.

In short, Maslow states that each person is motivated by a series of physiological and psychological needs that he put into his “Needs Hierarchy Theory”.

These needs are listed from basic to advanced, the lowest common denominator being these five:

1.Hunger, thirst

2. Sleep

3. Safety, security

4. Shelter

5. Health

As a sales management professional, you have to figure that most of your sales force has these five basic needs covered, right?

So what does Continue reading →

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 →

How Mistakes Make You a Sales Management Genius

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Ralph

sales management mistakes I have a very close friend who is an incredibly successful internet entrepreneur.

Despite the fact that he toils in a highly competitive and cut-throat market, he has achieved an unprecedented level of success his peers could only dream of.

Last month, he made an enormous mistake. It was actually a catastrophic mistake. He was doing a project for one of his clients and documenting its success on his blog and he took his eye off the ball and just plain screwed up.

Instead of hiding from it, burying it, never mentioning it, he did the exact opposite of what most people would do:

He discussed it openly on his blog for his thousands of readers to see.

Curious about this decision to publicly “come clean”, I asked him why.

His answer: Continue reading →