Sales Management Training | How to Gripe Without Losing Your Job

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Ralph

sales managment training mistakes

We love talking about sales management training mistakes.

I’m not sure why, but humans seems to love to rubberneck at car crashes, revel in the latest scandals and watch gladiator matches.

Well, maybe not the last one…

I have no idea why this really occurs.

I do have a theory however.

My theory is its because when we watch these things on TV or read about them in the newspaper, we gain comfort in the fact that it’s not us who is doing the screwing up…it’s someone else’s problem.

Someone once told me that this is the reason why The Jerry Springer Show is so popular.

Because when we watch the car crashes that happen on that show we say to ourselves:

“Hmm, I guess my life really is pretty good after all…at least I’m not like THAT guy!”

I think they’re right.

Sales Management Training on Mistakes

Here we have long been advocates of telling sales management professionals what Continue reading →

5 Sales Management Errors That Make You Look Like An Ass

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Ralph

Sales management professionals unwittingly look like asses all the time.

I know, because I’ve done it plenty of times.

One time, I showed up for a sales meeting in front of my entire sales team with my fly wide open (I even had the t-shirt hanging out a little bit too).

Thank God for Dustin MacPherson who coughed “FLYIN LOW!!!” as I entered the room.

Dumb…horse’s ass.

Well, actually embarrassing is more like it…that could be entire series of sales management blog posts on sales management mistakes.

Looking dumb is inevitable, you just can’t avoid it – we’re all human and were going to make mistakes.

But as a sales manager, when you start making the same mistakes over and over again they make you look like an ass…and that’s when it becomes a real problem.

And when you look like an ass on a regular basis, your sales management leadership goes right down the crapper.

So in an effort to help you not to look like an ass in front of your sales team on a regular basis, in this sales management training here are five things Continue reading →

Sales Management Training | Why Sales Quotas Don’t Work

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Ralph

bad sales management Why are so many sales management organizations struggling right now?

It’s not because of the economy…

It’s not because of lazy salespeople (we’ll always have those)…

It’s not because you’re getting squeezed on price because everyone is looking for the lowest price…

It’s because most sales organizations are still using the old and tired way of measuring a salesperson’s effectiveness: sales quotas.

The Sales Management Myth of the Sales Quota

Nearly 100% of all sales management organizations assign sales quotas.

However, less than 10% of all sales organizations assign 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 →