the key role of the sales manager

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The Key Roleof the SalesManager



Share this White Paper Copyright copy The TAS Group All rights reser ved 1

THE KEY ROLE OF THE MODERNSALES MANAGER

Rarely does any company today offer a product vastlysuperior to its competition Rather homogenous productshave led to intense competition and many companiessucceed by having a superior sales force

Because selling is so critical to success especially for business-to-business models executives are demanding more controlmore insight and more predictable outcomes Yet with yearsof business process re-engineering behind us selling can stillbe more art than science ndash difficult to define more difficultstill to predict and manage Sales organizations are learningto change how they operate Proven reliable processes andenabling technology exist to create more efficient predictable

sales forces but implementing these initiatives has provento be a problem For example as many as 50 percent of CRMinstallations fail

Through our knowledge of change execution andmanagement and our experience implementing change inhundreds of companies we know that the key to changinga sales organization lies in the influence and activities ofthe Sales Manager However our research shows that Sales

The Key Role of the Sales Manager

INTRODUCTIONCompanies are radically altering their salesorganizations They are implementing processes andtechnology in the hopes of creating effective efficientpredictable sales forces The focus is typically on howthese changes affect the individual sales person Wesuggest that you also turn your focus to the SalesManager who both affects and is affected by changesyou implement in the sales organization

1 Sales Managers play the pivotal role in makingor breaking the methodology process and

technology initiatives in the sales organization2 Sales Managers can now use process

technology and web 20 tools to optimize theirrole in the sales organization ndash if the changesare implemented correctly

In this paper we explore the role of the modern SalesManager what that role exactly entails what hindersthe Sales Manager and how the Sales Manager canovercome those barriers through alignment end-to-end sales process and technology This papercan serve as a guide for ensuring the success of salesprocess and CRM system implementations whilereinventing the role of the Sales Manager

As with any of our White Papers there will be a

big variance in the seniority and experience ofthe readership This White Paper aims to providesomething for the complete range of requirementsbut if you want to dig deeper or move wider we urgeyou to get in touch with us individually You can do thisvia email to infothetasgroupcom

Managers seldom perform the activities that are essential toensuring a sales force is lsquovastly superiorrsquo to its competitors

This is not because they donrsquot know what to do Our researchshows that Sales Managers understand and define theirrole very well but they are prevented from performing itoptimally

In this White Paper we attempt to answer some of thequestions companies are asking as they deploy newsales processes and sales technology What is the optimalrole of an ideal Sales Manager both before and after animplementation What prevents them from performingthat role How can Sales Managers ensure that the sales

organization adopts new sales process and integrated CRMtechnology solutions And how can these enablers free upSales Managers to perform their optimal role

Properly implemented effective sales performanceautomation systems will empower the person most able totake the organization to where it needs to be namely the

Sales Manager




What has to Change for Sales Managers to Reach theOptimal Role

Sales Managers already know that they need to change

how they allocate their time In our survey Sales Managers

suggested that the following changes would help them

achieve the ideal time allocation

bull Reduce the time spent on reacting from 23 down to

9

bull Reduce the reporting time from 12 to 6

bull Reduce the administrative time from 15 to 5

These shifts would allow Sales Managers reallocate time to

desired activitiesbull Increase planning time from 15 to 18

bull Increase people development time from 11 to 21

bull Increase proactive review time from 11 to 17

bull Increase customer time from 13 to 24

The Sales Managers we surveyed obviously understood what

they should be doing so why did they spend so much time

on the lsquowrongrsquo activities Next we explored what prevents

Sales Managers from performing their true function and what

is required to reinvent their roles

THE OPTIMAL ROLE OF THESALES MANAGER

What Sales Managers Should be DoingAs vital stakeholders and prime movers of sales success

particularly through a sensitive change management

exercise like implementing sales process and methodology

solutions Sales Managers need to be focused on their core

competencies to stay competitive The TAS Group conducted

a comprehensive study to identify the key attributes and

competencies of the most effective Sales Managers Our

research concludes that the Sales Managerrsquos optimal role has

three essential elements

bull Planning ndash Developing and owning the operating

plan for the Business Unitrsquos market analysis business

development and resourcesbull People Development ndash Establishing the resources

needed to successfully execute the operating plan by

hiring coaching and developing people

bull Proactive Review ndash Managing the revenue by

monitoring controlling and reviewing sales activity

Sales Managers traditionally accomplish this through

proactively reviewing sales plans and consolidating

these plans into the business forecast for the

organization

What Sales Managers Actually Do

We also analyzed how Sales Managers actually spend their

time Sales Managers already do some of the things needed

to accomplish these three functions They do spend time

on planning people development and proactive review

Unfortunately they donrsquot spend most of their time in these

activitiesmdashonly 37 of their working day

bull 15 in planning

bull 11 in people development

bull 11 in proactive review1

Fifty percent of Sales Managersrsquo time is spent on counter-

productive activities

bull 23 on firefighting and reacting to urgent issues

bull 12 on reporting to management

bull 15 on administrative tasks

bull Only 13 is spent with customers

1 Figures from the Survey of European Field Managers by The TAS Group




Time Pressure That rare commodity time is also a barrier Time is the only

source of capital a Sales Manager has and it is a unique asset

you get it only once you can spend it only once and once it is

spent it is gone forever

With the increasing scope (number of reports) and the

pressures for help insight and mind share from communities

both internal and external Sales Managers are left with little

time for their core activities And because these activities

are frequently more difficult (ie coaching vs selling) Sales

Managers tend to put them off

Obviously removing these barriers and creating an

environment in which Sales Managers bring real value to the

organization ndash beyond administration and lsquosuper sellingrsquo ndash will

require more than a compensation overhaul The next section

outlines three steps to reinventing your Sales Managerrsquos role

BARRIERS TO SALES MANAGERSPERFORMING THEIR OPTIMAL ROLE

To understand what was needed to reinvent the SalesManagerrsquos role we first identified the barriers that exist (both

real and perceived) These barriers fall into four areas

Expectations and Reward Systems

Most companies do not clearly identify and reward the

activities they actually want their Sales Managers to perform

We asked Sales Managers to compare the amount of time that

their senior managers spend discussing people development

versus the lagging business indicators of revenue or

profit performance Sales Managers said their managers

spend anywhere from 1-5 of the time discussing people

development and 95-99 of the time discussing revenueand profits The axiom ldquoTell me how a person is measured Irsquoll

tell you what they dordquo holds true here This measurement

reward expectation system drives Sales Managers to focus

more on the delivery of business despite rather than through

their people

Salespeoplersquos Behaviors

The behavior of salespeople often influences and interferes

with the Sales Manager activities Many salespeople cannot

clearly identify how and when to use their Sales Managers

appropriately Granted this is usually because the sales person

has suffered through ineffective and inappropriate historical

experiences with a Sales Manager The relationship between a

salesperson and Sales Manager may even be adversarial with

the Sales Manager fighting for the right to coach when they

accompany salespeople on sales calls The result is infrequent

and ineffective people development

Selling vs Managing

Companies usually promote salespeople to Sales Managers

because of their stellar selling ability It is assumed that

because a salesperson sells well they automatically have the

skills ability and willingness to manage other salespeople

Companies seldom coach and train Sales Managers for

their jobs so it is not surprising that Sales Managers donrsquot

coach and train their salespeople Sales Managers have the

tendency to remain within their comfort zone ie selling and

not stray too far into coaching reinforcing skills and process

and sustaining sales behavioral changes




These four phases are then supported by the sales

management functions that allow Sales Managers to monitor

control and review each process within each phase of the

end-to-end sales processes Each phase is detailed in the

following pages

Market Management During the Market Management

phase the market space is segmented into areas in which

the sales and marketing organizations will communicate

value propositions (also refer to The TAS Grouprsquos White

Paper lsquoMessages that Sellrsquo for more detail on how to ensure

a coordinated sales and marketing approach to this)

Companies should use a process that segments based onidentified customer partner and product portfolios and then

support each segment with an accurately managed database

By using a process that integrates the Sales Managerrsquos

function this phase results in targeted sales and marketing

campaigns that the Sales Manager can easily resource

monitor and review

Customer and Partner Management The Customer and

Partner Management phase involves proactively driving

profitable and predictable revenue streams from and with

the companyrsquos selected clients prospects and partners (both

resellers and alliances) The intent is to maximize the revenuefrom and the relationships with the companyrsquos enterprise

mid-market mass channel and alliance accounts Employing

proven predictable processes for each type of account and

integrating the Sales Managerrsquos functions into processes

ensures better coaching review and planning

Winning Business The Winning Business phase consists of

all activities that are necessary to compete successfully for

sales opportunities A valid opportunity plan is built on deep

insight into the clientrsquos situation and it encompasses strategy

selection and detailed engagement planning designed to

ensure that you win and the competition fails Sales Managers

must be lsquostitched inrsquo to this process and coach individual

salespeople to it as well

Service Management The last phase in the end-to-end sales

process Service Management includes all activities from the

lsquoPoint of Salersquo to the lsquoPoint of Implementationrsquo and beyond into

ongoing support

REINVENTING THE SALESMANAGERrsquoS ROLE

To eliminate barriers discussed in the previous section andreinvent your Sales Managerrsquos role you will have to

bull Align expectations

bull Install enabling processes

bull Implement supporting technology

Step 1 Alignment

The first step in enabling Sales Managers to focus on their

core activities is to align senior managementrsquos expectations

around the sales management role Part of this step is

aligning the Sales Managerrsquos measurement and reward

system with the real objectives Once Sales Managers are

being compensated on the preferred activities it will followthat they will spend time on the critical priorities of planning

people development and proactive review

In parallel you must provide and align resources that allow

your sales people to sell and your Sales Managers to manage

This is the foundation of an empowered sales and sales

management organization

The real difference between empowering Sales Managers

and abdicating responsibility to them is creating an effective

environment and conditions through

bull Developing Sales Managers to ensure they can

perform the expected activities well

bull Building a supportive infrastructure

bull Creating a measurement and reward system that

rewards the preferred behavior

Step 2 Installing Endndashto-End Processes

The second step in realizing the full potential of the Sales

Manager is to install complete end-to-end sales processes

and then integrate the sales management function into

these processes An end-to-end sales process consists of four

phases

bull Market Management Targeting of company resources

on the right markets

bull Customer and Partner Management Creating

predictable business streams

bull Opportunity Management Performing the activities

required to win business

bull Service Management Delivering significant and

measurable value




The sustaining sponsor Conner and Clutterbuck argue must

understand that they stand on lsquoa burning platformrsquomdashthat if

this change is not successful their very livelihood is at risk In

a sales environment the Vice President of Sales is invariablythe initiating sponsor for changing sales process However

it often falls to the Sales Manager to be the sustaining

sponsor For a Sales Manager the task is two-fold ensure that

salespeople successfully change their individual behavior and

support the CRM system implementation ndash a daunting task

if the CRM system does not prove itself to be valuable to the

salespeople

While basic CRM systems can be of limited use for

salespeople those implemented effectively that focus on or

incorporate Sales Performance Automation ndash in other words

geared specifically around sales person productivity ndash arethe most valuable resources to support Sales Managers

Sales Performance Automation systems bring confidence

to managers because they provide accurate objectively

applied data allow them to regain the time they need to be

effective coaches rather than number-chasers and relieves

the firefighting troubleshooting and administrative burdens

through automated sales processes on-demand forecast

analysis and effective performance learning and coaching for

salespeople

A CRM system complemented with a system like Dealmaker

can automate and sustain the Sales Manager through the four

phases of the end-to-end sales process Dealmaker is the ideal

vehicle for enabling Sales Managers to monitor control and

review their teams and processes

Only by delivering measuring recording and communicating

value can the sales organization build sufficient momentum

for further business with customers and within markets

Monitor Control and Review The four phases of the end-

to-end sales process are supported by a sales management

control structure including a real-time measurement system

that provides Sales Managers with accurate leading indicatorsWith such a system Sales Managers can correctly make timelymodifications and adjustments to marketing sales and

service behaviors

Step 3 Installing Supportive Technology

The third element in achieving optimal sales management

effectiveness is to implement appropriate and supportive

technology Customer Relationship Management (lsquoCRMrsquo)systems and performance automation components that tie

into the CRM system have significantly helped companies

implement a structured sales process with the idea of

relieving the pressures on sales management

Merely installing the technology however is not enough

Companies have widely adopted CRM system in an attempt

to support successful sales processes but historically many

CRM system implementations donrsquot deliver what is needed

to be unsuccessful Salespeople accustomed to succeeding

on instinct and personal skills have resisted this change and

dislike the strain of working with an unfamiliar softwaresystem particularly one that is manual and cumbersome

to use

In their book Managing at the Speed of Change Daryl R

Conner and David Clutterbuck explain that to successfully

change a process two sponsors are needed

bull An initiating sponsor to introduce the need for change

and demand its implementation

bull A sustaining sponsor to ensure that the change is

implemented and take charge of the change process




to win the deal Coach Me does just that and helps the salesperson and the sales manager solve this problem

For example John is a sales person working on a deal He is

preparing for a deal review with his Sales Manager Claire He

wants to be sure that he has thought through as many of the

issues on this deal before their call Coach Me has seen lots of

situations like this and when John clicks on the Coach Me link

in Dealmaker which is transparently integrated into his CRM

system hersquos presented with some coaching advice about how

he should approach the situation

Claire is Johnrsquos Manager She knows that the deal is a

competitive scenario and the relationships are veryimportant She wants to focus in on the competitive strategy

that John has selected as Coach Me has highlighted some

exposure Also looking at the customerrsquos organization Claire

uses Coach Me to uncover areas where there is risk Now

shersquos prepared and her conversation with John will be really

productive and focused on how she can help him overcome

these challenges

Coach Me helps the Sales Professional John self-coach up to

the point where he needs Clairersquos help For the Sales Manager

Claire she can spend her time with John on the areas where

she can really add value Coach Me helps the sales person to

sell smarter and the Sales Manager to manage better

When supporting technology is intelligent and can provideintelligent guidance recommendations and prioritization calls

for the sales person on complex deals then it pays back what

the sales manager and sales professional puts into their CRM

system ndash many times over

Wersquove already covered how vital coaching is to the success

of the selling organization According to the Corporate

Executive Boardrsquos Sales Executive Council companies that

integrate training coaching and real-world experience

(ie experiential learning) have seen a 4-fold increase in

productivity up to 88 Furthermore as a result of coaching

Return on Investment in sales goes up 27 according toGallup and where sales coaching is involved customer loyalty

improves by 56

So a good coach is worth his or her weight in gold

Unfortunately as the research has covered in the White Paper

Sales Managers simply donrsquot have as much time to spend on

sales coaching as they would like and even if they do have

the time unless everybody is well prepared the coaching

experience is not always the most productive and sometimes

it might not be the most pleasant either The end result is that

revenue performance suffers

But what if your CRM system could coach Imagine if yourCRM system knew everything about the deal you were

working on and proactively coached you on what had to do

COACH ME 991251 REAL983085TIMEDEAL983085SPECIFIC COACHING




CONCLUSIONAs markets have changed selling has also changed ndash it

has become more difficult Some salespeople may

still not fully realize the full impact of this change In

particular they may not fully appreciate how their

business managers will put increasing pressure on

the sales organization to perform not only in terms of

delivering revenue but also by doing so predictably

Creating predictability requires a sales process that

is measured by leading indicators as well as the

traditional lagging indicators of sales performance

The pivotal role in realizing the required sales

behavioral change utilizing the leading indicators to

effect course corrections and achieving the return

on organizational investment belong to the Sales

Manager

The key to supporting Sales Managers is to ensure

that the organization is proactively aligned with their

role and to install effective end-to-end sales process

supported by effective sales performance automation

technology like the Dealmaker platform and Coach Me

Wersquod be delighted to discuss your specific needs

further and explore how Dealmaker can drivesustained sales performance improvement in your

organization If you wish to find out more please

contact us at infothetasgroupcom



ABOUT THE TAS GROUP The TAS Group helps progressive sales organizations increase their sales velocity resulting in higher win rates bigger

deals shorter sales cycles and more qualified deals in the pipeline Our unique value is deep methodology embedded

within intelligent Dealmaker software 100 native in Salesforce Smart coaching delivered just-in-time improves

sales performance and accelerates sales results We have changed the paradigm of improving sales effectiveness from

traditional sales training to delivering sales methodology and insights when and where the sales person is working asales opportunity

For more information visit wwwthetasgroupcom

Copyright copy The TAS Group All rights reserved This briefing is for customer use only and no usage rights are conveyed Nothing herein may be reproduced in any form without written permission of The TAS Group




THE KEY ROLE OF THE MODERNSALES MANAGER

Rarely does any company today offer a product vastlysuperior to its competition Rather homogenous productshave led to intense competition and many companiessucceed by having a superior sales force

Because selling is so critical to success especially for business-to-business models executives are demanding more controlmore insight and more predictable outcomes Yet with yearsof business process re-engineering behind us selling can stillbe more art than science ndash difficult to define more difficultstill to predict and manage Sales organizations are learningto change how they operate Proven reliable processes andenabling technology exist to create more efficient predictable

sales forces but implementing these initiatives has provento be a problem For example as many as 50 percent of CRMinstallations fail

Through our knowledge of change execution andmanagement and our experience implementing change inhundreds of companies we know that the key to changinga sales organization lies in the influence and activities ofthe Sales Manager However our research shows that Sales

The Key Role of the Sales Manager

INTRODUCTIONCompanies are radically altering their salesorganizations They are implementing processes andtechnology in the hopes of creating effective efficientpredictable sales forces The focus is typically on howthese changes affect the individual sales person Wesuggest that you also turn your focus to the SalesManager who both affects and is affected by changesyou implement in the sales organization

1 Sales Managers play the pivotal role in makingor breaking the methodology process and

technology initiatives in the sales organization2 Sales Managers can now use process

technology and web 20 tools to optimize theirrole in the sales organization ndash if the changesare implemented correctly

In this paper we explore the role of the modern SalesManager what that role exactly entails what hindersthe Sales Manager and how the Sales Manager canovercome those barriers through alignment end-to-end sales process and technology This papercan serve as a guide for ensuring the success of salesprocess and CRM system implementations whilereinventing the role of the Sales Manager

As with any of our White Papers there will be a

big variance in the seniority and experience ofthe readership This White Paper aims to providesomething for the complete range of requirementsbut if you want to dig deeper or move wider we urgeyou to get in touch with us individually You can do thisvia email to infothetasgroupcom

Managers seldom perform the activities that are essential toensuring a sales force is lsquovastly superiorrsquo to its competitors

This is not because they donrsquot know what to do Our researchshows that Sales Managers understand and define theirrole very well but they are prevented from performing itoptimally

In this White Paper we attempt to answer some of thequestions companies are asking as they deploy newsales processes and sales technology What is the optimalrole of an ideal Sales Manager both before and after animplementation What prevents them from performingthat role How can Sales Managers ensure that the sales

organization adopts new sales process and integrated CRMtechnology solutions And how can these enablers free upSales Managers to perform their optimal role

Properly implemented effective sales performanceautomation systems will empower the person most able totake the organization to where it needs to be namely the

Sales Manager










9

































organization








bull 15 in planning











































their people












Selling vs Managing


















following pages












monitor and review





















ongoing support






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measurable value













salespeople












salespeople













service behaviors















to use



























these challenges

















improves by 56





























Manager




























9

































organization








bull 15 in planning











































their people












Selling vs Managing


















following pages












monitor and review





















ongoing support






Step 1 Alignment

























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salespeople












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service behaviors















to use



























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improves by 56





























Manager




















































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Selling vs Managing


















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monitor and review





















ongoing support






Step 1 Alignment

























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salespeople












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to use



























these challenges

















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monitor and review





















ongoing support






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the key role of the sales manager

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