GOOD PLAYERS BECOMING GOOD COACHES

November 28, 2006 By Leave a Comment

I have been reflecting on this cliché for a few days: good players (sales reps) don’t make good coaches (managers). There are a few exceptions to the rule in sports (Pete Rose comes to mind). But what about business?

Upon reflection, I believe that there are a few keys to success when someone goes through the pro’s and con’s and decides to become a sales manager:

·         Passion: To move into sales management, the passion must shift from the joy of being in sales and winning that deal to the joy of building a great team and making others successful. It is about putting in place an ecosystem that will make the team successful. Making others successful must be fulfilling, because very few managers win public sales rewards and the best sales reps make more than their managers.

·         Ability to let go: This is so hard. The ability to back away from the business, moving from player to coach and letting the team do it their way. We all know the impact of micromanagement on sales people.

I would hypothesize that those who return to sales after a stint in management have challenges with these two. They want the limelight back, they love being directly responsible for their own fate or they don’t want to be in the back working the system to make their team successful.

So, is the sports analogy relevant?

In sports, a large part of success is based on natural ability which declines over time due to physical changes. These player’s set their goals on being a great player. Coaching is a second place activity, a way for the player to hang on to the game a while longer when the body gives out. This may be why best sports coaches are not players. If someone starts out wanting to be a coach, it is not viewed as a consolation prize. It is the prize, it is their way of being in the game.

That is why I think the sports analogy is flawed.

I would suggest that a great sales rep can move from sales to management if that is what they want. There has to be a shift in passion and the rep must look at this change as the goal, the next exciting step, not as a consolation prize (i.e. They still want to be a rep). The danger arises when the stellar sales rep becomes a manager because it is ‘the right next career step’ instead of the change they want to make. It that scenario, they hold on to what they loved (being a player) and end up failing as a manager (evolving into a coach).

Filed Under: The Leaders Journey Tagged With: ,

MOTIVATION

November 23, 2006 By Leave a Comment

I was in a course last week and the speaker stated that a sales manager is not able to motivate. Motivation comes from within and you cannot change that. If it exists, you can feed it (i.e. motivated by recognition, provide recognition), but not create it.

It is an interesting thought, and upon reflection, seems true. Someone can get me to do something, but it is my own internal drive and goals that pushes me to get things done.

The speaker followed up with the statement that a sales manager can only de-motivate. The two easiest ways to demotivate a sales rep:

1.   Pile on a good rep. Give them too high a quota or too much work.

2.   Tolerating the low performer. A proven way to demotivate the entire team.

So true.

Filed Under: The Leaders Journey Tagged With: , ,

TO BE OR NOT TO BE A SALES MANAGER: THAT IS THE QUESTION

November 6, 2006 By Leave a Comment

This is an age old question that all sales reps are bound to ask at some point in their career: Do I become a sales manager or remain a career professional sales person? (And it is a question asked by a reader …)

Prior to joining the company where my personal services corporation currently sells its services, I moved from sales to management. In that case, it was not a big decision as it was a hybrid role (I was a sales manager but retained my own territory. A unique opportunity necessitated by the size of the company). It was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

But, my last move was a big one. I thought about it for 2 years before I finally moved out of the sales role (that I LOVED) to sales management. Agonized over the move. When is the right time? Will I be happy? Can I do the job effectively? I have been out of management for 4 years, should I move back? Do I want to lose control of my time? Do I want the office life? In the back of my mind was the cliché about good sales reps making bad sales managers. So how did I decide?

For me, I did the Ben Franklin, listing the pros and cons on two sides of a piece of paper. What kept me as a sales rep where the weight that those pro’s and con’s held. As time shifted, so did the weights.

The Ben Franklin on moving into Sales Management:

Pros Cons
- Increased stock – yielding long term rewards to increase momentum toward retirement. - Decrease in pay in the short term (Everyone knows, the best managers work to ensure their reps make more than them)
- Ability to grow personally. I have done sales for 18 years and was getting bored. Other things had provided a challenges (children in the early years, golfing, etc.) but boredom was setting in. - Loss of flexibility of schedule (More travel, longer hours, calendar becomes public domain)
- Ability to lead a broad team and have a bigger impact. Expanding from the current leadership role (Sales Rep leader) to a broader leadership role. - Loss of direct control (Micromanagement is the death of the sales manager)
- Initially, I could see myself as a rep to retirement. Over time, that shifted. I wanted to run a sales organization. So, moving into this role was a required step – thereby moving to a pro. - Dramatic decline in handicap (I was at an 11, playing 70+ rounds a year and could see single digits after a stellar 80 in which I missed a 3 footer for 79)
- Expansion of network. The opportunity to work with a whole new network of people in different way. - Less time with my family
- It was a job I found exciting and it was time.  

 

It was a very tough decision. There are times when I still pine for the days as a sales rep (especially when I am in day 3 of a 4 day meeting in July .. looking out the window). In the end, the last point became the tipping point. I took 2 years to decide because the sales management jobs up to that point did not excite me. But when my current job came up, I knew that was the one. I went for it because I knew it was going to be really exciting, that it would stretch me and that I would learn a ton.

In the end, this is a very personal decision. During the interview process for my current role, I read more than 10 books on management to refresh my skills.

I would suggest to those thinking about making the decision, read Becoming a Manager. It is the only book that I have ever read that takes people through the transition. It can also serve as a great reality check.

But in the end, look inside. You can be whatever you want to be.

Filed Under: The Mgmt Journey Tagged With:
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