If you’re looking for the ultimate guide to sales management, you are in the right place—what we’re about to share will change your entire outlook on how to lead, scale, and improve your sales team.

This isn’t based on theory, either.

Having worked with countless clients, we know what it takes to lead a sales team forward.

We reveal all in this article…

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Table of Contents — The Ultimate Guide To Sales Management

1. Why Do Sales Managers Fail

2. What Are The Basics of Sales Management

3. What Are The Four Basic Elements of Sales Management

4. The Core Sales Management Strategies You Need To Know

4. 1: Set Clear Expectations and Goals

4. 2: Monitor and Manage These Expectations and Goals

4. 3: Prioritize Your Onboarding Process

4. 4: Then… Further Prioritize Training

4. 5: Motivate and Challenge Your Sales Team

4. 6: Create Regular Communication Channels

4. 7: Constantly Review, Evaluate & Focus on Growth

4. 8: Focus on The Long Game (Build a Culture)

5. The Ultimate Guide To Sales Management

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The Ultimate Guide To Sales Management

Here at The Sales Connection, we’ve spent years working with different sales teams in different industries. We have seen every situation you can imagine. As such, we know what works and what doesn’t. Not just making a sales team thrive on paper… but in reality.

That’s an important difference. You need an ultimate guide to sales management that works in 2022 and beyond. Not based on old theories and textbooks. That’s our aim with this article. To give you what you need. No more. No less.

That begins by focussing on a common problem we see…

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Why Do Sales Managers Fail?

As a sales manager and leader, there are many ways you can fail. Each situation differs, so there’s no single reason why managers fail. However, in our experience, it often comes down to this:

CLARITY!

Your team isn’t clear on what’s expected of them. You aren’t clear on what the right processes look like or what it takes to effectively lead a sales team in 2022. This is a problem. A lack of clarity produces problems stacked upon problems.

So although there are many ways you can fail, much of it comes back to a lack of clarity.

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What Are The Basics of Sales Management?

As you can imagine, clarity plays a large role in the basics of sales management. Many make it harder than it needs to be, simply by moving forward with a lack of clarity.

Around goals…

Expectations…

Vision…

Culture!

The very nature of sales management centers around you developing an effective sales team. What this looks like and the specifics inside differ from team to team. Yet clarity is something that’s needed at all times—no matter the situation.

Beyond clarity, there are a few other basics to hone in on.

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What Are The Four Basic Elements of Sales Management?

When it comes to effective sales management, a few elements you always need include:

• Planning: Without a clear plan and vision, you cannot build an effective sales team.
• Co-ordination: Once you have this plan, you need to clearly communicate it!
• Control: Yet clear communication only goes so far… without accountability, you’ll get nowhere.
• Motivation: Finally, you need to keep each person on your team motivated and challenged.

Without these four elements, you’ll only go so far. They lay the foundations for everything else. This is always where we begin when working with a new client. This helps us get clear on the current situation, which then allows us to dive deeper…

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The Core Sales Management Strategies You Need To Know

With the foundations set, you’re ready to dive deeper into the specifics so you can get the most out of your team:

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1: Set Clear Expectations and Goals

That keyword once more: Clarity!

Many managers excel when it comes to setting goals and building a strategy. But clearly and effectively communicate this? In our experience, this is where many managers fall short.

Clarity is everything. Your team needs to know what you expect of them. They need to understand their goals. The team-wide ones, but also anything specific to them. And, at all times, you need to get this across in a clear way. Never presume they know what you know.

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2: Monitor and Manage These Expectations and Goals

Following on from above, you have to keep on top of these expectations and goals.

Setting them is one thing, but ensuring each individual keeps progressing is another. You have to hold them accountable. You have to review their work. You have to update these goals and expectations. After all, nobody stays still in the sales world. 

If someone progresses and breaks through a glass ceiling, make sure their goals reflect this.

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3: Prioritize Your Onboarding Process

Much of this comes down to providing your team with a world-class onboarding experience. Those first few weeks are some of the most important. 

Train them. Clearly communicate everything they need to know. Show them what success looks like. Let them shadow you. Then, make sure you shadow them. 

In short, set them up for success. 

Many managers don’t. They set their team up for failure and are then surprised when they fall short.

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4: Then… Further Prioritize Training

A memorable onboarding experience is one thing, but it’s only the beginning. Training isn’t something you only do in the first few weeks. It’s something you need to commit to over and over.

Here are some additional resources on Sales Training the right way:

• How To Increase My Closing Rate
• How To Improve Your Sales Skills
• 5 Ways To Improve Your Sales Skills

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5: Motivate and Challenge Your Sales Team

If you tick these first four boxes, you set those on your sales team up for success. Yet complacency WILL creep in, no matter how strong your training and leadership are.

The only way to avoid this is to continuously motivate your team.

• Incentivize them
• Challenge them
• Reward them

You can do this on a team-wide level, yet you also need to personalize your approach to each individual. Different personalities react in different ways. Embrace this. As a leader, it’s imperative you tailor your approach and motivate everyone on your team at all times.

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6: Create Regular Communication Channels

This may surprise you, but monetary incentives aren’t the only way to motivate your sales team.

One of the easiest (and best!!) is to simply maintain regular communication. Make it easy for those on your team to connect with you. Be open and transparent. Encourage questions and conversations. Not only will you learn a great deal about your team, but you’ll keep them onside.

It’s an often-overlooked means to motivate, and it’s one that sets you apart.

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7: Constantly Review, Evaluate & Focus on Growth

When we work with a new client, we always make sure they set time aside to review and reevaluate their goals. Not just here and there, but regular slots in your calendar that focus on:

• What’s working
• What isn’t
• What goals and expectations are on track
• Which ones need adjusting!!

Plans never stay the same. Yet unless you reserve time to evaluate them, you keep doing the same thing. For a while, this is fine. But after a while it soon creates issues.

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8: Focus on The Long Game (Build a Culture)

Finally, it’s important you remain focused on long-term progress as well as short-term goals.

Your job isn’t just to help your team succeed today (or this quarter).

Your duty is to keep the momentum going and smash through glass ceilings.

This doesn’t happen unless you build a world-class culture. 

To learn how, study: How To Build a Sales Culture.

That isn’t the only resource you can study to improve your sales management skills. We’ve developed several to help you not only improve your skills but your teams’. These include:

• How To Hire a Sales Team
• Where To Hire a Sales Team
• 16 Ways To Improve Your Sales Team Performance
• How To Train Salespeople
• How To Maximize a Sales Team

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The Ultimate Guide To Sales Management—The Conclusions

Now you’ve read this ultimate guide to sales management, you’re ready to set your sales team up for success. Leading an effective and ever-improving team isn’t easy. Yet it isn’t as hard as many managers make out—so long as you know what to do.

Now you do.

Although this is only the beginning…

If you’re ready for this step, we can help you take it. NOW is the time to Apply To Partner with US — so we can learn about your business and create a tailored strategy that transforms your business.

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