As modern day sales leaders, we should always praise our sales teams in public and give them critical feedback in private. I recently experienced one of the worst cases of a leader abusing the position of manager by calling out one of his sales people in front of the entire team. Yet he did not do this in the way that most people think of when they think of “public criticism.”

A member of the sales team was being asked to account for their activity in their sales territory. Almost to the point of “double secret probation” (Animal House fans will recognize the term) the leader was constantly asking for detail on sales calls, appointments and this person’s general whereabouts. By the end of the week this particular sales person was fed up with the big brother approach and finally decided enough was enough and threw up the white flag and resigned. The leaders’ response was a simple “Good Riddance” as if that was the objective all along. (more…)

Being a good manager is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.  The first time you try to fit the pieces together it takes awhile to get everything to fit smoothly.  The next time you attempt to make the pieces fit you are a little more familiar with the pattern and each time after that it becomes more and more natural to easily match everything together and have it all turn out right.  The pieces of the puzzle a manager has to put together are comprised of advertising, recruiting, holding productive meetings, motivating a person who is in an emotional or financial slump, handling types of personalities you don’t relate to and recruiting people that are happy on other jobs, but are ready for change if you follow-up with them properly among other things.  All of these techniques combined together make a great manager.  (more…)

Being a firm believer in the importance of choosing the right words in all situations, I often find myself studying the impact of things I hear. I think about how the words make me feel. Then, I try to turn the situation around to where I capture an understanding of the person who said them and what they really meant. Not many people do this. Few invest the time and effort into studying words, even though how you use them dictates nearly everything about life, relationships and business.

When you reach the level of manager, executive or business owner, you really have to watch what you say and how you say it. You now have a group of people whose lifestyles depend on your business. They will always be on the alert for any sign of challenge in the business that could negatively impact them. You must learn to be crystal clear in your communications, yet use words that evoke the emotional impact you desire. (more…)

Ron Marks

        Most sales managers and their companies have terrible timing when it comes to improving the skills of their sales teams. Unfortunately most companies conduct training only when a sales person is new to the company. After they have a few sales under their belts, training stops.

        If you were a military leader and had a critical mission in front of you, you would likely train harder and more intensely than ever before. You would want your team’s training to be current in order to be most effective. Yet sales managers send their sales people out into the field each and every day without the slightest bit of current training and skill development. (more…)