Which Sales Management Style is Yours?: A Sales Managers' 5 Styles

by Dave Kahle

I’ve trained B2B sales forces for 30 years.  In that time, I’ve had ample opportunity to interact with literally thousands of sales managers.  The position is often the least well organized in the entire sales department.  Job descriptions are sketchy, if at all Expectations for the position range from non-existent to fuzzy and general (“make sales go up’.).  Very few have ever been trained in the best practices of their position.  They are, for the most part, left on their own to define the job as they see fit.

            This leads to a wide variety of practices. Without any education in the best practices of sales leadership, they naturally default to managing like they were managed.  Their models, unfortunately, are even more like to have never been educated in the best practices themselves.  

           So, they create an image of who they are in the job, and then live up to the expectation of those images.  They generally fall into one of these five styles that describe their view of themselves and the resulting approach to the job.  See if one of these describes you.

Super salesperson

           Since sales managers are often formerly good salespeople who have been promoted, they naturally approach theii new position with the same skill set that worked so well for them on the job.  Since their responsibilitees are broader, they see the job as a larger stage on which to work their magic.  So, they become the guy who is called into fix problem accounts, close big deals, and entertain the most influential customers. 

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All that is well and good, expect that it requires a hands-on approach, and the sales managers as super salesperson often find that they are doing the work that the salesperson should do.  Many salespeople are happy to shrug off the responsibility for a big or problem account, as long as they continue to receive credit for it. This absolves the salesperson of the responsibility to acquire the skills to close that big account themselves.

           So the short term benefit of getting that big deal pales in the face of the long-term detriment caused by the lack of development among the sales force.

Salesperson’s friend

           Having typically been a member of the salesforce, the new mangers are now put into a position of having their friends and colleagues report to them. Without clear direction from the executive level, they continue to operate with the salespersons’ mindset, and don’t make the shift to seeing the world through a different perspective.  So, they advocate for salesperson’s positions regardless of the impact on the larger company profits and operations.  For example, they are inclined to ignore paperwork that is late and directives that are ignored.  Excuses are accepted at face value and no real pressure is put on even the most marginal of salespeople.

           One of the mistakes B2B companies make is to give the salesforce such a wide degree of latitude that the salespeople make all the key decisions, and, in effect, run the sales side of the company. And, while there are a significant number of salespeople who will work with the employer’s best interest in mind, the majority will pursue their self interests regardless of the impact on the business.  The sales manager who sees himself/herself as the salesperson’s friend only adds fuel to that fire.  

Fireman

           Speaking of fire, the next type is characterized by ... READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.