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Successful Sales Manager
The qualities of the successful sales manager are crucial when maximizing the results of a team. According to a study, 69% of salespeople whose annual results exceeded their initial targets rated their direct managers as “excellent” or “above average.”
But what makes a sales manager a good leader?
A good sales manager is a charismatic person with leadership gifts, capable of inspiring his team members to make them the best individually and collectively. Positive, you must face complex situations boldly and bluntly, and you must make your decisions based on data and not emotions. Permeability and adaptability are two other fundamental traits, as well as assertiveness and good manners. The sales leader is also a team player, who makes each feel like a protagonist and simultaneously understands the group’s needs and pushes them to fight for success.
Not all good sales leaders are born: those who, with tenacity and effort, are made. To achieve this, you have to identify the traits that characterize a good sales manager, recognize the qualities that are already possessed, and work to develop those lacking.
Elements that make you a good sales leader
Business knowledge and experience.
Your understanding of the market and your sales representatives’ work will be the cornerstone on which your team will build its relationship with you. Therefore, you must know your market. Whether it’s your own professional experience or your documentation effort, you need to show them with deeds, not just words, that you know what you’re doing. Only then will you get them to trust your leadership.
Strategic thinking.
Define goals for the team that allow each salesperson to demonstrate their capabilities and successes. Create an environment where the effort and individual results are visible and publicly recognized and that, at the same time, can be perceived by others as a success of the collective. Gamification can be a handy tool in this regard.
Creativity and mental flexibility.
The potential to think out of the box and adapt to events will allow you to solve your commercials’ problems instead of being part of the cause and will enhance your team’s respect for your criteria.
You are carefully listening and interest in the people in your charge. To keep your team members motivated, you need to know them well. Ask them about their interests, tastes, and concerns; listen to them without judging them, and remember what they have told you. You will be able to diagnose your team’s real needs and, at the same time, convey that you care about your opinion.
Adaptability in the form of leadership.
Neither who acts unilaterally nor who delegates for everything. The best leader can make decisions independently and quickly when the situation requires it and is not afraid to encourage team participation in decisions that directly affect them.
Empathy and coaching skills.
A sales manager is like a coach: he must perceive each member of his sales team’s specific capabilities and enhance them without transforming them. If you desire to be a good leader, don’t force your salespeople to be you or do the job the way you would. You will get better results if you respect their practices, as long as they align with the organization’s ethics and service to achieve the objectives you have set for them.
Authenticity and sincerity without artifice. The members of your team will only be able to identify with you if they feel they know who you are, so you must let yourself be known. That doesn’t mean that you should share your intimacy with them or have to be their friend. Show them your way of thinking and seeing life without artifice. Your commercials will appreciate knowing who they have with them.
