Did you know that there are 397,900 sales managers in the United States?
It's expected that this number will jump by 7% each year, which is the average amount of growth in the U.S. for a profession.
As a manager, you need to ensure that your team is successful and happy. Keep reading, and we'll guide you through the fatal sales leadership practices you should avoid.
Don't Sell to Your Team
When you go from being a salesperson to working on the sales leadership team, you need to change your working style. You can't treat your team the same way you treat someone you're selling to.
Focus on helping your team with their sales skills and performance and seeing how you can help them grow and improve. Their numbers are your statistics and a reflection of your routine.
Starting with setting up one-on-one coaching and working through everyone's strengths and weaknesses is a great way to create and connect with your team.
Don't Doubt Your Team
Focus on being proactive vs. reactive when working on your leadership in sales. You want to help your team learn and grow their skills and do this independently with tips and advice from you.
You can go along on sales meetings and provide feedback after the call. However, you want to avoid taking over because your team will start to rely on you and will feel like you don't have confidence or trust in them.
If you're trying to control everyone's meetings, you're working in dangerous micromanaging territory that can lead to a dependent relationship between you and your employees. They will not feel empowered to learn and grow.
What happens when you're not around? We want to teach the team to be confident, independent, and knowledgeable - not relying on management for these things.
Set Clear Expectations
Your focus shouldn't just be on the numbers when you're in sales management. It needs to be a balance of knowing your team's numbers and making sure you're checking in on everyone and their prospects.
You want to make sure you're setting proper expectations for your team so they know what they need to achieve monthly, quarterly, and yearly. If their goals aren't clear to them, you will have a harder splitting your focus between the numbers and the growth of your team.
Negative Team Culture
Sales management requires delegation and conducting productive meetings that will keep morale high on your team. You need to know when to delegate work to your team so that you can focus on being the best leader you can be.
You're letting your team know you trust them and taking work off your plate simultaneously. It can help boost morale when your team feels like you are trying to help them grow in their role. If you're doing everything for your team, then you're "doing" and not "leading."
Take On Sales Leadership
Now that you know what you need to avoid and the common mistakes people make, you're ready to take on sales leadership.
You need to separate your new role from being a salesperson, don't micromanage, balance your focus between the people and the numbers, and don't do all of the work yourself.
