The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Sales management is a tough job.

I googled why sales managers fail and got “About 206,000,000 results (0.40 seconds).” “About 60% of new managers fail within the first 24 months in their new role”, according to research from CEB Global.

Why?

There are a lot of reasons (just ask Google), but it often comes down to not knowing how to manage people effectively and not being able to implement changes and improve the selling process.

Simply put, to be successful as a sales manager, you must understand people and how to help people sell.

In this fast-paced digital era, staying ahead of the competition requires mastering the art of customer relationship management (CRM).

A robust sales CRM system is the key to optimizing your sales process, improving team productivity, and ultimately driving revenue growth.

From selecting the right CRM platform to implementing automation and analytics, we will uncover the secrets to maximizing your sales efforts.

Between vacations and spending time with family to more distractions and slower sales cycles, summer is often difficult for sales leaders since keeping their sales teams engaged and energized.

Here are some great strategies for sales executives to encourage and energize their sales staff during the summer.

The influence a manager has on your culture and the engagement of those they manage is enormous. According to a Gallup study, 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.

Knowing this, the time and investment you make in your management team is important to your company’s success. Having a plan for their development (or yours) needs to be a priority.

According to the Engage 2023 Report, nearly half (49%) of survey respondents shared that their company is only somewhat focused or not focused at all on employee development. It is time to change that dynamic so your company flourishes.

It takes commitment and dedication from their leadership to help set the tone and expectations for managers. Don’t assume that only new managers need attention. Even with years of management experience, there are still many opportunities for growth for everyone who leads a team.

Finding new ways to develop effective leaders can be challenging, and you may need a few ideas to add to your portfolio. Here are a few to get you started.

Salespeople often slow down a sale or lose it altogether because they are not willing to create tension. I am not talking about relationship tension. I am talking about task tension.  

You want to get to task tension as quickly as you can. This is what sales acceleration is all about. However, smart salespeople know you need to create a foundation of relationships—essentially reducing relationship tension so you can create task tension. You can’t rush to task tension until you remove relationship tension. You remove relationship tension by helping the prospect see that you are someone who can be trusted and could bring value.

It’s common knowledge that professional athletes who reach peak performance no longer need coaching, right?

Wrong.

Even top-performing athletes still have coaches because there’s always room for improvement. Coaches observe what athletes can’t see – athletes are too busy playing!

The same can be said for your sales team. Coaching helps your team members by boosting their confidence, improving their performance, and helping them see things they’re unable to see – they’re too busy selling!

But coaching isn’t always easy. If it were, we wouldn’t have Jim Mora’s famous “playoffs” rant or the iconic moment when Lou Piniella yanked up first base and heaved into right field. Coaching takes time, patience, and consistent dedication. Sometimes, you may even feel like you're running out of ideas to coach your team effectively.

If that happens, don't worry. We've got you covered. Here are six things you can start doing right now to better coach your sales team and help them reach their full potential.

Being a decision-maker in today’s business world makes them a target for every over-enthusiastic salesperson with their landline number.

Can you imagine how exhausting that must be?

To avoid this trap and maximize every opportunity in today's challenging sales environment, you'll need a workable sales strategy and viable methods of researching prospects.

You know that you can make a real difference to this prospect if you can just get in front of them and show them your magical product.

Here's how to achieve exactly this without getting shot down by your prospect.

As a sales manager, you've realized that the sales world is not a constant, static environment. It's a dynamic, ever-changing landscape influenced by various factors, including the seasons.

Understanding the seasonal nature of sales is crucial for any business to thrive and adapt to the challenges and opportunities that arise throughout the year.

In this blog, we will explore the challenges faced by sales managers in relation to seasonal fluctuations, as well as the opportunities that can be leveraged to maximize sales success.

Active buyers in today’s market have immediate and pressing issues that couldn’t be foreseen earlier this year. Business owners have more distractions than ever, and there’s no roadmap for dealing with the economic changes that are still occurring.   

Putting yourself inside the mind of these buyers will help you gain access to them. Understanding who they are is critical to understanding how you sell your products and services to them. We call this tactic defining your target persona. 

We spend a great deal of our lives at work, and one of the things that can make or break that experience is whether we have a good leader. Not just someone who can bring in the numbers but someone who can lead people.

To be an effective and respectful leader, one must lead with empathy and compassion.