As you oversee your team of sales managers, it’s crucial to ensure they possess the right skills to drive performance and develop their teams effectively. This introduction sets the stage for exploring the critical competencies that separate good sales managers from truly exceptional ones.
Sales managers are the vital link between your strategic vision and frontline execution. Their ability to translate organizational goals into actionable plans while nurturing individual talent directly impacts your company’s bottom line.
This post explores the essential skills your sales managers need—from data-driven decision-making to emotional intelligence to technical skills—providing you with a framework to evaluate their skills and responsibilities and develop these crucial team leaders.
Sales Manager Skills and Responsibilities
Sales managers fill critical leadership positions. They oversee daily operations of their direct reports, including reporting, prioritizing daily activities, predicting revenue, forecasting performance, and managing sales pipeline. Here are some of the key responsibilities of a successful sales manager.
Hit Sales Quotas
The first task of sales management is to ensure their sales team hits weekly, monthly, and quarterly business targets. Quotas are the core of any business. Without them, your sales professionals won’t feel motivated to push themselves and perform. Sales managers should aim to meet or exceed targets.
Train Sales Reps
Sales managers are involved with training new hires on sales techniques, product knowledge, technical skills, and company policies. They may contribute to developing sales training materials and may oversee training delivery.
Coach Sales Professionals
A structured approach to sales coaching, managing, and motivating sales professionals can help a team achieve predictable results. Coaching involves regular meetings with sellers to review results, identify areas of opportunity, and provide feedback and guidance.
Recruit, Hire, and Onboard
Many sales managers are responsible for building their own team. They may be involved in recruiting, hiring, interviewing, onboarding, and mentoring new hires. They can use hiring assessments to understand their sellers better, avoid pitfalls, and resolve pain points.
Create Sales Forecasts
Sales forecasting is an important aspect of management because it helps set sales goals that drive overall business success. Sales managers must know how to forecast using historical data, current trends, and their company’s business goals.
Analyze Performance Data
Sales management involves analyzing performance data to make data-driven decisions as well as providing effective leadership to their team. This data can be also used to create accurate forecasts and identify opportunities for improvement or growth within your organization.
Develop New Business
Sales managers facilitate new business opportunities by coaching and mentoring sales professionals, identifying potential deals, and meeting with prospects to help sellers acquire new customers. Sales managers can help their sellers handle objections, prevent bottlenecks and stalled deals, and shorten sales cycles.
Ensure Customer Satisfaction
Coordinating with account managers and the customer success team to address client concerns, monitor product and service performance, and make recommendations can help maintain overall client satisfaction.
Align with Marketing
Regular meetings with the marketing team to share plans and forecasts and to coordinate efforts can align the two teams. Sales managers can contribute to developing and updating product prices as well as the rollout and timing of new product releases.
Research the Competition
Depending on the organization, sales managers may conduct competitive product research and consult with corporate leadership regarding new product offerings and overall business strategy.
Strengthen Sales Management Skills
Exceptional sales management is key to an organization’s success. Sales training, support, and knowledge can give your sales managers the foundation to succeed. Find out how sales leadership training will give your team the critical sales management skills they need.
