What is the Main Function of Sales Management?
Simply stated, the goal of sales management is to drive new business.
Let’s consider what supports that simplicity and its challenges and obstacles if we agree.
Suppose we disagree that sales management’s primary purpose is to drive new business. In that case, I invite you also to consider the challenges and obstacles preventing new business from being developed and meeting goals.
Elements that support driving new business
Clarity with ownership and sales management
The primary focus of this role is to have clarity with ownership and sales management that drives new business. It starts at the top, with leadership and sales management creating synchronicity with what the role is meant to accomplish and the targets it is meant to hit, with timeframes for achievement. Sales managers are carrying out the vision of leadership, and without partnership at the top, there will be a breakdown in communication and ownership that will only widen as it continues down the line to salespeople and sales support.
Clarity with the role itself
Sales management actions need to align with the outcome of driving new business. When the sales manager knows their role is to drive new business, they can focus on the actions that will do that and not get pulled into other areas (merchandising, advertising, etc.) that take them away from working with their salespeople to help them sell.
Relationship to goal achievement, knowledge of performance metrics, and how to improve performance and results
A strong sales manager who OWNS the store goal and sees their salespeople as their vehicle to goal achievement has a solid starting point. From there, they can use performance data to gauge current skill and result levels and identify specific areas of improvement to build skills and consistently achieve goals.
Sales training and coaching processes are in place
Statistics are the starting place, coupled with knowledge of what to do to improve results. If the close ratio is low, is it a team issue or an individual’s? Should there be training for the team or coaching with specific salespeople? Is there a company sales program/process, or will the sales manager rely on their autobiography from their days on the floor to train and coach their team? When observations and on-the-floor engagement are part of the sales management activities, accountability increases, and performance improves.
Organization and structure to support direction
Sales management (like sales) is a science before it’s an art form. By consistently scheduling sales management activities (creating and conducting training meetings, one-on-one coaching, daily huddles, and observations) that include sales team members, the sales manager is a living example of how salespeople must bring structure into their selling activities.
Obstacles to driving new business
Clear role and responsibilities
There needs to be a clear role and areas of responsibility for the sales manager. Without clear roles and responsibilities, sales managers will do what they think is best, but it may not align with leadership’s ideas.
Sales manager gets pulled in too many directions
When the sales manager gets pulled in different directions, they take their eye off new business. This is the greatest impediment to sales management success. Without organization and alignment, this is bound to happen and needs to be avoided. Sales managers often get pulled into customer service issues that can be handled by someone else, and often for issues that are post-delivery and not new business. These are tempting because they seem urgent, and handling them feels productive, but they are one of the greatest obstacles to staying focused on new business sales management activities.
Lack of sales management experience
Sales managers must learn HOW to train, develop, coach, direct, and redirect their sales team. Taking a top producer and putting them in a sales manager role and hoping that they share what made them successful with the rest of the team is wishful thinking that is rarely effective. It also breeds resentment among the salespeople. Suppose you want to promote from within and elevate a strong salesperson who has the desire to learn to build a strong sales team. In that case, leadership needs to be responsible for the development of that sales manager – either directly with a professional development plan or with outside assistance.
There are likely more elements that support and limit the sales manager driving new sales business, but these are a strong start. If you are a sales manager struggling to build a cohesive and effective team and to achieve goals regularly, consider what might be missing that can be put in place. Once it’s in place, build a structure to support it in staying there.
