Solving Sales Staff Problems: The Art of Managing People and Increasing Sales
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About this ebook
Do you find yourself managing salespeople, and wondering how to get them to care about their sales as much as you do? Do you wonder what it takes to build a successful team, and happier manager-employee relationships?
Solving Sales Staff Problems takes a proactive approach and offers management tips to take control of the important things before they get out of hand. It includes advice for what to do when dealing with common sales staff issues, too.
This book is an invaluable resource for managers of salespeople in any industry. Written by an experienced sales manager and consultant, it includes hard-earned tips to help anyone turn their sales staff problems into profit.
Richard L. Torch
Richard L. Torch was head trainer and management consultant for an automotive repair company, and later formed Sell More Cars Inc., an independent training and consulting agency. He has more than three decades’ experience as a sales trainer and management consultant. Torch knows the value of good sales staff and how to manage people in order to increase sales.
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Solving Sales Staff Problems - Richard L. Torch
Preface
Early in my career, I was head hunted and hired by Mr. Curtis D. Johnson, a venture capitalist, angel investor who specialized in buying near-bankrupt companies, changing or improving their management, and then selling them. Mr. Johnson saw the potential for my common-sense logic and sales training abilities and used my involvement to assist him in turning around several poorly run companies.
Having acquired a troubled, large, nationwide automotive distribution company, we quickly achieved a 400 percent increase in sales and turned it into the leader in its industry. This is where my ability at public speaking, sales training, and management consulting skills were fully recognized.
Later we joined in partnership and in 1989 formed our own sales training and management consulting agency providing clients with in-house sales training and management assistance. Here is where we proved that instead of constantly hiring and firing salespeople, companies were better off having him train their existing staff, making their mediocre salespeople better and making their good salespeople into superstars.
Eventually, I was contracted for my services and management advice by companies all throughout North America.
After more than 30 years of sales training, increasing sales, and solving his clients’ business management and people problems, my advice and knowledge is available to you in this, my second book. I aim to provide hard-nosed, real-world advice on the management and people problems facing sales managers and business owners on a daily basis. Advice proven, in the boardroom and on the showroom floor. Advice you need.
Introduction
There are no business problems, only people problems.
Solve your people problems and you have no problems.
— Curtis D. Johnson
Whether you are the manager of a large multinational corporation, or manage the local furniture store, you need this book. As a manager, you are required to supervise employees in order to get the job done and the sales made. Unfortunately, you will also experience that many of your staff will resent your advice and resist your help. Regardless of their reactions, you are still their manager and depend on them to make the business run; you have little choice but to assist them in their jobs. This is not always an easy task.
As a manager, you will often be faced with two types of problems:
1. Task problems, such as, Will we be able to fill this order for Thursday?
2. People problems, such as, John, we are having difficulty with you being constantly late for your shift.
But if you think about it, aren’t task problems really just people problems in disguise? Don’t both task problems and people problems involve getting others to do what you want done? As a manager of people, it is often by solving your people problems that you will succeed.
CHAPTER 1
People Are Your Success
1. You and Your Staff
I’ve never had a problem liking someone who makes me money! However, as a manager, not everyone will like you and there is nothing you can do about it.
Success doesn’t buy friendships. It is merely one of the costs of being successful that you will find it difficult to develop friendships with your staff members. Always remember that you are their boss and not their friend. You have goals that have to be met and each staff member is responsible for achieving their own goals.
You may have an employee who, regardless of how much you help them, still resents your authority over them. If so, I recommend you soothe their ego by telling them how much you depend on them.
The time may come when you need to say something like, We are all here to make money, right? So let’s put our personal differences aside, work together, and concentrate on making sales.
Sell your staff on the benefits of working together and following your directions. They all want to do well, and it takes cooperation and a strong manager who isn’t concerned about making friends to help them get there. Learn what inner thoughts drive their actions. Their inner thoughts and ambitions are their motivations for doing a good job and wanting to succeed. Your new employee may be looking forward to buying a new car, another may be saving to buy their first home. Learning what motivates your people helps you in keeping them focused on the job at hand.
2. Planning for Success
While all managers want success, only the successful ones plan for it.
Your success depends upon working with your staff and maximizing sales. Plan your work, set your sales targets, and ensure all your staff start doing the work necessary for increasing sales. Increased sales take planning, patience, and hard work — especially yours!
For some reason, too many managers just end up being little more than highly paid office clerks. Increased sales just don’t happen. Someone has to make them happen!
Don’t fall into the common trap of merely being an administrator. If you’re serious about increasing sales, start working with those people who your success depends on: your staff. For its only after your people succeed, that you succeed.
Here are some tips in the next sections to help you find your way to success.
2.1 Work every day to the best of your abilities
Though we often try, you can’t do more that one thing at a time. All we end up doing is wasting a lot of energy and accomplishing very little.
There are those managers who never get anything done, and others who are relaxed, in control and forever increasing sales.
Successful managers —
• are aware of their employees’ daily activities and appointments,
• work at only one task at a time,
• make their decision on it,
• complete the work they started, and
• move onto the next job.
Delaying decisions today means that you’ll just have twice as many decisions to make tomorrow. Whenever possible, you are better off making your decisions once the issue is presented to you. Increasing sales requires quality planning and resolving all issues as soon as they arise.
2.2 Use a day planner
Plan your work and work your plan.
I can never understand a manager who complains they can’t seem to get organized but refuses to use a simple day organizer. They seem to think that writing their notes on their desk pad is enough. It isn’t.
Get organized and your priorities straight