Manage your Managers!

Manage your managers! Seems straight forward, right? WRONG. Its not easy. Its hard. Its time consuming. It gets complicated. It can be uncomfortable. But, It has to be done. Goals, accountability, reporting, timelines, budgets etc don’t just happen if not managed. Chris Bounds, Austin, Texas offers the following:

#1 Ethical Sales will cure most other issues.  To be clear, its all about sales. Sure, someone has to decide when to order more copier paper & yes, it is sad that Rick’s father is dying from cancer & that the swim up bar at the pool has a cracked mirror; yeah those things must be dealt with BUT don’t let life’s distractions cloud your vision of what the goal is. Don’t stay busy all day doing things that don’t show up on the bottom line of the quarterly sales report. AND, don’t let your managers do it either. Dos Mundos Developments has actually studied this. Is it coincidental that record setting sales figures seem to make it much easier & more pleasant to deal with life’s issues? They think not! SO & THEREFOR, never, ever let your management team get bogged down in stuff that has nothing to do with sales. NO!, no excuses; just don’t let them do it. Try the following for 3 months & watch what happens.

#2 Shift the focus of the time you spend with managers. With sales reps, you’d (hopefully) spend your time digging into the details of their sales production. But with your sales managers, you must dig into the details of their management. For example; In a review with an individual salesman (Bob), you might say, “Lets review your 30 day sales efficiency on X”. But with a sales manager, you would say, “How are you working with Bob, given his 30 day sales efficiency report, about his X sales”. Or rather than asking, “How could Bob have done Y better?” you instead should ask, “How could you have managed Bob to do Y better?” Make your managers answer these questions. Make them study & be accountable for their answers. This will bind the team & give them ownership of the process.

# 3 Know that you’ll teach by example, whether you want to or not. When you’re managing all phases of a project or development, you’re probably not real concerned that the kitchen staff sees you out of your professional dress when you snitch a cup of coffee on your day off. But when you’re managing managers, you & your behaviors, dress, habits, language etc., matter 24/7. REALLY. What they see, & so perceive of you, is what you are going to get back – that can be good or bad. If you’re delegating effectively, providing useful, regular feedback, conducting surprise check-ins, hiring wisely, & fairly holding all staff accountable, that’s what your management team will do. Conversely, if you tell one of your mangers that he can hold a pender over & close it the next month so he gets his Christmas bonus.. YOU just told him (& his piers) that cheating/ breaking policies is ok.

#4 Feed the tigers, ride the horses & shoot the dogs. It is very important that the sales mangers you manage understand that while all staff are governed by the exact same policies & handbook of rules, that at the end of the day SALES is what we do. We do them ethically, straight forward & do not cut corners or skip any procedures, BUT our job is to sell. When managing a fast paced, high energy sales organization fairly and according to stated goals & budgets, your managers’ recipe must call for: #1. FEED THE TIGERS: give more leads, tours or prospects to the #1 salesman/manager/team. The first seed in a tourney gets the #8 seed for first game. That’s just how it is. Make your rules & policies match. #2 RIDE THE HORSES: We don’t ride pigs or cows. No, we want horses & when you have a horse why would you keep a pig or cow in the stable for riding. Horses are for riding, so when your salesman/manager/team is selling well, do not quit riding. Big mistakes are made when the top team is broken up because of promotions, lateral moves or reassignments. #3 SHOOT THE DOGS: we don’t want dogs in our stable; it creates chaos. When a team/manager/salesman is just not performing & not performing consistently, despite your focused efforts, then you must train your management team to get the dogs out of the stable.

#5 Quick, fair & public trials: Nothing quite like a public hanging to get your attention & help you understand that rules must be followed & that the results of actions will not be dealt with in secrecy or privacy. Not withstanding proper adherence to employment & privacy laws, your mangers should see, know & understand that all matters, good & bad, will be dealt with immediately & in a fair and open forum. Showing managers that it is OK to post the weekly sales reports & comment openly on efficiency numbers is a good thing. There are no secrets in sales numbers. They are exactly what they are. No excuses, no what ifs & nowhere to hide. If you are second place by $0.50 then you are second place. Your management team must have the confidence to openly admonish wrong behavior & reward good behavior. Actively treating managers with this same philosophy will trickle down.

#6 Take it outside. Conference table meetings in the sales room or board room are great. But not really. Want to really get a manger talking or thinking freely & efficiently. Take him (team) outside for a walk or a sit down under a tree. You will be surprised. They will open up, speak more freely, be more honest and be more creative. Humans evolved, over millions of years, by making it happen OUTSIDE. We rose to the very top of the food chain OUTSIDE. It’s a human nature, DNA thing. Being outside lowers stress, it actually loosens you up and it is calming. This is especially true for what will be tense, confrontational or otherwise stress full meeting or conversation.

For more NO BS sales management stuff contact Chris Bounds directly.