BY Kathy Crosett
Small business owners with one or two sales reps on their staff can often manage the challenges of bringing in new business and satisfying current customers. But when it’s time to grow your business, you must understand the difference between sales managers and sales representatives. At some point, you’ll need a sales manager to oversee and coach your sales representatives.
What Does a Sales Representative Do?
On a day-to-day basis, your sales representatives are prospecting for new clients. They may be moving good prospects through the sales funnel. And they could be touching base with existing customers to increase the chances of doing more business with them.
What's the biggest difference between today's sales managers and sales representatives? Reps look to their managers for advice and support.
What Does a Sales Manager Do?
Sales managers maintain responsibility for very different organizational functions than sales representatives. They must set sales goals for their reps. To help their reps achieve these goals, they provide coaching and training. They should also develop programs to strengthen the sales team culture and use rewards to motivate their staff.
SalesFuel CEO C. Lee Smith notes that “sales managers have one of the most challenging positions in any organization. They must balance the value of their time with the potential return on investment as they develop their reps.”
Previous Experience
A sales manager usually has experience in all the tasks a sales representative is asked to do. They understand the thrill of landing a big account. And they should be able to empathize with their rep when a great prospect walks away from what looked like a certain deal.
If a sales rep is having a hard time conducting a good needs analysis on a prospect, the sales manager should help. These situations typically require coaching.
Coaching
Sales managers often have trouble determining what to coach their reps on. One way to understand a rep’s weaknesses and their motivations is to ask them to take a sales skills assessment. This test can be part of a full psychometric assessment done during the hiring process. Assessments can be given at any time with the goal of learning about a rep’s work styles, motivations, and superpowers.
Coaching a sales rep and helping to improve their selling strategies and tactics means the manager may have to change their mindset. Most sales managers earned their position after succeeding as a sales rep. Many of these formerly successful sales reps still thrive on adrenaline. They grow excited as a big deal is about to close.
In the manager role, they’ll rely on different skills. Specifically, they will encourage their reps to improve their decision-making and critical thinking abilities.
How to Strengthen the Sales Culture
Another difference between sales managers and sales representatives centers on the role of building team loyalty. Some reps can focus on their job without worrying about what the person in the next office is doing.
Other reps get sucked into the office drama. Or they’ll argue about who’s to blame for the failed effort to upsell a big account.
Managers don’t have the luxury of ignoring this type of conflict. In our most recent Voice of the Sales Rep survey, over 20% noted that the manager doesn’t hold everyone accountable and they avoid conflict. Clearly, sales managers have some work to do.
The best managers address conflict and nonperformance issues directly. To create a supportive environment, sales managers should meet with feuding team members. Encouraging them to talk through the conflict and accept accountability can develop a culture of professionalism and respect.
What is the New Role for Today's Sales Managers?
Steli Efti at blog.close.com reminds sales managers to leave behind the old-school concept of being the boss. If you come into the role believing that your team exists to do your work, you have the wrong mindset. Today’s reps need training, coaching and emotional support to get their jobs done.
If you don’t feel equipped to carry out these aspects of the job, sign up for sales manager training. After that, you should be asking the question all great sales managers obsess about every day: “How can I help my team be the best they can be?”
Conclusion
The difference between sales managers and sales representatives is simple. The reps maintain the primary relationships with prospects and clients. And managers give them the help they need to succeed.
Image by olia danilevich on Pexels
