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The Sales Manager’s Success Manual

The Sales Manager’s Success Manual

by Wayne M. Thomas
Publisher: AMACOM
Release Date: September 2007
ISBN: 9780814480502
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Book Description

Today’s sales managers face a tough challenge. They must be more productive than ever while relying more on partners and technology with reduced resources in the field. And with fewer, larger customers, every decision becomes more important -- and riskier.

The Sales Manager’s Success Manual

provides the critical information sales managers need to succeed in this increasingly difficult job.

Covering fundamental sales management topics including compensation, forecasting, and motivation, along with more advanced topics such as dealing with internal politics, understanding generational issues, managing up, and developing intuition, the book shows readers how to:

* hire the best sales force * foresee potential surprises * help reps make better decisions * save time and resources * target accurately for better results * work with the CEO and the rest of the company

Packed with savvy advice, enlightening case studies, and no-nonsense know-how, The Sales Manager’s Success Manual is a one-of-a-kind book no sales manager should be without.

Table of Contents

  1. Copyright
    1. Dedication
  2. Preface
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. I. Taking Your Team to Market
    1. 1. Going to Market: Leadership and Responsibility
      1. “The Ultimately Accountable Job . . .”
      2. It Takes a Leader—and Sometimes a Lucky Break
      3. Realities
      4. Going to Market
        1. Understanding the Terrain
        2. The Hindenburg
        3. Sales Omens
        4. Constant Vigilance
        5. Do It Now
        6. Prepare Thoroughly for CEO Presentation
        7. Your Leadership in Action
      5. The Path of Least Resistance[5]
        1. You Can Predict Success or Failure
    2. 2. The Sales Force
      1. How to Assess Your New Team
        1. Collecting Data
        2. Do It Now
        3. “You Got to Know the Territory!”
        4. Spies
        5. Assessing the Future
        6. Contracting the Selling Activities
      2. Sales Channel Sizing and Company Profitability
        1. Cost Containment
        2. Productivity Improvements
        3. Invest in Sales or Reduce Costs?
          1. Status Quo
          2. Investment for Profit Improvement
            1. Observations
        4. Consider Carryover
      3. In Pursuit of Rewards: Chocolate, Sex, and Money
        1. Chocolate and Sex
        2. Non-Money Rewards
        3. After the Thrill of the Chase
        4. Astute Observation
        5. Ethics in Question
    3. 3. Sales Environment
      1. Type 1 or Type 2 Situations
        1. Monkey-in-the-Middle
        2. Ineffective Outside Intervention
        3. Monitoring and Supervision
      2. Why Good Salespeople Make Bad Decisions
        1. Hold ’Em or Fold ’Em
        2. The Trigger Is Pulled
        3. Overconfidence
        4. The Power of Reciprocity
        5. Consistency
        6. Trust in Authority
        7. Emotional Intelligence
        8. Sunk Costs
        9. Emotion
        10. Decision Regret
        11. The Post Mortem
        12. Recommendations
    4. 4. Sales Control and Policies
      1. Sales Controls
        1. Second-Level Consequences
      2. The “Art” of Forecasting
        1. CEOs Live by Numbers
        2. Apples and Oranges
        3. Shades of Gray
        4. The Realm of Probability
        5. Sales Forecasting Is Intuitive
        6. Sales Representatives Have Unequal Skills
        7. Who Is Really in Charge of the Sale?
        8. Probability: The Forecast Is Wrong
        9. Nevertheless, Forecasting Is Essential
      3. Thin-Slicing, a Productivity Tool
        1. Thin-Slicing RFPs
          1. Creating Your Thin-Slicing Tool for RFPs
            1. Step 1: Hard Evidence
            2. Step 2: Group and Combine
            3. Step 3: Weighting
            4. Step 4: Test
        2. Alternative Thin-Slicing Algorithm (Table 4.2)
          1. Step 1
          2. Step 5: Attributes (Table 4.3)
          3. Step 6: Quantify the Result (Table 4.4)
        3. Review
        4. Qualifying the Old-Fashioned Way
      4. How a Super Salesman Avoided Common Decision Traps
        1. The Lead Didn’t Qualify
    5. 5. Channels
      1. Role of Partners
      2. Alliances Can Position You
      3. Thin-Slicing in a Sales Channel
        1. Lessons
          1. Money
          2. Politics
          3. Selection Criteria
      4. The 80/20 Rule
    6. 6. Product/Market Match
      1. Role of Sales
      2. Unwrinkling Southern California
        1. Beauty Has Economic Value
          1. Hindsight
        2. No Substitute for Good Products
        3. Sales Reach and Productivity Improve in Better-Targeted Markets
    7. 7. Competition
      1. Learning from the Fosbury Flop
        1. Invisible Competitors
        2. Lessons
      2. History Repeats Competitive Ebbs and Flows
        1. Technology Disintermediates Industries
        2. Global Competition 1840s’ Style
        3. Personal Upgrades
        4. More Help Required
        5. Field Skills Needed
    8. 8. The Customer
      1. Loyalty Costs More Now
      2. How to Avoid Being the Designated Loser
        1. Proposal Win Rate
        2. Guiding Principles
        3. Weigh the Evidence
        4. Advice for Your Salespeople about RFPs
    9. 9. The Market
      1. Sales Is Only the Messenger
      2. The Great Market Shift in 100 CE
        1. Trajan and Pliny the Younger
        2. Pliny’s Problem
  5. II. Personal Coaching
    1. 10. Facts-in-the-Future™
      1. Consider the Odds, Charlie Brown
      2. Predictable Surprises
      3. Change Accelerates
      4. Anticipating the Future
    2. 11. The Truth About Statistics, or Why You Need a BS (Bad Statistics) Filter
      1. A Short History of Bad Numbers
        1. Get a Pet and Become a CEO
        2. Grow Tall; Become a CEO
      2. Champagne Secret
        1. How to Test for Cause
      3. The Illusory Link
        1. “Boston, We Have a Problem”
        2. What Does “Average” Really Mean?
        3. Which Average?
        4. Illusory Correlation
    3. 12. The Gullibility Factor
      1. “How Gullible Are We?”[1]
      2. What Are Best Practices?
        1. Tragedy and Best Practices
        2. Herding and Best Practices
      3. Dotcom Euphoria
      4. Caution: No Silver Bullets for Sales!
      5. IBM’s Success Environment
      6. Examine the Evidence
      7. Application to a Forecasting Gap
      8. Exponential Sales Growth
      9. Additional Insights
    4. 13. Intuition
      1. Intuition Is Experience, Not Magic
      2. Experience in Action
      3. Intuition Is Mainstream
        1. Saving Luna!
        2. Expertise Is Not Transferable
        3. Feedback Is Essential to Learn Intuition
        4. “Wicked” Intuition
      4. Improve Your Intuition
      5. “Rounds” for Team Intuition
        1. Sharing Intuition
      6. CSI: Seeing the Invisible
      7. Intuition Is Knowing What Will Happen
      8. Test Your Intuition
        1. Discussion of Answers
    5. 14. How Much Information Is Enough?
      1. Spam Slicing
      2. Information: Less Is Often More
      3. A Lesson Learned from Betting on Horses[1]
    6. 15. Mind Games
      1. The Availability Heuristic
      2. Processing Biases
        1. Stupidity and Probability
      3. Lonely at the Top
      4. A CEO’s Advice
      5. Public Stress
      6. Drowning by Hanging onto an Anchor
      7. You Take It, You Own It
      8. Overconfidence
    7. 16. Walk a Mile in the CFO’s Shoes
      1. Where Does the CEO Stand?
      2. The CFO’s Viewpoint
      3. Sales Takes No Action
      4. Classic Goof
    8. 17. The Brain of a Sales Manager
      1. Brain Science
      2. We Have Dog Brains!?!
      3. Mr. Spock as Role Model?
      4. Mental Imaging
      5. As We Thinketh
      6. Why Goals Work
      7. There Are No Limits
    9. 18. Evolution in Sales Management
      1. Making Your Age Work for You
        1. Implication for Young Sales Managers
        2. Implication for Senior Sales Executives
        3. Four Generations
      2. CIA Advice for Continuing Career Success
      3. Superwoman and Other Dysfunctional Models
        1. Failure of Humility
        2. Overconfidence
        3. The Unpardonable Sin
    10. 19. The CEO and Sales Force Success
      1. Evolved and Unevolved CEOs: Hurd vs. Fiorina at HP
      2. Predictability
      3. Predictable Failure
    11. 20. Perception Sticks Like Glue
      1. Iceberg Perceptions
      2. Perceiving the Risks
      3. Flexibility and Success
      4. Know the Truth
        1. Observing Our Own Perceptions
    12. 21. FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
      1. Hiring
      2. Overconfidence
      3. Changing Territories
      4. CEO
      5. Learning
      6. Loss Reviews
      7. Earnings and Tenure
      8. Decision Making
      9. Best Wishes for Success
  6. Notes
    1. Chapter 1
    2. Chapter 2
    3. Chapter 3
    4. Chapter 4
    5. Chapter 6
    6. Chapter 7
    7. Chapter 8
    8. Chapter 9
    9. Chapter 10
    10. Chapter 11
    11. Chapter 12
    12. Chapter 13
    13. Chapter 14
    14. Chapter 15
    15. Chapter 17
    16. Chapter 18
    17. Chapter 20
    18. Chapter 21
  7. Bibliography
  8. About the Author