Management - Skills Needed For Managing People

In order to achieve the success that you want to reach it is vital to follow a strict time management schedule. This will allow you to manage your time as effectively and efficiently as possible.

The first step is to follow a written plan such as a daily or weekly plan matching it with your monthly or quarterly plan as this sets realistic goals for each day. Review the plan the night before as you will be fully prepared for what lies ahead.

What is found generally is that, following the Pareto's rule 80% of unfocused effort generates 20% of results while the remaining 80% results are achieved with only 20% of effort. Therefore many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity but achieve very little because they are not focused on the right things. Talk to a colleague, business partner or your sales manager about what you should be focused on.

At the heart of successful time management it is an important shift in focus - concentrate on results, not on being busy as this will ensure you are getting rewarded for the time you spend on daily activities (Not been a busy fool).

The purpose of time management is to adjust the balance of time spent during the day in favour of high yield activities, especially true today as time is money and we need all of our energies focused on yielding a return on investment (ROI), in this case time and money is what we are investing - determine what you are getting in return?

Shift your focus

To shift the balance, first of all you need to analyse how you really spend your time during an average day. In order to ensure that most of our working day is spent on focused effort, think about your focus.

Question

What are the three most important activities that generate the greatest returns for you in your business and or sales role? And how much time do you spend in these activities in total per day?

Using your time wisely

Research has also shown that individual energy levels vary enormously throughout the day, depending on the blood sugar levels, lighting, temperature etc. each person has a set pattern that can be predicted and so by analysing your day more closely you can plan to be doing appropriate tasks at a time which best suits your energy levels. For example high return activities when your energy levels are at their peak and research when your energy levels are at their lowest.

You should ideally have a whole month planned in advance, with your goals set out clearly and it also helps to break the month down into weeks so that you can work towards your weekly targets very clearly.

Tips

Plan your day tomorrow - today this way you know exactly how your day should pan out and what to start on immediately as soon as you get into the office.

Time is money so spend it wisely ensuring you are getting the best return every time.

Proper Planning and Preparation equals success

P+P+P = a great return every time

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The Difficulties of Managing a Sales Team

Most sales managers would agree that "managing a sales team is harder than herding cats". The individualism common in the stereotypical examples of sales and domesticated cats makes the metaphor work rather well!

So that's the problem, now what do we do about it?

First we need to identify the qualities that make a great sales person:

Independent (will do things their way)Individualistic (their way doesn't involve you monitoring everything they do)Self-starter (they set their own priorities)Great questioners (they will question everything you try to tell them)Passionate about their work (they sometimes come across as angry)Persistent (they are very stubborn)Ability to negotiate (they can talk their way out of anything you try to tell them)Ability to overcome rejection (they will not care what you think about them either)Respond to needs (they will commit only to those things that they see as important)Storyteller (they can convince you that things are better than they are)

Those ten characteristics which make for a great sales person can clearly make them very difficult to manage. The more "Managerial" you become the more the negative side of those characteristics manifest themselves.

Let's consider the Sports Manager. Sports managers spend their time behind the scenes coordinating all business-related activities for the team that employs them.

Rarely is that the responsibility of a sales manager. Usually they are tasked with increasing sales and executing the day-to-day functions and decisions of the sales team. Sounds more like a coach than a manager. Right?

Maybe then what's needed is a shift in focus from functioning as a manager to functioning as a coach. After all is there a lot of difference in the characteristics of a high-powered sales person and that a high-powered athlete?

I think not!

What advantages will a coach have that a manager doesn't? A coach is seen in our society very different from a manager. Can we use those differences to our advantage?

Here's a slightly over simplified explanation: A manager sets goals, in the form of quotas on calls, presentations and sales, and holds you accountable to reach them. A coach supports, through training, practice and development of your skills, your efforts to achieve victory.

With that perception of the difference it is obvious why more sales people are more responsive to coaching than to managing.

Let's look again at those characteristics of a high-powered sales person through the eyes of a coach:

Independent - a coach loves an independent spirit because they are eager to work with independent people rather than the person who depends on him for the next 10 years.

Individualistic - a coach wants an individual rather than a one-size-fits-all sales person. Individuals bring flavor and expand your market.

Self-starter - a coach wants the sales person who sees the need and goes after it with everything they have.

Great Questioner - a coach will see the questioning ability as the greatest asset if when it is directed at the goals and objective of the company.

Passionate - a coach understands that passion is a part of the package which also includes some harder to handle issue but they all come in the same package.

Persistent - a coach will take what seems like a stubborn tendency and make it positively persistent.

Ability to negotiate - A coach will use the sales person ability to negotiate to "get" them to work for their own good.

Respond to needs - a coach understands how to help a sales person "see" needs as never before.

Storyteller - a coach knows the power of good stories and how to direct the sales persons to use them to accomplish his goals not keep him from them.

The difficulties of managing a sales team is that you're trying to manage! Try coaching instead, or you could just keep herding cats.

Like this piece on managing sales people? Eric would really like to hear from you as he puts together his next podcast on becoming a sales coach rather than a manager. To get to know Eric better go to http://ericmulford.com/

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Tips For Managing Sales Meetings

Managing your large corporate sales meetings can be quite the hassle. You have to plan the event, choose the venue, make sure everyone who is required attends the event, and you have to plan the program and topics of discussion. Not to mention the refreshments, parking, and time slots that fit into everyone's schedule. The truth is you already have enough on your plate. You are busy, and you seem to get busier every day, and that does not include planning a big sales meeting for your company and your employees. But there are services that will actually plan your sales meetings and make sure everything goes according to plan. This allows you to focus on the meat of the presentation and enjoying yourself, too.

Finding the right company to manage your meetings can be a chore in and of itself. But that is only if you do not know what to look for. The first thing to look for is on-site management duties and responsibilities. When this is included, that company should arrive to the venue before your sales meeting and make sure everything is in place and ready to go. They will also stay on-site throughout the duration of the meeting, so you can rest assured that everything you need is taken care of. Also, they should also manage registration and attendance, coordinate transportation needs for those traveling from out-of-town, and even coordinate photography of the event, if that applies to your needs. The right company is even in charge of the food and beverages.

If you need help selecting the right venue for your business meeting, you can find a company to do that, too. This means that you will have more time to focus on more important matters, and you can greatly reduce your stress levels. This is not to say that you have to hand over all duties and responsibilities for planning your sales meeting to a third party. What this means is that you need to first learn to delegate. Take care of the items on your list that are most important to you. The other stuff can be given to members of your staff or a third party company who specializes in the preparation and management of professional sales meetings.

If you can find the right meeting management company, your next sales meeting will be a hit. Not only will every detail be taken care of, but you can enjoy the entirety of the meeting without unnecessary disruptions or from running errands. You will find that your meeting will have a more professional and put together ambiance. And that alone is worth it.

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