Sales Manager Skills: The Number 1 Skill All Successful Sales Managers Have

Sales manager skills are a given in any high performing sales manager. You know the ones we are talking about? Hiring, firing, performance management, sales coaching, business planning, motivating a sales team to name just a few. None of these will be delivered though if your sales managers are unable to do this one key skill. What is it? Communicate.

In this particular article we will cover the powerful aspect of nonverbal communication which is an important first step to improving your communication skills.

I know this is logical and yet most sales directors will gloss over this 'basic' skill.The true power of communication delivered in a thoughtful way will enable the most amazing results. A dictionary definition of communication centres around the ability to transmit messages from one person or place to another. Seems reasonable? For a sales manager they will also need to ensure that the information they communicate then gets acted on by whomever they are communicating it to.

One pre supposition about communication is that you cannot not communicate. Let's explore that a little. We communicate not only with the words we speak, in fact the most powerful way we communicate with others is through our body language and voice. Albert Mehrabians classic research identified that 93 per cent of the way we communicate is through our body and voice. With only 7% coming from the actual words and phrases we use.

This seems to be particularly so when people have positional power. For instance in our case a sales manager and her sales representative. Ensuring that communication is congruent is key.

Using a practical example of sales coaching. If a sales manager is giving feedback and advice a softer open body approach and style will make a big difference to the result's that are achieved. A fixed body position and voice tone will not be as motivational for the sales representative on the other end of the communication. This is where the technique of mirroring body language can work to build rapport and trust in the communication process.

The good news is that powerful communication skills can be learnt. The first step is awareness about how you are currently communicating. What is the voice tone you use? How are you standing? How fast do you talk? How close do you stand to the person that you are communicating with? What is your eye contact like?

When you ask many sales managers this question some have awareness and many don't. A great exercise is to observe someone else. Watch the interaction and how it flows. By doing this you will have insight to your own and others behaviour. If you are really serious about improving the way you communicate non verbally, watch yourself on video. Many a presentation skills course has made a significant difference to how people communicate purely by showing the delegates how they physically and tonally communicate.

Addressing nonverbal communication consistently has one of the biggest impacts on your power to communicate in a way that is acted upon.

So what next? Time to take some action. As an initial first step, if you are brave enough ask your colleagues and even significant other how they perceive you, through your nonverbal communication. You might just be surprised.

Nic Hallett is the MD of Excel Enterprise one Europe's most successful sales training companies that help sales managers improve their Sales Manager Skills. To Find out more about the how Excel Enterprise work http://www.excelenterprise.co.uk/

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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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Sales Management - How Good Are Your Motivation Skills?

Our fellow human beings are the most delicate, fascinating, unpredictable factors we encounter in business.

They are also the most important means and anything you can do to improve your management skills is a giant step towards success.

Treat them like peopleHarness their desiresTeach them howCriticise constructively

Pat them on the back

The person who is immune to the power of a sincere compliment has yet to be born, but make sure it is true and well placed. There is something praiseworthy about everybody; it is limited only by your knowledge of the person and your power of observation.

Examples
Anything they do well - tell themWhenever possible - tell them in public

Why? - did you ever get a compliment in front of your peers, and didn't you feel extra special when you did? That is the power of public praise.

Have you ever been pointed out or been introduced as - meet one of our best people and do you remember how good you felt. Everybody gets a" boost" out of being brought to the attention of others that is human nature and every person is human.

Remember to make a person feel important.

Pat them on the back and show respect for their knowledge and skills.

Everybody is ignorant only on different subjects, in fact every person you supervise knows in various cases more about specific things than you do.

By asking their opinion in matters on which they are an authority, you can cash in on their know how. It's an opportunity to show your respect for their knowledge and expertise, and you will give them the excellent feeling of having thought the boss.There is another advantage, that you are not above listening to your people but you are for idea swapping and that will encourage the kind of teamwork that gets things done.
Another way to show respect for a person's knowledge is to repeat one of their previous remarks, there is no greater tribute to a person's intelligence than when you repeat to them word for word what they had said.

So the third way to make a person feel important is to show respect for their knowledge.

Technique

Think of one of the people under your supervision, probably the least productive, now write you answer's.

Name__________________________________________________________________

What specific skill or achievement of theirs can I sincerely compliment?

In front of whom would they most appreciate being praised?

On what are they an authority?

What have they said recently that I can repeat to them?

Remember it is not enough to know the answers; you must use them at the first opportunity, because a knack for making people feel important is vital for the development of your managerial ability.

As important as it is to make a person feel like a human it is more important to know in what specific ways they are an individual.

Whatever their strong points are, it is your duty as a manager to identify it, encourage it and nourish it. It is equally your duty to know their undesirable traits in order to handle them better.

Why is everybody unique or different?

Each one of us is a product of altogether different forces, different upbringing and different experiences.

We are what we are because of two major influences.

Hereditary (The quality we are born with)Environment (The things that have happened to us in the process of growing up)

No two people have the same traits or the same experience in life, so the results over 3 billion individuals. Therefore you will never understand another person completely but you can do the next best thing - get acquainted. If you want to treat people as individuals then you will have to get to know them and that means you have to search and identify the broad outlines of their personalities by looking for typifying characteristics.

What are their traits?What makes them different from others?What are their basic attitudes?What are their special sensitivities?What are their needs and feelings?

These are the questions you must ask yourself in order to understand any human being.

Three ways to get the answers

Talk to them- nobody can tell you more about them than themselves

Talk in a chit chat level when guards are down and the real person comes out. Be alert for tips to the person's goals in life, their current problems, how they feel about their job their fellow workers and their family and listen carefully.

Be observant- study their actions, their behaviours and how they handle themselves.

Search for what is unique about the way they tackle a problem, react to criticism and follow through on an assignment.

Let them know you- mutual trust based on mature knowledge.

Be yourself in front of the staff.

Once you know something about what makes people tick you are ready for the second principle.

Second principle will follow next week - Harness their desires

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