Good Sales People Make Terrible Sales Managers

Good Sales People Make Terrible Sales Managers

Did you ever hear the one about the #1 sales person that went on to become the #1 sales manager and then CEO of the company?

Me too. And the reason we’ve heard about it is because, like a duplicate snowflake or four-leaf clover, it’s rare. In this list I’ll walk you through the 5 of my Top 9  Reasons Why Good Sales People Make Terrible Sales Managers.

Before I jump too deep into this one, I’ll let you in on a little secret. These aren’t bad behaviors. There’s nothing negative about sales people and nothing great about sales managers. I have been on both sides and these are the reasons why I think it’s so rare to have a good sales person develop into a good sales manager. This list has been culled from numerous people and places like: 13 Fatal Errors Managers Make. A good read.

Let’s jump in. I’ll start each reason with how it sounds and then offer some commentary.

Reason #1 – “Leave me alone to complete this task” 

A sales behavior that reaps rewards is the ability to work alone. The equal and opposite behavior is exhibited by effective sales managers: building a team or unit. When you take a high performing sales person and ask them to build a team, that incredibly effective behavior that they’ve honed over time is now not as effective. Thinking in terms of “team first – individual second” is a jump.

Speaking of jumping. . .

Reason #2 – “The TPS reports? I’ll get to it”

A sales behavior that top sales people exhibit is the drive to spend the majority of their time selling, not filling out reports. It’s not an insult to say that most salespeople have little interest in the details that sales managers need. (I’ll submit that it’s because most sales managers aren’t very good at managing, having been top sales people in the past) A highly effective sales manager, in contrast, has a keen interest in the details of their team members’ work and makes great use of the reporting they require.

No unnecessary work is a high performing sales team’s ambrosia.

Reason #3 – “Jane loves working with me” 

Effective sales behavior #3 is a desire to be liked by others. It’s fun to be around great sales people because whether or not they are extroverts or introverts, whether or not they are analytical or lack systemic thinking, they enjoy being liked. All things being equal, we buy from people we like. The contrasting sales management behavior? Seeking respect. It’s been said that when you’re liked they bring you cake but when you’re respected you’ll get the truth.

The difference between the two shows up in reason #4 too.

Reason #4 – “Problem? There’s no problem.”

A great sales behavior is the ability to work around confrontation. A great management behavior is embracing confrontation in an effort to use it to alter behaviors. It’s a team building thing. While I’ve heard stories of great sales people who are in-your-face challenging to clients, most effective business development people are adept at using the “velvet hammer”. Effective sales managers, on the other hand, are able to take advantage of confrontation to mold team members. An example of effective confrontation using reason #2 above:
bad sales manager: “Tina, I know you hate doing paperwork but I really need those TPS reports. Can you help me out?”
effective sales manager: “Tina, I’m paying you to be a professional sales person and part of that is paperwork. Get it done.”

Which leads us to #5.

Reason #5 – “I’m here to maximize my comp plan”

Effective sales people are in it to win it. Part of that is making decisions and interpreting company policy for the good of themselves. As an incredibly effective sales manager you are required to make decisions and interpret company policies for the good of the team. If you’ve heard a top-notch sales person complain about the changes to their territory or compensation plan, you know what I mean.

Can you see how all of the reasons given so far are adding up to a big challenge for the promoted high-performance sales person?

The good news is that this list is simply a list of behaviors. Behaviors are things we can change with training and effort.

The bad news is that under stress and duress, we tend to go back to the behaviors that got us to where we are today. What would cause this stress is a newly minted sales manager?

Quota.

That’s another topic for another day. Or multiple days.

Your best sales person is the best because they have mastered a set of behaviors that work well in making new business happen. It’s tempting to think they can just show others how to do the same. Even more tempting to think of a whole team of sales pros exhibiting the same behaviors.

Don’t do it.

Good stuff.