Do You Need a New Sales Manager?
By: Adam Groff
The only thing more difficult than realizing your current sales manager isn’t making the grade is the tiring process of finding a new one.
Sales managers are the queen bees of any businesses’ hive; they dictate a company’s day-to-day sales activities and ensure the business is thriving. Luckily, there are a few helpful pointers to follow that’ll make the process of choosing your next sales manager an easy one.
Personality Goes a Long Way
There are many qualities to look for in a worthy sales manager and one of the most important qualities is personality. An individual’s ability to be personable and sociable to customers is of utmost importance – especially in a sales role or as a role model for other salespeople.
Some traits to look for in sales managers are the candidate’s confidence level in social situations, their ability to communicate ideas, their problem solving skills, and how they handle stress. Just remember that not every candidate will possess all of these traits, so be flexible and know that many of these traits are acquired over time.
The Candidate Pool
Before diving into the selection process, it’s important to decide whether or not the next sales manager will be recruited from within the company or not. Internal recruitment has its benefits like familiarity with the company and an understanding of its practices.
On the other hand, external recruitment brings fresh perspectives and new ideas to how things are already done. Additionally, hiring from the outside will ensure other sales associates aren’t competing for the manager position or becoming jealous when one sales associate is chosen over the other.
Strong Leadership
If a leader is unable to effectively lead, then followers will be led astray. Translate this into business terms and it simply means a poor sales manager will result in poor business. So, when choosing your next sales manager, keep in mind that the candidate’s ability to handle other sales associates is just as important as their ability to handle customers.
A strong leader should be able to assess individual and team sales goals, step in when expectations aren’t met, confront other sales associates without being combative, and commend others for a job well done. The right mix of stern and fair will make the sales team feel as though their sales manager is always on their side.
Learn From Past Mistakes
When you make the same mistake twice, you’ll experience twice the disappointment. So, acknowledge what didn’t work with the previous sales manager and compare it to the next candidate in line.
If the last manager was too relaxed resulting in a loss of sales, look for someone who’s energetic and eager to please – reverse the course of things.
Assessment Tools
If it seems impossible to look for all the qualities above within the first or even second interview, try putting together a sales manager assessment test. Assessment tests touch on all the key points and desired traits of the ideal candidate for your business before the interview even takes place. This streamlines the interviewing process and gives the employer more time to get to know the candidate.
EcSell Institute’s Compass Assessment Tool is a free online assessment test tailored specifically to sales managers and measures their ability in six different categories: talent acquisition, sales methodology, professional development, sales analytics, employee recognition, and planning.
Another effective online sales manager assessment is The Decisive Edge’s Profile Sales Assessment test. The PSA works as a “job matching” test that measures a candidate’s behavioral traits and true occupational interests rather than job specifics.
When searching for your next sales manager, learning from past mistakes, taking advantage of the assessment tests available, and choosing a candidate with a great personality are just a few ways to ensure the right fit is made. As long as the candidate is right for your business, it’ll be a match made in sales heaven.
About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of quality content. He specializes in writing on a variety of topics including time management skills, healthcare recruitment, and things that make business sense.
