The Accidental Sales Manager. How to Take Control and Lead Your Sales Team to Record Profits

122 Pages·2011·1.07 MB·English

by  Chris Lytle

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction : Congratulations on Your “Promotion”
Chapter 1 : Gnawing Your Way Out of the Sales
Management Trap
Escape Mechanism 1: Plan Higher Level Tasks First
Escape Mechanism 2: Quit Fighting Fires You Didn’t Start
Escape Mechanism 3: Get On the Same Page as Your Boss
Escape Mechanism 4: Don’t Get Too Attached to Your Desk
Escape Mechanism 5: Cultivate the Right Relationships
Who’s Managing Whom?
Chapter 2 : Fourteen Lessons You Won’t Have to Learn
the Hard Way
Instant Sales Meeting Idea: Orienting the New Hire
Hard Lesson #1: Trust Your Instincts from Day One and Act
on Them Quickly
Hard Lesson #2: Firing an Underperforming Salesperson Is
Usually a Relief for Both of You
Hard Lesson #3: Salespeople Always Rebel Against “The
Boss”
Hard Lesson #4: Share Control and Let Salespeople Buy In
Hard Lesson #5: Your Salespeople Will Have Problems That
Paralyze Them (Temporarily) and You Will Hear About Them
Hard Lesson #6: Become Conscious of Your Leadership Style
Early
Hard Lesson #7: Your Salespeople Want to Please You So
Much They Will Tell You What They Think You Want to Hear
Hard Lesson #8: Your Salespeople May Not Want to Hear
What Their Prospects Really Think So They Don’t Ask
Hard Lesson #9: To Surpass Old Limits, You Need Higher
Standards, But Develop Them from the Ground Up Instead of
Dictating Them
Hard Lesson #10: Without Standards There Is No Discipline
Hard Lesson #11: You Can Be an Umpire or a Referee.
Consequences and You
Hard Lesson #12: You are in the Belief Business
Hard Lesson #13: Your Top Producer May Not Be Your Top
Performer and Customers Buy In Spite of Salespeople
Hard Lesson #14: Salespeople Often Do Their Best Selling in
Your Office
Power, Clout, and You
The “A” Word and You
Are You Managing for Compliance or Leading for
Commitment?
Chapter 3 : Stage 3 Tasks
The Mysterious Mindset of the B Player
The Seven Roadblocks
Recruiting A Players: The Secret of Being a Great Sales
Manager
Avoid The Warm Body Syndrome
Hiring A Players Means Selecting for Traits and Training for
Skills
The Interview, You, and Weeding Out B Players
Hire Slow; Fire Fast
Checking References in a World Where Nobody Will Tell You
Anything
Training and Developing A Players: Miracle on the Hudson—
The Importance of Training and Retraining Good People
Why Sales Training Doesn’t Work Like It Used To
My Epiphany
The Missing Ingredient in Every Training Program: Repetition
Buying the Wrong Thing: Bill and the Magic Pill
The Driving Force of Division in Sales Training Today
The Coaching Imperative—Developing the People Who
Develop Your Profits
Mentoring, Mantras, and Management
The Secrets of Motivation That Motivational Speakers Don’t
Speak About
Motivation Is a Breeze
Closing a Sale Is the Most Motivating Thing That Can Happen
to a Salesperson
How to Motivate Salespeople without Hiring a Motivational
Speaker
Finally, Recognize That People Are Starving for Recognition
Chapter 4 : What’s Changed About Selling?
Massive Changes in Selling Have Taken Place Over the Years
All Change Is Personal
The King and You: Leadership Lessons from The King and I
How the Game within the Game of Selling Is Changing
Bo Knows Winning
The Missing Metrics
The Epidemic
Warning Signs of Clogged Pipelines
The Magic E-Mail
Chapter 5 : Running Great Sales Meetings Every Time
Would Your Salespeople Attend if Your Meetings Were
Optional?
Would They Gladly Pay Five Dollars per Hour to Attend?
Would Your Customers Be Glad They Are Doing Business with
Your Company If They Were Able to Sit in on Your Sales
Meetings or Watch Them on Closed Circuit TV?
To Get Faster Results from Your Training Initiative Slow
Things Down
The Meeting after the Sales Meeting
Self Development and Homework
The Best Sales Meetings Get People Involved
How to End Any Meeting
Chapter 6 : What Happens in Your Meeting in Vegas
Stays in the Meeting Room
The Wake-Up Call
“Good Morning, it’s 8:30 a.m.”
A Do-It-Yourself Annual Meeting Design
The Three Segments of the Meeting
Five Factors that Foster Loyalty
The Best Damn Sales Contest in the World: The 1,000 Yard
Club
Account Decision Stress and Other Maladies
How to Double Your Sales without Doubling Your Efforts
Reality Check: It’s Not a “Great Meeting” unless the Customer
Thinks It Was a Great Meeting
The Courtesy Call
Your Legacy, or, Why Are You Doing This Besides the Money?
Index

Copyright © 2011 by Chris Lytle. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Lytle, Chris
The accidental sales manager : how to take control and lead your sales team to
record profits / Chris Lytle.
p. cm.
p. cm.
Includes Index.
ISBN 978-0-470-94164-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-06391-0 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-
118-06392-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-06393-4 (ebk) 1. Sales executives. 2. Sales
force management. 3. Success in business. I. Title.
HF5439.5.L98 2011
658.8′102—dc
222010053519
To Sarah McCann/Zola Gorgon
My two favorite characters in the world