In a recent report, CSO Insights revealed some telling statistics that relate to the sales management function. More than 90% of companies have raised revenue targets – in many cases by over 25%. This requires sales reps to be fully engaged in the extra effort that it will take to make successful sales. It also requires that the VP of Sales from growth-oriented companies know how to hire sales managers that can grow a sales team that will flourish during these economic conditions. Danita Bye, President of Sales Growth Strategies, shares further research on this subject in part two of this series.
Enjoy!
How the Right Sales Manager Can Increase Employee Engagement
Studies continually show that only 1 in 4 employees of the average company are fully engaged. We would like to think that this malaise doesn’t impact the sales team. However, in many sales teams, a status-quo approach is tolerated. The result? A rollercoaster sales team that rides the ups and downs of the economic and market whims. As the studies indicate, 75% of the sales team is often putting in the time – but with little or no passion or even undermining the positive effort of engaged employees.
So what does it mean to your company when an employee is fully engaged? At its core, it indicates the level of commitment that your team members have to the success of the organization and how hard they will work in future to take care of customers and revenue production.
As sales leaders, you already realize the competitive advantage that a fully engaged employee can bring to your company growth. An Acceleration Team, that’s 100% engaged can take market share. How is an Acceleration Team created? It starts with a strong Sales Manager. Marcus Buckingham in The One Great Thing, concurs. He concludes that the process of guiding individual team members to the top level of engagement is in the hands of the immediate supervisor, the Sales Manager.
Getting your entire sales team to perform at this top level of engagement will require dedicated guidance and motivation from an exceptional Sales Manager. This is one of the reasons why the hiring of the right Sales Manager is so critical to your continued success and future revenue growth. In an ideal skill set, the right Sales Manager should be a motivator, mentor, performance master, recruiter and coach.
Sales Growth Question: Is your sales manager bringing out the best in every team member?