A sales leader took over a struggling organization and enforced accountability standards. Three managers quit immediately, but the remaining four became highly engaged. A competent sales manager must do ride-alongs, coach reps, fire poor performers, recruit actively, and reward both money and culture.
I had 4 sales managers when I got here and they weren't being held accountable. So when I put the new rules of engagement in, one guy came in the next day and quit. Another guy said, can I get a demotion and go back to sales? And then about a month later, another one of the guys quit. So now I got 4 sales managers that are working their butts off, have a great attitude, that are working together cohesively, and they're having fun and they're getting bonus money. And the conversation just completely changed. If you have a sales manager, is that sales manager really doing the job you need? Are they doing the ride-alongs? Are they helping sales reps get better? Are they coaching people up and/or coaching people out? Are we letting poor performers linger? Are we recruiting and bringing in new sales reps, and do we have a comprehensive training program? Are people getting the financial rewards as well as the emotional rewards? When you do those things, no matter what size your company is, they work.
