Promote to Sales Management Wisely

Success in sales does not guarantee success in sales management. In fact, the opposite is often true. The skills needed for managing a sales force are quite different from the skills needed for managing one’s own account. Beware of promoting your most productive salesperson to a team leadership position…the cost could be more than you are willing to accept.

Consultative selling training professionals have compiled a list of the risks you take by putting a poor sales manager in charge. Here are just a few:

• Turnover in the sales force. When salespeople lose their motivation from lack of support or direction from their manager, they move on.
• Customers lose confidence in your product/service. If there is frequent turnover, customers question not just the salespeople they deal with but also the products they sell.
• Loss of revenue. If you take a successful salesperson and put them in management, there will be less revenue from their former accounts.

Choose sales managers wisely. Over the long term, bad ones can cost too much but good ones can benefit the entire organization by helping others to raise their game.