Ebook The art of mastering sales management: Part 2 - Thomas A. Cook

Continued part 1, part 2 of ebook "The art of mastering sales management" provides readers with contents including: mastering key skill sets; best practices - sales management excellence; transitioning from sales to sales management; permissible payments and affirmative defenses; facilitating payments for routine governmental actions; global risk management; presentation for first-time sales managers;...
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Ebook The art of mastering sales management: Part 2 - Thomas A. Cook Chapter 9 Mastering Key Skill Sets There are a number of skill sets that the successful sales manager must master to rise to the top in his or her field. These are daily achievements that—once brought to high levels of capability—can separate the boys from the men and the girls from the women. ◾◾ Forecasting ◾◾ Interviewing ◾◾ Hiring, firing, and maintaining ◾◾ Leading-edge innovation and reinventing ◾◾ Confrontational management ◾◾ Proposals that work ◾◾ Lead development ◾◾ Managing the “sales pipeline” ◾◾ Running meetings ◾◾ Negotiation is key ◾◾ Problem solving ◾◾ Emotional intelligence Forecasting Forecasting is the projection of results into the future for senior management to work with in the planning and staging of the business. Typical forecasting is accom- plished year to year but can be taken out 3–5 years and as much as 7–10 years. When done out more than 5 years, this is referred to as strategic forecasting, and is best left to those who are professional, long-term business planners and strategists. 75 76  ■  The Art of Mastering Sales Management Forecasting is an important skill set for all sales managers. This can be best accomplished by four steps: 1. Information flow 2. Accurate projections 3. Communicating precisely and timely 4. Managing and tweaking the forecast Information Flow In order to forecast successfully, sales managers must create a timely flow of data and information into themselves. Quality information is “gold” here and will allow the sales manager the best opportunity of forecasting correctly. Senior management needs to have quality forecasts, as those projections become the basis for strategic and tactical decision making. Be wrong in forecasting, and you could then be building a house on a weak foundation. It will eventually crumble. Some of the information we want to obtain: ◾◾ Prior company sales results (2–3 years) ◾◾ Individual sales personnel results ◾◾ Sales personnel circumstances that might affect performance (An example of this might be someone who is retiring in the forecast year.) ◾◾ Industry projections ◾◾ Global, national, and regional economic indicators and forecasts ◾◾ Company forecasting models ◾◾ Management goals for forecasting years ◾◾ New product and service initiatives coming out of manufacturing, manage- ment, R&D, etc. Accurate Projections Senior management has to have accurate forecasts. Many sales managers tend to believe that lowering projections may work to their advantage. They do this under the theory that if they end up overachieving, they look like heroes, rather than pro- viding higher expectations that might not be achieved, and then they look foolish. This is really not the case. Senior management needs accurate information. They are restructuring the company, adding or deleting personnel, adding and changing infrastructure, making IT changes, etc. If forecasts come in too high or two low, then the changes they made, either way, will be too little or too much, and that works against everyone. If sales management erred to the side of being conservative and sales increased dramatically, then there may not be enough customer service personnel, inventory, or production to satisfy customer needs. Mastering Key Skill Sets  ■  77 Unsatisfied Customers Are Clearly Not What Anyone Wants If one made forecasts too high and infrastructure changes were made to handle the increased volumes that did not happen, then allocated monies could be wasted. Angry Senior Management Is Not to Anyone’s Advantage The best position is to forecast accurately. If you want to hedge a little bit, that can be okay, but it must be at corporate discretionary levels. Communicating Precisely and Timely The sales manager must communicate in a number of directions to obtain quality information and interchange with all interested parties. These may include: ◾◾ Sales personnel ◾◾ Customers ◾◾ Vendors and suppliers ◾◾ Providers and Channel Partners ◾◾ Senior management ◾◾ Staff ◾◾ Colleagues and other organizational managers Communications Effect Information Flow for More Responsible Forecasting The wheels of business forecasting will turn more succinctly when communications are timely and comprehensive. Communicate what you need and do it timely, allow- ing sufficient and reasonable time for answers and input that is accurate and precise. Managing and Tweaking the Forecast Forecasts are at best an art and not a science. It is at best a foreboding into the future. The goal is not 100% accuracy, but 100% effort that will achieve the best opportunities for getting as ...