The Sales Managers Survival Guide
The Sales Managers Survival Guide is a template for Sales Management success. The author draws upon 35 years of experience, explaining the attributes and potential pitfalls of stepping into your first managerial position. It is equally important for sales reps to read this book, just to understand the challenges a sales manager faces daily.
The book cuts to the chase by explaining that the average life span of a sales manager is 14-months. A sobering thought to those new to the role. It then explains how to ensure this statistic doesn't apply to you, an essential component of which is spending 50% of your time engaging with and motivating your team.
The ideal time allocation is broken into several tasks, and I particularly liked the following:
The 30-60-90 day plan when beginning a new sales manager role.
The differences between training and coaching, and both direct and indirect methods that are used depending on the personality of the sales rep.
The finer points of how to give feedback by profiling your team's behaviours.
How to conduct the various types of reviews, deal, pipeline, account territory, meeting reviews and one-on-ones.
The importance of proper onboarding and the process of recruiting the best salespeople.
I always say that good sales managers are unsung hero's because if they are doing a good job, nobody notices. This book speaks to this and explains the complexity sales managers face.