16 Dec SHOULD ALL SALESPEOPLE BE TREATED THE SAME?

When I became a sales manager, I believed I had to treat all the salespeople who reported to me equally.  As a first-time sales manager, I thought it was essential that no salesperson should receive any special treatment or more of my time than the others. I was also very personally committed to the concept of equality of opportunity.  I also endeavored to be color-blind and gender-neutral in hiring and treating my team. This goal seemed to be in alignment with social norms.

I went on approximately the same quantity of sales calls with each salesperson and tried to divide my time equally.  It was also crucial to me that I not disappoint the team members by not being available to them.

Later, I realized it was a mistake. Each salesperson has different needs, and some can self-manage easier than others. They have unique personal circumstances and are motivated very differently. For example, some may have childcare or health needs, and some require more hands-on management.  Also, all have dissimilar abilities.

I am a fan of team sports at both the professional and college levels, especially baseball, hockey, football, and basketball. I observed that many managers and coaches treated their players very differently. Some “superstars” are given royal treatment and are allowed to miss practices. Many also travel without needing roommates.  And they are rarely criticized, both publicly and privately.  Of course, they also receive much higher pay than the others on the team. Usually, their performances help lift the team, sometimes to a championship level. So, teams want to try to keep them as happy as possible.

Initially, I was very critical of how their coaches managed their superstars.  I thought the stars should receive treatment similar to others.  However, I have evolved on this issue. As I continued to observe the treatment of pro and college athletes, I wondered if I was not properly managing my sales team.

I reviewed my sales team and found that some salespeople need more supervision or assistance from me.  They are usually high performers. In many cases, they would come to me for strategic advice or to help with the contract negotiation. They also usually welcomed suggestions.  Others required more one-on-one coaching.  The low performers usually required more monitoring and specific strategy and task plans, often daily, especially if they were failing. So, providing the sales team with approximately the same amount of personal management was sub-optimal.

My desire to provide equal sales management time to the sales team was more difficult because, later in my sales career, I had my own sales quota while managing others. Eventually, I divided my time by approximately 50 percent on my pipeline and 50 percent on the team. This situation was suboptimal, but I had to make the best of it.

I advise first-time managers and those who have encountered difficulties to determine how best to contribute to each salesperson’s success and allocate their time accordingly. You may spend much of your time this week with one salesperson and very little, or none, with others.  That is fine because your measurement, as a sales manager, is usually based on the performance of the entire sales team. The company management wants to see the whole sales team reach quota, and I recommend you follow my suggestion:  Provide each of your sales team members with the support they need.  Do not worry about whether the assistance is equal amongst the salespeople.

Image from: https://spotio.com/blog/best-sales-management-software/