Sales Management

How to Succeed at Sales Management (Blog)

Watch the Numbers, Don’t Manage From Them

Many sales managers attempt to manage their team simply by looking at the team’s numbers. The manager constantly looks at how many opportunities are in the pipeline. They track the number of appointments, proposals and, of course, the number of sales made for the month. Then, the manager will attempt to hold their team accountable for maintaining some pre-determined level of results.

The problem is you can track numbers, but you can’t manage them. You can observe your team’s results but, by that point, there is nothing you can do about them. Worse still, numbers can be a poor indicator of actual growth and progress. Think about it:  who makes more cold calls?  The new insurance rep in his first year? Or the 20-year veteran closing 100 times more business than the rookie in sales revenue? More is not always better, especially when it comes to selling, prospects, and your pipeline.

Read the rest on the Sandler Sales Training blog.