Sometimes, the things sales managers do are more important than the things salespeople do. Sound crazy? Think about it. How many professional sports teams play with no coach? In fact, are their coaches in their offices while the game is on? Salespeople in our business are necessary to deal with customers. Managers are important if you expect to get optimum returns on your investment in drawing customer traffic into your store.
If you look at sales management as "store" management, you're thinking needs to change. Sales performance isn't a function of the physical setup of your store, it's a function of the way your salespeople deal with your customers. If your 'sales manager" is not dealing every hour of every day with salespeople and customers, he or she is doing the wrong job. If you take the position that you cannot afford administrative support, you are simply wrong.
Nothing could be more important to your success than to do things that get one more shopper out of every ten to become a customer. If your closing ratio is 20% when all customer visits are counted in, just getting one more to buy would bring you to 30% - which is a 50% increase in business (given your average sale holds steady). This is what your sales managers and sales associates should be striving for every day.
We can show you that there is far more revenue lost due to the lack of effective sales management than would be required to pay for administrative support for freeing up managers to do the right job instead of the expedient job.
Sales management is, simply, performance management. It's about making more sales, generating more revenue, and putting more money on your bottom line. It's about doing the right things, and not just doing things right.
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