Why do star salespeople so often have middling careers as sales managers? Because too many companies accept it as “the way it always happens” when the real problem is no one is coaching the coaches, says Michelle Vazzana of sales training provider Vantage Point Performance and co-author of “Cracking the Sales Management Code” (McGraw Hill 2012).
A study by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) found that only 11 percent of companies train their sales managers to a high extent, while 22 percent don’t train their sales managers at all. In contrast, the same study found that about 66 percent of those same companies train their salespeople on selling skills at least once each year.
The same ASTD study found a “significant positive correlation” between the extent to which those managers were trained and the percentage of their reps who meet their sales quota. Conversely, companies that didn’t train their sales managers suffered lower sales performance.
Why has sales management been overlooked as the high-leverage, high-impact training investment that it is? Vazzana and her co-author and colleague at Vantage Point Performance, Jason Jordan, say it’s the result of a combination of weak demand and low supply in the marketplace.
“Sales managers do not clamor for more training,” they state. “Since time is every sales manager’s most precious resource, sitting through another training class is not at the top of his or her to-do list. The value proposition just isn’t there.”
The company’s flagship sales management training program (which goes by the same moniker as their book) targets specific sales management tasks and selects training content that will improve those activities.
“Depending on which types of processes a sales manager supervises, she will need a different set of skills and tools to manage her team appropriately,” Vazzana and Jordan state. “One-size-fits-all training doesn’t work for varied salespeople, nor will it work for varied sales managers.”
