For many Thai companies, the promotion of a highly successful and talented sales professional has often destroyed their sales team. In rewarding an individual who has performed at a high level, organizations believed they were doing the right thing yet not every sales person has the right personality or background to make a good Sales Manager.
Every great leader within an organization has the ability to inspire their team to greatness. In order to do this, an individual has to be able to connect with people in a positive way. Although many people often say, “they don’t have to like their manager, but they need to respect them”, it is our belief at Bangkok Executive Search that a successful manager should be liked by people on their team. If someone manages through fear for instance, the company will see increased turnover, low employee morale and poor communication. If the sales manager is simply not liked by others, the team will wish for that person’s downfall and may even work together to see that person get fired.
Some sales people lacking management experience may attempt to micromanage their team. Those who are meticulous in their work have tendencies to develop this trait as a manager as they want to control and oversee everything that their direct reports are doing on a daily basis. The rule of thumb among successful sales teams is to have an office meeting usually on Monday morning before the week begins and to have a Friday follow-up with each individual sales rep to see what they accomplished during the week. Beyond this, a Sales Manager is becoming overbearing as good sales reps need to be trusted to successfully implement their sales plans for the week. If a Sales Manager is constantly checking in with their sales reps , the reps will begin to resent their Sales Manager and people will start looking for the exit door.
For many sales people, they love the interaction with people yet dread the paperwork. As a Sales Manager, their administrative workload will grow exponentially and this may cause them to consider career options as they want to make more money, but they don’t want the added paperwork. In many Thai organizations, successful sales people who hate paperwork often leave shortly after becoming a Sales Manager for a higher paying sales rep position. In promoting a sales person, a company needs to really consider if this move is good for both parties as not everyone wants to become a Sales Manager.
Some sales people are extremely popular with their colleagues and these individuals are typically the “glue” within the sales organization. They often are the ones to organize office outings and they contribute greatly to high job satisfaction rates among sales employees. Their strong bond with c0-workers goes beyond the professional as they have developed genuine friendships with colleagues. In promoting this person, you are creating a very delicate environment where someone has to manage their friends and that is never easy. Additionally, you have taken a great team and removed the one person who kept it all together and that kind of chemistry cannot be replicated easily. Sometimes its best to keep a high performing team together which means hiring someone from outside the organization to become your next Sales Manager.
So how do you reward that great sales person who is perfect within their current role yet wants more recognition from the company? Well, many sales people often make more money than Sales Managers and that aspect should be shared to key sales people that you want to retain. Additionally, the company can consider offering a higher commission rate to a top performer as a way of rewarding them while not changing the standard base salary structure. In doing this, the company can tell the valued sales person that they are getting more money without taking on the headaches associated with becoming a Sales Manager. Lastly, the company can either provide a title to the person or create a new role leveraging their strengths. One role Bangkok Executive Search has helped create with many of our clients is “Director of Sales Training and Professional Development”. In this role, you provide a successful sales person the chance to “coach” colleagues and they are usually the ideal person for this as they already have the respect of their co-workers. The hired Sales Manager then can serve as the administrator and operations contact for the department.
Remember, great sales people are hard to find and its important to reward them and keep them motivated. In accomplishing this, make sure you are taking time to listen to their needs and career objectives and work with them to insure their happiness and loyalty.
