Making Your People Self-Sufficient
Jana Alverson, Sales Training and Development
Lynn McInturf Associates

The manager in today’s environment finds it difficult to spend time with his salespeople. More is demanded of managers today (reports, productivity, etc.) so being able to focus individually on their people doesn’t happen very often. Many managers create “learned helplessness” within the mind-set of each salesperson. Traps and roadblocks are unknowingly set for salespeople which forces them to come to the manager.

The sales manager’s function is to keep the team members individually and collectively working toward the departmental and company goals. In order to do this and still create a climate of self-sufficiency you must:

• Monitor performance. The main function of a manager is to keep the sales team on target toward its goals, which you establish and define.
• Empower. Empowerment means giving your team members some of your authority and autonomy—without giving it all away.
• Create a Formal Sales Process. Without a formal sales process, everyone will be speaking a different language which causes much more work for the sales manager.
• Create Debriefing Questions. Proactive managers create a top ten list of questions for each step of the process.
• Create a Playbook. You should have a book with all of the stalls, objections, first calls and other sales situations listed with the correct response or process.
• Create Decision Points. The salesperson should be given the ability to make many decisions on his own. Remember: Once you inadvertently create “learned helplessness” some salespeople will never venture outside of the initial boundaries and make even one decision on their own.
• As a sales manager, you are also a team manager and a team member. Your words and your
  behavior form the basis of your management style and they have an immediate and powerful
  impact on how your team members relate to you and perform on your team. Your words and
  actions should demonstrate to your team what they can consistently expect from you and, in a
  modeling sense, what you expect from them on a consistent basis.