Even a very good specialist needs training to be able to be a sales manager and effectively perform his or her duties. I advise you not to save money on training your employees and to approach it carefully, because a professional and cohesive team is the key to the success of your business.

KEY COMPETENCIES OF A SALES MANAGER

The head of the sales department organizes the sales process and manages the core business of the company. His or her responsibilities include coordinating the work of the department, developing a sales plan and reporting, recruiting and training new employees, and optionally, other responsibilities such as representing the company at industry events.

The person in charge of sales should have the following competencies:

GOOD MANAGER

ROP plans and monitors the work of the department as a whole and each employee. It is important that the department acts as a cohesive system. To do this, it is necessary to be able to build effective communication with employees, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and improve the skills of staff.

It is important to set up the processes in the department in such a way that each employee feels his or her measure of responsibility for what is happening, is motivated to do good work and is not afraid to show initiative. ROP not only employs and trains new employees, but also helps them to adapt to the team and find their place in the hierarchy of the department.

A GOOD SALESMAN

The ROP should know what to demand from the staff of the department and what to teach them. Therefore, for a ROP, it is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of the product, the client and the market, as well as the ability to effectively build communication. The head of the department should have an excellent sales technique in order to form and implement sales standards throughout the department.

UNDERSTANDS BUSINESS PROCESSES

You can’t ignore the technical side of the sales department. The ROP should know how the customer base, sales funnel, etc. is formed. One of the ROP’s tasks is also to optimize processes by means of automation and implementation of advanced reporting systems and analytics.

TRAINING OF SALES MANAGERS

In order to build an effective system of training, it is necessary to set goals correctly, determine what skills ROPs need to be “pumped”, as well as think through a number of organizational aspects.

WHY EDUCATE

It would seem that if a person holds a managerial position, it means that he is competent enough, knows everything and teaches him nothing. But it is not quite so.

I will list the main cases when ROP training is necessary:

• if you’re hiring someone from the outside. It is necessary to show the person how the process of sales is organized in your business, to acquaint with the basic methods and standards;
• if you promote someone in the department. The new ROP needs to be explained that it will now be part of his or her job responsibilities and how to communicate with colleagues he or she used to talk to on an equal footing;
• when it comes to updating knowledge. In the field of sales something is constantly changing, for example, new CRM, messenger reporting, etc.

WHAT TO LEARN

The skills required for ROP can be conditionally divided into the following categories: sales department management, HR management, business processes, sales.

In order to effectively manage the sales department, the ROP needs to be able to do so:

• Build a strategy for the department’s work, define long-term goals and current tasks;
• To develop the organizational structure of the department;
• audit the sales department;
• Draw up and implement regulations and job descriptions for employees, as well as form sales standards;
• Apply different styles of employee management.

And here are the moments that should be included in the training program of work with personnel:

• Creating an employee profile (experience, competence, education, etc.) and job description;
• principles and organization of personnel selection (interviewing, etc.), as well as dismissal of employees (with minimization of damage to the department);
• Technology of meetings, briefings, brainstorming;
• Types of motivation and methods to improve employee performance, application of material and non-material incentives;
• organization of training and adaptation of new employees;
• Creation of a career growth system;
• development of a remuneration system (bonuses, depremiums, etc.).

At the level of business processes, ROPU will have to be studied:

• Formation of a sales funnel;
• methods of increasing the labor productivity of sales managers;
• selection criteria and implementation of CRM;
• Possibilities of automation and optimization of operational work.

Sales training for ROPs should include:

• Introduction of new sales systems and technologies;
• Methods of personnel involvement in active sales;
• product and market expertise;
• methods of attracting clients;
• Basics of working with the client base;
• establishment of effective communication with the client;
• methods of increasing customer loyalty.

In addition, it is worth training ROPs in the basics of marketing and skills of effective negotiations (here you can find an overview of the relevant courses).

HOW TO TEACH

The sales training program should include three main components: study of related business processes within the company, familiarization with the product, formation of effective communication skills. More information on how to build a training program can be found here.

WHO CAN TEACH

As a mentor to the ROP can act:

• Head of business. No one knows the product and company better than he does, so he can provide the most complete and up-to-date knowledge;
• A regular trainer. Can quickly “raise” the staff for a particular organization, help to quickly master the necessary skills (for example, presentations), give advice on working with individual employees;
• External trainer. Extensive relevant experience allows him to approach the learning process in a comprehensive manner, to provide useful knowledge from related areas, as well as objectively assess the competence of the employee, to find weaknesses and work through them.

A mixed training format is also possible: the product and processes are studied directly inside the company, and an external trainer is invited to train sales techniques and management skills.