Advice on how to start successfully as a new sales manager and set yourself up for sustaining success. Covers: Building relationships with staff Evaluating sales knowledge State of client relationships Determining resources in place Identify additional resource needs Internal processes and reporting Supplemental information from Michael J. Watkins of Harvard Business School from his book "The First 90 Days" and other resources.

1. Creating Success as a
New Sales Manager
Keys Points to Effectively Managing
A Sales Team Initially
And for the Long Run
Steve Fawthrop
Linked4Biz
steve@linked4biz.com
714-876-7062, cell
January 2023

2. Business in the “New Normal” economy
Growth for many businesses was challenging after the Great Recession hit in
2008.
For businesses that survived since 2008 there was growth even if slower
than desired. For companies on the leading edge of shifts in the economy,
there has been some with tremendous growth, especially by those in the tech
sector.
Innovation was happening with recovery and the rise of the “sharing
economy” with companies like Uber and Airbnb creating new business
structures and altering the relationship of management and labor to each
other.
The economy shifted again with the social and economic impact of the
pandemic.
Most companies are not high profile or seen as selling products or services
that are leading edge, yet they have a key role in the economy to fulfill needs
in consumer and business markets. For a company to succeed in a growing
economy, one that is flat or dropping, and has the added uncertainty of
market conditions looking forward, a sale must still be made.
A competitive product or service still needs to be sold—now more than
ever because there are many quality providers in all industry segments.
The sales discussion is where the ideas, products, services, technology, and
operational support systems of your company are leveraged into providing
customer value and value back to you in a sale, new revenue, and profit.
Leading the charge to maximize value is the sales staff. A salesperson is the
brand personification of the company and related products and services that
need to be represented and sold at the highest value.
As sales manager, whether at a team level or a higher director level,
your key role is to effectively work with the team to integrate the
company mission, financial goals, products and services into profitable
operations through the sales success and customer growth by the sales
team.

3. In other words, you are leading, training, coaching, and managing
successfully when you have a team working from the same playbook to
serve your customers to win in the marketplace.
I have outlined some of the basic approaches and processes you should
address starting new in the sales manager position. These include evaluating
the current state of business, the activities of the reps and your role as
manager to set a foundation for a positive start and sustaining success.
These actions operate as part of an overriding need for each member of the
sales team to recognize changes in the market, embrace the offerings of the
company to help clients, commit to their own success and the success of the
company.
This outline focuses on the basics for a new sales manager with a tilt toward
two assumptions:
 You are operating as a manager overseeing and interacting with your
team daily.
 You are new to your position more likely coming into the position
from outside of the company.
I appreciate any feedback or additional ideas to improve the content.

4. Get to Know the Staff, Their Clients, and Key Opportunities
Step One: Face Time. Spend one-on-one time with everyone as soon as
possible to get to know them better and establish individual communication.
On an individual level the first goal is to develop trust and openness so you
can work effectively with those reporting to you.
Additionally, both in individual time and as a group, you want to get their
perspective on the state of the company, market, and opportunities.
Approach each person with the attitude that everyone was hired
appropriately and can perform well in their position.
Since all have some track record, even if just a few months ahead of you,
you will have the benefit of seeing results and can also get guidance from
upper management. For now, unless warned of significant problems, treat
the staff with an attitude of optimism.
Step Two: Territory Tour. This will be “virtual” tour with the inside reps
and in-person, as appropriate, for the outside reps.
If it is beneficial to get a better understanding of the current outside reps
based on their geographic coverage at this point, then join them on a tour of
their territory as a general overview. Meet with five to ten key clients for an
introduction, update, and presentation of one new idea. This shows
customers your interest in them, gives you the opportunity to meet clients
and allows you to observe the interpersonal dynamics of the rep with their
clients and prospects.

5. This is also a prime opportunity to see what offerings from the company are
being discussed. With a competitive environment—no matter what industry
you are in--and so many options for clients to use for suppliers (or the
challenge of getting their attention for consideration), it is critical to
determine how well the reps are connecting client goals and desires with
options and ideas you offer.
Step Three: Probe sales team product knowledge. Have the reps present
you with information from PowerPoint presentations, collateral material, and
other support tools they use. This will help you understand their working
knowledge, work habits (do they know the materials or not?), strength in
presentation and application of resources. It also accelerates your learning
process.
Ideally accomplishing the goals within the first month can be achieved.
If you are working with a larger staff or one geographically dispersed, it
may take longer, but it is a critical early function to assess the approach
being taken by the sales staff in managing their prospecting and sales
relationships.

6. Know the Territory and Communities of Interests
Step One: Territory Analysis. In conjunction with the individual reps,
conduct a territory analysis (geographic, vertical, or “virtual” for inside reps)
to clarify the current state of business for revenue to goals, understand trends
good or bad and learn overall territory structure. This will clarify the current
structure and help you measure how a structure may need to shift for growth.
This helps you understand the activities and results currently taking place
and helps identify any gaps in the results for both the rep and you.
This also ties back to the points above about the reps needing to understand
the various products or services and using the knowledge to expand their
world of prospects by knowing more ways you can provide solutions.
The analysis will also help clarify the status of basic activities and results
like call volume, pipeline revenue, customer count, contract count and
“average” client revenue. Is everyone clear where you stand in these
measurement areas? What else needs to be measured?

7. Step Two: Expand the Customer Base. A key indicator of momentum is
looking at the percent of new clients as part of total revenue. You may need
to establish:
 Are enough new contacts and first appointments (phone or in person)
taking place to support a revenue pipeline to meet goals?
 How are new products or expanded markets being used to grow the
prospect base?
 Does the analysis show growth in the sale of new products or targeted
categories?
 Are the activities and results in line with the financial goals of the
company and of the individual sales and income goals of the reps?
After the evaluation clarify and update goals as needed. Reasons:
 While the rep may already have sales goals for revenue results, the
broader goals may also include specific activities or key selling
opportunities that exist or are pending.
 Setting the short-term goals also establishes a clear agenda for follow
up discussions during regular update meetings or in spending time in
the field.
To be successful, all reps must be more disciplined in their focus and
activity, flexible in working with their clients and creative in seeing how
new products and services can open doors to new prospects. This happens
within a well-organized operational structure.

8. Master the Internal Processes/Resources
You need to identify what working knowledge and administrative
information is needed to be effective in your own role and to help develop
the team. This includes:
 After evaluating the current sales success, decide how the talents of
team members can be further developed to be better contributors.
 Determine how reps can best apply themselves to use their strengths
more productively in their individual sales efforts and to the benefit of
the team as possible.
 Related to this, learn what tools exist to support the sales team and
you that did not come up in initial discussions. If there are gaps in
knowledge or training, you need to make use of available resources
immediately and clarify additional resources needed.
Additionally, you need to cultivate effective, collaborative working
relationships with others in the company. This includes:
 Administratively be clear about necessary reporting. When does it
need to be done and how does it need to be delivered?
 Just as you will work with the sales team to have an effective work
style with them, it is also necessary for you to understand the desires,
needs and styles of your immediate boss, upper management, and
those in any other departments with whom you interact.
I appreciate the opportunity to share this and hope you find it of value. If so,
please share it with others.

9. “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress;
working together is success. “--Henry Ford
“The First 90 Days” by Michael Watkins
To expand the summary, I include resource information from the book “The
First 90 Days” by Michael Watkins, published by the Harvard Business
Review Press.
The book addresses new positions at all levels. The core elements are
certainly applicable to those in sales leadership and I recommend the book
as a timely read as you step into a new position.
At 250+ pages it goes into more depth about individual elements of a new
position, including up to CEO level.
To prep you, linked are resources related to themes addressed in the book.
Included:
A two-minute video from the author touching on how to start correctly with
early wins
A Harvard Business Review article by Watkins on "How Managers Become
Leaders"
A summary on key elements of the book
A more recent post on HBR from Watkins and Mary Driscoll on
"Onboarding a New Leader Remotely"
From HBR, but not Watkins, on how to personally "Take Control of Your
Onboarding"

10. Additional Resources
I have written many blog posts on LinkedIn related to sales, management,
leadership, personal and professional development, plus other topics.
Some related to sales and management:
Commentary on some key points in the book “Fanatical Prospecting” and
how to better manage the sales process
6 biases that may be holding back your success in closing more sales, from
“The Challenger Sale”
Trust and the Leadership Gap
Know the difference between management and leadership. Observations
from Dr. John Kotter of Harvard.
Ego vs. Healthy Debate. Keep the focus productive.
Understanding talents and strengths, from Gallup research.
From others
Kurt Sima of The Center for Sales Strategy outlines how to bring on a new
sales manager dealing with four key areas: people, process, planning and
performance: How to Train a New Sales Manager
Harvard Business Review blog on seven personality strengths of top
salespeople
Through their free resources, HubSpot Academy offers a certification course
on Sales Management. It runs five hours.

11. About Me
I have been a sales professional in B2B sales as a career. This has included
managing my own territories, selling jointly with others, and managing sales
teams.
I was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from the University of
Washington with a B.A. in Communications (Advertising) and a minor
emphasis in business and economics.
My professional sales career started in Seattle in media sales with the Puget
Sound Business Journal, but a significant portion of my professional time
was in California, split between Los Angeles and Orange County, before my
return to Seattle.
You can reach me via InMail or steve@linked4biz.com
714-876-7062, cell
LinkedIn profile
Also
I am community manager for the LinkedIn group Seattle Sales, Marketing
and Advertising Professionals, which has 4900+ members, and one of the
first million members of LinkedIn (2004).
Additionally, I am a volunteer and served as a board member (2013-2019)
for the Friends of the Seattle Public Library. I still manage the company
page on LinkedIn.
Previously, I served as a volunteer for the City of Orange Library when I
lived in Orange County.