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Dynamic Sales Management &
Sales Leadership
By George A. Moretti, President, GM Training & Consulting
The theme
for the
AICC 2013
Sales Managers Conference Spring
Meeting is “Be the Dynamic Sales
Manager and Sales Leader you NEED
to be NOW!”
So with that thought in
mind let’s think about what happens
and the end of one year and the start of
a New Year for many of us.
As Sales Managers and Leaders the New
Year usually bring about a fresh look
at ourselves and our sales teams to see
how effective we have been along with
promises of improvement and change
all around. We ask ourselves; how many
new accounts did we sell? Did we lose
any sales people? Is our margin growing
or shrinking? Have we lost any big
accounts? Who should I replace because
they are not getting the job done?
Sometimes the answers are good and
sometimes the answers are not. So we
commit to becoming better in this New
Year and we tell ourselves that we will
improve. Nothing will stop us this year!
Sound familiar? And to make things
worse at the last meeting with your boss
these age old comments came up again:
• “Our sales people are paid too much
we need to adjust our commission
program because our profits have not
gone up with the sales!”
• “We have too many non-performing
sales reps that are not paying for
themselves.”
• “We can’t find any talent in the
marketplace. The only sales reps that
are available are retreads, Sales Reps
who have worked for most of the
competitors except for us.”
• “How come we can’t seem to keep
any sales people long term? It seems
like we hire them, train them, and then
they leave for more money!”
• “How come the new Sales Rep is not
performing to where we thought they
would be?
These questions and concerns come
up every year in most corrugated,
folding carton and packaging supplies
companies. Make no mistake; it’s not
that we don’t want to improve and be
more effective, it’s not that we do not
know what to do most of the time. And
it is not even a matter of the willingness
to do whatever it takes. In order to
move in this direction you will need to
become a
Dynamic Sales Leader
and
Dynamic Sales Manager
! The reasons
you need to change are basically the
same each year.
Here are some reasons we need to
change to become more
Dynamic
.
Each year in this industry as with
others there are new competitors who
come nipping at our heels. There are
old competitors who decide this is the
year
they
are making the change and
will execute and implement a growth
strategy to take market share of this or
that new segment of our business.
Another reason is a merger or
acquisition has taken place and
the “new “company has a different
approach to the market. (By the way I
am sure the questions above were asked
at the company that was acquired also.)
Progressive companies buy new
equipment that needs to be filled up.
They also want to expand, make more
money or become more valuable to
their customers putting a bigger moat
around them by providing more value
added services and products.
The next generations of managers and
leaders have come onto the scene and
want to continue the success that their
parents, friends or partnerships created
a long time ago.
The list of reasons why is larger than
this but this should give you a good idea
of why we need to constantly improve
and this year is no different. Every
year seems to get a little tougher. Yet
over the last 10 years in my seminars,
webinars, teaching and training the
same topics come up 90 % of the time
for discussion.
They are:
• Sales Compensation – what is the
best program?
• How do you motivate non-
performing sales reps who have been
with the company for a long time?
• What are some effective metrics
we can use to measure our sales reps
performance?
• What is the best way to recruit sales
people to our company?
• How can we learn to not sell on
price?
So, will this be the year
you
decide to
really develop and execute the strategy
you know you need to take your
company to the next level? Or will this
be the year you have the best intentions
and really try to convince everyone you
will be different but after a few weeks or
months, you get busy, overwhelmed and
decide change is tough so you go back
to doing mostly what we always did with
some minor because it is easier?
If this is not the direction you want to
go then let this be the year you commit
to focus on the execution of the strategy
you develop and lead yourselves and
your sales teams to the next level.
All of these topics and much more will
be covered in the AICC
2013 Dynamic Sales Leaders’
Conference in Orlando. Hope to see you
there!
George A. Moretti is President, GM
Training & Consulting. He can be
reached at
gmtcg@roadrunner.comor
by phone 716-909-1177.
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