7 Leadership skills for a Sales Manager

Managers have to take the leader’s role in any field of work. Managers have to make sure that there is unity. Sales managers, on the other hand, have an extended amount of issues.

Being the leader of the Sales team is regarded as the toughest job in an organization. The toughness comes from the workload and handling of the salesmen.

As a leader of any team, you have set examples for your employees. A leader who leads from the front is always a Successful leader. Managers are the leaders for any team and therefore, they have to be the ones on the forefront.

Sales managers need leadership training if they do wish to improve their leadership skills. Sales managers could also read about Leadership skills and improve their qualities.

Here are 7 tips for a Sales Manager to be a good leader:

1. Boosting Sales employees:

Your Sales employees are the biggest asset of an organization. If the behavior of the sales team is low the sales results will be low.

As the sales manager, you have to frequently boost your sales team to bring out their best. By doing this the sales team will also feel motivated to work harder.

A happy sales team gets good results and to make the sales team happy, the Sales Manager has to do his best. As a leader of a pack, you have to make your sales team employees confident and prepare them for any situation.


Salesmen are the epitome of any business organization, and their work gets an organization its results. An organization hires a Sales Manager for the Same reason to look over the Sales team. A good Sales Manager will work for the betterment of the organization.



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2. Be  a Coach:

Salesmen do face trouble at times in their work process. When they face troubles like these, they look around for someone to help them.

If you are the Sales team Manager it is your duty to be the first coach to your salesmen. If the Salesmen do not find the solutions to their problem, after your help, then you look at sales training as an option.

When a sales manager becomes a coach to his Sales team, the Salespeople feel safer and secure. When your salespeople feel secure with you that means you are a good leader.

For e.g., There is a problem between two of your salesmen about a certain issue. They are not working as a team. Your duty as the Sales Manager is to sit down with the two and clear out their indifferences.

3. Be Transparent:

Being transparent as a sales manager is important as only then your sales team will know what is happening. If you want to be a good leader you need to know how much transparency is required.

Be transparent about all the sales deals or sales leads. You need to keep things closed if there are major setbacks. As a leader, you need such major setbacks at the correct time.

For e.g., A smart Sales manager would let his team know about all the business they have been making. The day it is a bad day at work and there has been hardly any sales, is the day he will keep things behind closed doors. After a few days when the same scenario reoccurs, he will tell them where they had gone wrong earlier. That is how a smart sales manager uses transparency as a solution.

Transparency in a workplace creates a sense of connection between the top-level authorities and the lower-level employees.

4. Set an example:

All Salesmen look for inspiration. Now imagine if their inspiration is their sales manager himself. It is a proud moment for the Sales team as well as the sales manager.
As a leader, you have to lead from the front and set a benchmark for your salesmen. Only then will your salesmen understand what is your caliber and what you expect from them.

It is like in a cricket team, when the captain is giving his 100% on the field, then even his teammates start giving their best. The same way when your sales team sees you trying to close every sale lead into a sale lead, they put in the same efforts.

This will not only get the best out of your Sales team, but it will also get the best out of yourself. It is a big plus point for the organization if something like this happens.


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5. Set achievable goals:

The sales goals you set as a Sales manager have to be achievable. With the goal being achievable, it does not mean it has to be a cakewalk for the Sales team.

Have achievable goals like converting 75% of Sale leads into Sale deals. You cannot have goals like, convert 100% of Sale deals into Sale deals. That can only happen on a bright sunny business day.

Your goals as a leader have to be realistic. Remember to always think if you can complete the goal or not. If you think it's too easy for you or too difficult then you need to add some changes to your goal. The best way to solve this issue is by taking the help of a Sales trainer.

Overburdening your Sales is not a motivational process. The key to a good workplace environment is a happy and motivated sales team.

6. Listen to your Sales employees:

Salesmen like Sales leaders that listen to their ideas, problems, opinions, etc. It makes them realize that their manager is not self-centered and he does care of his staff. This feeling of understanding between The salesmen and the Sales manager.

There are a lot of benefits of listening to your Sales employees. It will get new ideas for selling. Your old ideas of sales will get a new look at it. The more ideas you listen to, the better your sales results will be.

For example, you have just had a meeting where you have discussed a few previous selling techniques. As soon as the meeting gets done, a fresher Salesman comes up and gives you the best solution. Be appreciative and consider his idea. This will keep the New Salesman motivated to stay at your organization. He will realize that his talent is being heard too.

7. Appreciate your Sale team’s Success:

When a batsman has a good day on the cricket pitch, he waits to get appreciated for his performance. The same way Salesmen like to be appreciated for a good day of sales.

Every person likes special attention for something they have achieved. The salesman works very hard all day to get the maximum profits. At the end of that long tiring day, all he expects someone to do is, give him a tap on the back and say “well done”.

These small gestures of appreciation shown by the Sales Manager make an employee feel special. For e.g., your Salesman has completed the most amounts of the last 10 years as the top Salesman of each year. At the end of the decade when you have a conference of a successful decade, make sure to reward him. Not only reward him but he should be the first one to be rewarded. 60% of the decade’s success has come because of him.

So if you want to be a good leader as a Sales Manager do follow these leadership skills. It will keep you happy and so will your Sales team feel motivated. If you do think that something is missing out do let me know in the comment section.


Source: https://www.yatharthmarketing.com/leadership-skills-for-a-sales-manager/