Sales Managers are CEOs of their unit. They’re hustling pretty much the same way the CEO is albeit at a different scale!

I still remember the day I took charge as a manager and the nervousness that I felt. Being a manager has been without a doubt, the most enjoyable and most challenging part of my career so far. I love everything about it! From creating and executing strategies to leading teams!

Whether you’re considering applying for a sales manager position or are already leading a team, these lessons will come in handy :

1)Stop Being A Salesperson!

You were a rockstar sales person but that’s not what you’re needed to do now. Don’t go off chasing leads. You have a team to do that. Focus on the strategy to win and train your team to bring out their best. I enjoyed being a sales person, chasing leads and closing deals. However, once I became a manager, I realised doing the mentioned things became a significantly smaller part of my job. I focused on creating and executing our acquisition strategy and spent a lot of time coaching my team in one-to-one sessions.

2)Know Your Terrain

I cannot stress enough the importance of investing your time in knowing the terrain in which you operate. I spent a significant number of hours exploring and understanding the terrain - In this case, the area that was the jurisdiction of my branch i.e the customers we served, the potential customers we could attract (both enterprise as well as retail), the competition, my channel partners and most importantly my team.

Along with all the tons of useful information you’ll gather, the confidence you gain to design and execute strategies is unparalleled.

3)Track The Competition 

Don’t be afraid of your competitors but never take them lightly. Keep an eye out on what they’re doing. My team and I used to follow the competitor’s vehicles and make notes about the clients they visited, the number of shipments they picked up and the time at which they went. I walked into their stores and sent couriers to my friends just to see what their retail customer’s experience was like. This intel was instrumental for us to later acquire their customers and serve them more effectively than they ever did.

We signed an enterprise customer because we told her we understood that late pickups were a pain point for her and we would be willing to come earlier to solve that problem. She was so impressed with our research that she ended up giving us the business immediately.

4)Focus On The Big Picture

As a manager you have to focus on the bigger picture. While your team concentrates on the day-to-day operations, you need to be thinking broader, in terms of the entire year and quarters. While you want every single person in the team to achieve their targets, realistically that might not happen. Don’t get lost in the tangle of pushing individual targets and lose sight of the team target that is your responsibility. Some months your rockstar performers will lead the major contribution to the target and that’s okay. Just ensure that you’re not relying heavily on just one or two top performers.

5)Fail and Adapt - Quickly!

You may hit a home run with your first plan of action or you won’t. If it’s the latter, don’t drag it out. Accept that the plan didn’t work and immediately rework it. The first 3 strategies we tried didn’t work out. Within 2 weeks when I didn’t see the desired results I changed it targeting another pipeline. I did this 3 times before we managed to get it right the 4th time. Once we did, our pipeline filled up, we started closing multiple deals every week and our revenues skyrocketed nearly 400% !

6)Treat Them The Way They Want To Be Treated

I’m not a believer in the adage “Treat people how you would like to be treated.” Everyone is different and chances are high they don’t want to be treated the same way as you do. I used to prefer that my boss be direct with me but I knew that my team might not want me to be the same way. Spend time getting to know your team so you know exactly how to filter your communication style to them. In my team, I had one person who preferred me to be blunt with them whereas another preferred I speak diplomatically. This information helped me tremendously. My communication style was different with each of them and they went on to become my star performers.

7)Recognise Your Rockstars

Validation goes a long way in getting the troop’s morale up and encourages them to push themselves to do better. The best part is it doesn’t have to cost anything. If you don’t have a budget to work with, get creative! A genuine acknowledgement of their incredible performance in front of everyone will go a long way to keep them motivated. I introduced an employee of the month rolling trophy which became a runaway hit! The trophy held a place of pride on the team member’s desk, whoever got it for the month.

8)Ready Your Second-in-Command

A lot of managers fail to do this delaying their own growth in the process. It is critical for your own sanity and career growth to establish a second-in-command. Identify two to three people in your team who show more promise than the rest and start grooming them to take your position. Give them additional responsibility for some of your tasks. Contrary to popular belief that this is career suicide, you’re more likely to get promoted to the next role if your boss knows there’s someone who is ready to continue to do the great work you’ve been doing all this while!

By the time I was being considered for my next role, I already had two solid candidates from my team ready to take on my current responsibilities. The transition was easy!

Click here to read more about the way we went about boosting our revenues.

What are some lessons and insights you gained as a manager? Feel free to share in the comments!

Shomik Roy is a business strategist and marketer. He is also an MBA student at the Schulich School of Business, Toronto. Shomik’s area of expertise lies in marketing strategy and scaling up sales & operation networks.