A More Effective Sales Team
Sales management is so often seen as a series of mechanical processes, focused on forecasts, qualification, reports, and creating a discipline. Paul Davies, however, has always seen successful sales management as being about sales people – getting inside their heads, seeing the world through their eyes, and getting the best out of them by working with the grain rather than against it. As an ex-salesman himself, he knew the frustrations interference can cause – especially from very senior management – and as a sales manager and then a European sales director he set about providing the environment that sales people need in which to thrive. He has no illusions – he sees the collective noun for sales people as a whinge of sales people – but by really understanding them, protecting them from the most well-intentioned help and value-add from senior management, which usually destroys any morale, and keeping them focused on customers, he was highly successful. This book is irreverent, less concerned with filling in a customer relationship management form than making it easy for customers to buy, and full of useful ways of cajoling, encouraging and provoking sales people into stellar performance. A must read for senior management, as well as all sales managers.