Article
Top Sales Magazine

Sales Managers Must Manage

Format:Print

Abstract

A common complaint from C-level executives about their sales colleagues concerns the latter’s ability to manage, not sell. Nearly every firm has examples of successful salespeople who are poor managers because they persist in their behaviors as reps rather than managers. This article discusses why this is common, the problems with standard advice about how to address this issue, what it now takes to be an effective sales manager, and external market factors that are making this a bigger, more visible issue in more firms with implications for building and sustaining a sales career.