Regardless of how good a Sales Manager you are, you can’t be everywhere at once.  You have administrative duties to fulfill.  Regardless of how insignificant you may think they are, they take time and emotional energy from your job of mentoring sales professionals. Historically, the basic forum for evaluation of a salesperson is the joint…

A key responsibility of Sales Managers is the skill development of a large number of producers, which must be accomplished while simultaneously meeting significant increases in production level.  When you add to that the fact that most Sales Managers are burdened by time-demanding administrative duties, it becomes clear that there is an ever present dilemma…

If you are the manager of a sales team, then you are probably involved in the process of setting sales goals.  This is the case whether you are managing financial advisors (FAs), certified financial planners (CFPs), trust representatives, or private bankers.  Set those goals properly and you can incent productivity; if not, your sales goals…

The ability to COACH effectively is the ultimate aim of most sales managers…and it is a worthy, albeit elusive, goal.  Many abilities and tools are required to reach this status and we will discuss these in upcoming segments of this series.  The key component of these tools, without which coaching will be ineffective at best…

When asked, all Sales Managers say they want to be able to coach sales professionals.  However, they often fail to recognize a critical step that is necessary to be able to coach in this manner.  As a matter of fact, effective coaching is virtually impossible without it.  What is it?  Come back on Monday and…

I am often asked questions about the advisability of naming a corporate fiduciary as trustee or executor rather than naming a friend or family member, or even an individual who is a CPA or certified financial planner.  I confess up front that I have a strong bias in favor of corporate executors and trustees.  Years…

An effective pipeline management process should be both predictive and instructive.  To accomplish these two goals, the data that is input must be accurate.  Herein lies a potential difficulty…unless both manager and producer see the other as an ally, not an adversary.  Let’s look at how they can work together toward the same goal. Within…

There are numerous ways to construct the sales pipeline.  For the pipeline to be a useful tool for both management and the sales professional, two things should result.  First, it should help management accurately project actual sales levels.   Likewise, the sales professional should be able to use it as a tool to highlight specific areas…

To say that the relationship between a team of sales professionals and their sales manager is extremely important is a gross understatement.  As in most relationships, the element of trust is absolutely necessary if each is to do their job effectively. The sales manager is caught between “managing up” by providing data necessary for higher-ups…

Most sales professionals manage some portion of the sales process well.  What do you think most sales professionals manage best?  On Monday, I will give my answer in the continuation of my series on THE 10 SALES LEADERSHIP IMPERATIVES.   image credit