What's the biggest opportunity in sales management today? What are you going to do about it?

1: Help your sales people qualify better, earlier in the sales cycle, by reviewing the common characteristics of winning deals. Encourage them to qualify bad deals out, and focus on finding more good ones. Reducing the apparent size of the pipeline is no bad thing, if it more honestly reflects reality.

2: Focus your sales people on understanding what their prospects need in order to move forward to the next stage of their buying process. Don't let them confuse activity with progress. And pool the resources of your top performers to identify and institutionalise winning habits.

As Sales Leaders and Corporations in general the key to unlock revenue growth is to simply LISTEN and FOLLOW-THROUGH with your word. Think about it, don't you want to be heard and not only heard, don't you want people to take a genuine interest in the value of what you have to say? I know I do and I always treated my customers accordingly. It paid dividends for me as long as my company listened, as well. We all would profit in the end.

As Managers, it is your duty to take what customers or sales team members have to say to the next level so that if change is required it is addressed properly and swiftly by the Corporation. It is a true team collaborative effort. In some organizations this may be considered as stepping out of line or off path, I know I've been there. But, how are we to grow if we don't listen constructively and take action when needed.

I will add another comment worth pondering over. The processes that Corporations have developed within are often times way too complex and cumbersome especially when a customer problem needs a resolution. I've seen where customers are so frustrated with the Corporation's internal processes due to complexity that the end result is, well there is no result and the customer leaves with a very tainted opinion of the organization. Believe me, no matter how good your product is, they will leave and keep in mind too, word travels very fast. Not a good way to grow revenue, now is it?

In summary, pay very close attention to what your current as well as your prospective clients are saying along with your sales team members. I would also advise folks to listen and read 'in between the lines' too. Often times, people don't say what they really mean so it is imperative that we notice the hints we are given. Always be on top of your game and be aware, keep an open positive mind and take a genuine interest. Building mutual trust and respect with each other is a golden rule and considered to be positive psychology which then equates to positive revenue - it's really that simple.

The Sales Manager/Executive has the ability to make- or break- the success of the entire sales organization, and by extension the whole organization.

It's for this reason that professional development resources and a peer-support system must be in place for these professionals. Effective sales coaching has been determined to be one of the primary markers of success for sales reps, why is it then, so few resources are offered to sales management professionals to learn and improve this critical skill?

Building the leadership capital of sales management professionals should not occur at the expense of sales reps' professional development, rather, should complement it.