Butch Bellah - Sales Management For Dummies

Sales Management For Dummies

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Copyright 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015948998

ISBN 978-1-119-09422-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-09420-3 (epdf); ISBN 978-1-119-09405-0 (epub)

1. Table of Contents

Id like you to consider taking over as Vice President of Sales. I can still hear those words ringing in my ears more than 20 years after they were uttered by the man who is my mentor to this day.

At the time, he was president of the company and had called me into his office one afternoon in early 1995. Was I in trouble? Had I done something wrong? He and I had a great relationship, but a closed-door, spur-of-the moment meeting was a bit strange.

Uh, Im not sure are you I stuttered and stammered for a few moments trying to let what I had just heard sink in. Im not bucking for a promotion right now, I can remember managing to get out through the hemming and hawing.

I realize that. But, I want you to take over the entire sales department.

Id be lying if I said this wasnt my goal, but now? I hadnt even been with the company for a decade yet and had entered below the lowest rung on the ladder. In fact, I couldnt even see the ladder. I got promoted twice before I found the ladder. Id only been a division sales manager for a few years at the time.

Being a vice president was part of my goal, but not necessarily this fast.

The tone of his voice let me know this was a bit more than a request it was a challenge. It was time to get in the game or shrink back to the bench. Im really not trying to take anyone elses job, Im just trying to do the best I can as a division sales manager.

His next words let me know it was now or never: If you dont do this, Im going to have to hire someone else who will. And so began my career in sales management.

I inherited an entire sales department of more than 25 people, most of whom had been with the company or in the industry a lot longer than I had. I took over with no direction, no roadmap, no instruction book, and really no past experience to draw from. To say I was flying blind is an understatement.

If I was going to learn to be a leader, I was going to have to go with gut instinct and make it up as I went. I didnt have a fall-back plan and failure wasnt an option. Id been hired at 21, been made division sales manager at 25, and now, at not even 30, I was being handed the job of managing a sales department generating about $75 million a year in sales.

Do you think Im ready? I asked.

If I didnt, we wouldnt be having this conversation.

I took the job. And through a lot of missteps, mistakes, and complete meltdowns, grew that company to more than a quarter-of-a-billion dollars a year in sales before acquiring controlling interest in the company with a business partner just five short years later.

I always wished I had a book in which to look things up. Now, I give you what I never had.

Youre holding the book I always wished I had. In it youll find real-world experience drawn from many years (more than I care to remember) and even more mistakes while I was suffering through a lot of OJT. (For those of you new to the world of management, OJT stands for On the Job Training.)

This book truly is my gift to you: my experiences, lessons learned, and all the broken bones and skinned knees of learning to manage a sales team laid bare. I wont tell you this book will keep you from making any mistakes we both know it wont. But, it can help you learn from the ones I made and minimize the ones you have to experience firsthand.

Throughout the book I use real-world stories and situations I believe you can relate to. I use a lot of sports analogies because I think a sports coach is as close to a sales manager as you can get. The two share similar philosophies, goals, and ideals.

Some of the examples I use may describe the exact situation you face, and you can see how I handled it and whether that was the right call. Spoiler alert: it wasnt close!

If youre like most managers, youve said to yourself more than once, Ill bet this never happened to anybody else. Well, yeah, it did. It happens to everyone. All that stuff you think is exclusive to you isnt.

All sales managers go through similar if not identical situations. And all sales managers tend to think theyre the only one who has to deal with their particular issues. Just wait until you go to a trade show or industry function and talk to other managers youll come home thinking, Wow, Im glad Im not that guy!

I attempt to paint you a picture of the world of sales management, and that picture isnt always pretty. There are ups and downs, highs and lows but I can say without hesitation I have never wanted to do anything else. You represent the greatest profession on earth. Unfortunately, there is a low barrier of entry into sales and it seems as if anyone thinks he can just go be a salesman.