The best sales managers ‘DELEGATE’

There are sales managers who want to do everything themselves and spend more time selling than helping their team develop and deliver.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone, particularly if you’ve been promoted to the role of sales manager from the ranks of salespeople.

With so many hats to wear and ever-increasing pressure on a sales manager to deliver results, those that seek assistance from inside and outside their team enjoy the greatest success.

Delegation allows you to focus on the key outcomes of your sales team and can be a basic driver of business growth and success.

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men (and women) to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it” Theodore Roosevelt

Delegation can deliver many benefits to you and your team, including:

  • more effective management – more time to work on strategy, tactics and team development
  • team members are given growth opportunities to develop and demonstrate their competencies
  • team members are motivated to accept responsibility and practise accountability
  • team members are inspired to perform with authority and efficiency
  • learning is increased and experience gained
  • trust is built in your team
  • reduced delays in waiting for you, the sales manager, to make decisions and take action

You don’t have to do everything, even Batman had Robin

The benefits of, and need to delegate are often not easy for a sales manager to accept. There are many obstacles to successful delegation including:

  • fear of losing control
  • ego – concern over losing ‘importance’
  • lack of trust
  • concern for an individuals ability to ‘step up’ to the delegated task
  • lack of planning

To be a successful sales manager you need to understand these points of resistance and work on your own personal development to address each one.

“Delegating work works, providing the one delegating works too” Robert Half

Delegation, done properly, will deliver synergistic benefits to all involved. When delegating, be sure to empower the individual to implement the plan. Support, monitor and follow-up, but don’t micro-manager. Be there to coach and review, but not to do. And most importantly, do not to over-delegate and to remember it is delegation, not ‘abdication’.

This article was previously posted on Linked In.