Hearsay is defined as information received from other people that one cannot adequately substantiate; a rumor. Senior managers seldom, if ever, work with 1st line managers in the field for the sole purpose of professional development. Rather, many regional managers prefer to hold occasional meetings to “see” how 1st line managers are doing.
The Missing Link…
Quarterly 1 on 1 meetings that senior sales management schedule with 1st line managers are analogous to a boxing coach training a prize fighter how to punch a bag and then promptly disappearing when that fighter steps into the ring. After the fight, imagine that fighter sitting down with his coach explaining, as best he could recall, how the fight went. He would describe how he counter-punched or delivered an uppercut that the coach had told him about in training. The coach, trying to keep his status as an up and comer, would then evaluate his fighter solely on whether he had won or lost the fight. As ridiculous as this sounds this is how many 1st line managers are led. I call it leadership by hearsay.
Ambition is the mother of transition. From sales representative to district sales manager to regional sales manager, to area director, to VP, senior VP, and so on. Of these transitions I would argue that none is more traumatic than the transition from sales rep (individual contributor) to sales manager.
In this transition, the sales rep often feels as if shot from a cannon. This opportunity catapults an ambitious sales rep from a job where ride-alongs are conducted with military precision to the 1st line management position where his or her success is left to the interpretation of someone who, in all likelihood, has never spent a single minute coaching a manager in the field.
Sticking with our analogy, senior sales managers cannot lead 1st line managers by avoiding the ring. Customers are more often flattered by the attention and impressed with the apparent commitment to professional development when a senior sales manager accompanies a district manager on a sales call. Through past and recent experience I can confirm that the reluctance for a three person sales call seldom emanates from the customer. Rather, it is grounded in fear that a customer might not be receptive. More profound is that many senior sales managers don’t know how to conduct field ride alongs with district managers.
More to come..,
Chuck – Cogency Group
