“Trust men and they will be true to you: treat them
greatly and they will show themselves great.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Author

Dynamic sales growth, delegation, and management development starts with the first level of leadership, the group leader.

Dan, Sophia, Richard, and William are sitting in front of me. I am conducting a three-day training program on how to introduce our new product. Nobody has sold an order yet. They will receive $1600 a month (plus commissions) for three months if they write at least two orders each month. Each is a pioneer sales manager with no reports, yet.

My final instructions are simple. “First learn how to sell the product, then hire one or two people and show them how you are selling.” In five years, they ended up managing a combined group of 300 sales people producing more than $25,000,000 a year.

A group leader:

• Writes personal orders,


• Directly supervises a team of two to seven people,


• Helps conduct classroom training,


• Actively recruits new sales people and,


• Wants a promotion to sales manager.

A sales manager must discover good sales people who can become group leaders. SELL the group leader candidate to the management opportunity early and often, enthusiastically BUILD the GL candidate’s desire to want the job, and patiently TEACH that GL candidate how to become a group leader by a combination of example and delegation.

Your personal commitment to your own success and growth precedes your search for new leaders. The successful sales manager creates an environment of leadership expectations. Your group leaders feel your commitment to success, and ambition. Your sales team expects that sales will increase; the sales team expects frequent promotions.

Developing your expanding leadership team requires trust. Potential leaders trust you because:

• They admire your example.


• They believe in your fairness.


• They believe you have confidence in them.


• They believe you have a plan for sales growth.


• Recruiting and developing group leaders is the starting point of management development — and thus sales growth; let’s review the process of recruiting group leaders.

ASK!

“Ask!” Start your group leader search at initial recruiting interview by adding the phrase “A few successful sales candidates will be selected for our management training program.” Follow this up during the first day of basic sales training by explaining the selection process and training program for future leaders. ASK who might be interested in such a program if they are qualified.

After a person has written a few orders, have a private “management counseling” session. ASK about their intentions. Those who respond favorably need to know your sales and management growth program. They need to know you have a need for new managers. The message is that you have a positive vision for the future. You need bright new people to make it all possible.

Nobody is insulted by being asked about being trained for leadership positions. Therefore, ASK about interest in management early and often. The only qualifications are competence in personal selling and TRAINABILITY. Do not wait until a sales person is “ready.” The sales manager’s job is to get them ready. You get them ready by ASKING them to get ready. You promise to help them grow into the job.

SHARE!

SHARE your dreams and aspirations. Let your sales team know you have bigger plans. Everyone likes to jump on board a winning organization. Show your sales team you are a winner.

SHARE your training and prospecting decisions. Everyone likes to be part of the show! Everyone likes to contribute to the betterment of their organization

SHARE your plans for growth. Let the WHOLE team know your 3 and 12-month expansion plans. These plans work best with the help of your entire leadership group; they become common goals, jointly arrived at.

SHARE your attention. New leaders want to be special. Ask for their advice. After explaining a problem well, the answer is often apparent. Help GL’s answer problems by themselves.

SHARE your meetings. Sustained, long monologue becomes boring. Talk less than half the talking time at sales meetings and training.

ROMANCE!

ROMANCE your eagles. If you want group leaders, court them. Take them to lunches. Give them books on salesmanship or management. Repeatedly tell them how they have the potential to develop into outstanding leaders.

ROMANCE your GL’S at meetings. Give them high-profile assignments. Let people know you are counting on their performance. Make them feel special.

ACT!

ACT early. Do not hesitate. One advantage a “results count” compensation system has, is allowing you to take promotion risks with limited or no financial risk. The GL title costs little or nothing. The title has no financial advantage without financial performance. A GL, who performs, earns management pay. GL's who don’t perform receive little or no overrides.

ACT often. Make a habit of talking about the management opportunity. Eventually, your sales force will think that migration to management is the natural way of things.

What happens — or should happen — when a sales person wants to become a manager? GL’s should know what you expect of them. Something should change. You and your GL candidate must have a clear idea what the job is and what the GL will DO when promoted.

The GL as a field manager: GL’s start their career by the “watch me” method. New recruits reporting to the GL observe how to prospect and how to sell. GL’s possess these two skills. The simplest way to pass on these skills is to show how to do it.

The GL’s let the new recruit know that they truly care about the success of the new person by working with their team members in the field. Just doing those two things — show the job and care about the people — is enough to start a successful career in sales management.

GL’s as classroom trainers: Group leaders can help in classroom training by giving enthusiastic practice sales talks. The new GL’s need the practice, learn through teaching, usually like to show-off, enjoy their new role as teacher, and appreciate being recognized as participating management members.

Management development, and the delegation that drives it, is an attitude. If your dream is to build a sales empire to the best of your ability, then develop the habit of developing new managers by “giving away your job” step by step. The next chapter on delegation goes through the mechanics of giving away your job.

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