2/13/2024-Leveraging Your Manager

Your sales manager wants nothing but the best for you, but that means you have to bring your best to your manager. Do your homework, show your work, and keep those communication lines open.

Good news: your manager’s number one job is to help you close sales and grow skills.

But, your manager can add value only if your mind is open about receiving coaching and guidance. (Growth takes work.)

Yesterday’s post about Ray Kurzweil urged you to concentrate on growing your skills…now is the time to include your manager in that plan.

Yes, your manager is busy…but not too busy to be reminded of their number one priority: you.

Today, write down the ONE skill you need to develop.

Sit down and list all the scenarios where that ONE skill can be used for success in your daily selling. Be as specific as possible because you’ll want to learn how to master all applications.

Next, get on your manager’s schedule and talk about how you played your hand with various scenarios. (This is the part where your open mind is helpful!)

The process doesn’t end there: keep a log of how your work with that ONE skill applies and works (or doesn’t) in your customer interactions. You’ll learn lots from that too.

Your sales manager may not wake up thinking about your problems, but they do wake up thinking about you. (Without you and your problems, your manager is out on the street.) It’s up to you to determine which of your problems need to be co-owned with your manager.

First and most importantly, your manager never wants you to lose business alone. In other words, if you feel a deal is going south, rope in your manager fast and let them decide which part of the cavalry needs to be engaged.

Last, your manager needs to know what weight you can handle; they need you to tell them what you can and can’t handle. And that becomes very hard for any proud and ambitious seller.

Hint: get over the pride and actively engage your manager; let those discussions guide you toward future decisions about leveraging your manager best.

You don’t need to hear from Steve Jobs to know what lives deep in your heart: you want a manager who inspires you, even if that means you are challenged.

In this YT short, Steve asks, "Why would you want to work for someone you can’t learn anything from?" (Good point, Steve.)

If you’re not learning from your manager, you need to change managers…or, change how you appeal for coaching.