In today’s dynamic and rapidly changing business environment, the role of a sales manager has evolved significantly. The modern sales manager is no longer merely an administrator who supervises a team of sales specialists.
They play a more crucial role in driving revenue, fostering team collaboration, and adapting to the ever-evolving sales landscape, particularly with sophisticated and information-driven customers with escalating demands for precision.
One of the primary responsibilities of a modern sales manager is to provide strategic leadership to their sales team. A decade ago, when things were simpler, the sales manager’s task was to monitor and supervise the sales team and direct their performance.
Today, with swiftly changing customer psychology, the sales management task involves adapting to data-driven information in setting clear objectives, developing sales strategies, and aligning the team’s efforts with the organisation’s overall goals. A successful sales manager must have a deep understanding of the market, competition, technology, and industry trends to formulate effective strategies.
The modern sales manager must constantly adapt these strategies to remain fiercely competitive in complex market trends. This means staying updated on emerging technologies, consumer preferences, and market dynamics to ensure that the sales team remains agile and responsive.
Talent management has also comparatively become more complicated for the modern sales manager. Sales managers are not just responsible for managing existing salespeople but also for recruiting and developing new talent.
Wider skill set
The position of sales professionals has evolved in the modern day, needing a wider skill set that goes beyond merely selling and involves knowledge of technology, data analysis, customer experience, and customer relationship management. Sales managers must find and develop their team members by offering mentoring, coaching, and training.
The modern sales environment is data-driven, and sales managers must exploit the power of data to make sales-related decisions. This involves analysing performance metrics, customer behaviour, and existing and future market trends to identify opportunities and challenges. Sales managers need to have the capacity to use sales analytics to extract practical value. Data-driven decision-making not only helps in optimising sales performance but also allows sales managers to provide personalised experiences to customers. By understanding customer preferences and buying patterns, sales teams can tailor their approach, leading to higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
Sales cannot function alone in today’s corporate climate. Modern sales managers must facilitate collaboration across sales, marketing, product development, and customer support departments. Cross-functional cooperation ensures that all departments work together to provide a smooth client experience.
Sales managers must encourage smooth communication flow and collaboration across various departments of the company to ensure that marketing efforts connect with sales strategy, goods satisfy customer demands, and customer input is integrated into product development. Cooperation among all other departments also allows sales managers to gain useful insights, allowing them to react positively and swiftly to changing market conditions.
Staying ahead
Technology adoption is compulsory for the modern sales manager to stay ahead of the competition in the revolutionised advancements in markets. They must evaluate and adopt the right technologies and automation tools. They have to utilise artificial intelligence wherever and whenever possible to rationalise processes and enhance sales performance.
Sales managers must ensure that their sales team is well-trained and proficient in using technology. This requires providing constant training and technological support to keep the team updated with current information. Technology adoption not only boosts efficiency but also enables sales teams to enhance relationships with customers to deliver personalised experiences.
Sales team performance and revenue increase are the two most important functions an organisation expects and demands from a sales manager. Hence, performance management is a primary duty of a sales manager, as they are accountable for supervising, monitoring, and evaluating the performance of their sales team, a daunting task historically.
This involves setting performance targets, tracking progress, and providing regular feedback to individual salesmen. Performance management helps identify strengths, weaknesses, and issues within the team, allowing managers to take corrective actions as needed. Modern sales managers often use performance analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess sales team performance objectively.
The term previously referred to as good customer service is currently evolving to customer experience (CX), a much broader area. When this writer was a sales manager a few decades ago, the responsibility was limited to managing the sales effort with a team of salesmen and ensuring performance. In this modern digital era, customer expectations have evolved, and modern sales managers must adopt a customer-centric approach to selling as well.
Strong relationships
This means putting the customer’s needs and preferences at the forefront of sales strategies. The sales manager must make sure that the sales teams focus on building strong relationships with customers, understanding their pain points, and providing solutions that meet their specific requirements.
Sales managers now need to instill a customer-first mindset within their team, not only during the selling process but also before and after the sale is done. They must emphasise the importance of long-term relationships over short-term gains. This approach not only leads to better customer loyalty but also increases the likelihood of repeat business and referrals.
The adaptability of a manager indicates a sense of personal choice, of purposefully navigating, instead of being driven by changing circumstances. Resilience is the ability to get better quickly when confronted by difficulties. Resilience provides the ability to bounce forward with new understandings and learning you can carry into the future.
The modern sales manager operates in a business landscape characterised by constant change and uncertainty. Adapting to new market conditions, economic shifts, and emerging technologies is essential for success.
Sales managers must also be resilient and able to navigate challenges with confidence. They must lead by example, proving strength and flexibility to their sales team. This not only motivates the team but also fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
In today’s business world, ethical leadership is becoming increasingly important. It means having the courage to make beneficial decisions for your company and those around you. The modern sales manager has no exemption from this salient fact. Ethical leadership is of utmost importance in the modern sales environment.
Therefore, sales managers must ensure that their team adheres to ethical standards and practices. This includes transparency in pricing, honesty in product descriptions, and fair competition. Any wrong action by a sales team member can ruin the reputation of a product, brand, or an organisation with the deep and far-reaching capacity of modern communication tools, particularly social media.
Ethical leadership
On the other hand, ethical leadership not only builds the utmost trust with customers but also helps maintain the organisation’s reputation and integrity. Sales managers should establish a strong ethical framework within their team and hold team members accountable for their actions. A crisis should be treated as a disruption in the company’s operating systems or how salespeople are operating, whether it is in retail or the field. The crisis needs to be dealt with through cause and effect. Whether it’s a sudden economic downturn, a product recall, or a public relations crisis, sales managers need to lead their team through challenging situations while minimising the negative impact on sales.
Finally, a modern sales manager’s position is broad-based and vibrant, needing a diverse set of talents and traits. They are not only in charge of growing revenue but also of providing strategic leadership, developing people, making data-driven choices, promoting cross-functional cooperation, and remaining on the cutting edge of technology.
To compete in the evolving sales arena, modern sales managers must prioritise customer-centricity, ethical leadership, adaptation, and resilience. They may lead their sales team to success in today’s competitive business climate by accepting these duties and responsibilities.
