The Hindu Business Line : The good sales manager

WHEN you deal with people, you deal with people good and people bad. Good people at work, as per my limited definition, are those focused on work. Those who believe in earning a living by the sheer merit of persona and contribution. And bad people are the ones who do everything there is to do to reach the goal of touching the top post there is to touch. Never mind the means. The goal is important to reach. And never mind how.

In every corporate organisation, be it sales or not, there are people of both kinds that proliferate, thrive and survive.

While there is indeed no glamorous casting couch for the salesman and manager alike, there are enough temptations that tend to lure the man and manager in a work-life that deals with people of all hues all the while. This is a people-intensive job.

A sales manager is much like the boss of a territory. A king even! A prince who controls territory and all that goes about in it. The scope of work is, of course, pertinent to the brand of menswear or salted biscuits alike that his company manufactures and touts. But never mind that. The sales manager is king of all that he surveys. He can make a career and break one as well. The salesman and saleswoman are at the mercy of the boss at the top of the pecking order of sales hierarchy. The sales manager is then the patriarch. Pretty much meant to be a father figure as well. He commands the respect of his entire sales force, which is much like his own private army out there, fighting the cause of the company in the marketplace. He is in constant touch with his forces, and his primary role is that of a motivator. Every tool in the motivation kit, be it carrot, stick or monetary incentive, is used to maximum advantage. The spirit of brotherhood and camaraderie is spurred on by the king at large, despite the area of sales being a very competitive space where every salesman is meant to vie with one another to outdo achievement.

The sales manager is thus a king in his own way. A king who is in touch with people and their lives day in and day out. And the sales manager is a human being as well. A human being who has his own weaknesses. Weaknesses that could make him meander away from the straight and narrow path a leader of his stature must traverse.

In this piece, let me paint the character traits of the ideal sales manager. A guy you and I would love to work under. It's for you to search within your sales organisation for a leader of this kind. If you do find him, pat yourself on the back. You are in good hands!

The straight-talker

This guy talks his mind all the while. He does not couch his words. Words mean what they are meant to mean. He is not the master of semantic disguise. He talks little, but his every word packs power. He is not verbose. He is precise. His every guidance is looked forward to. He will tell you a terrible job has been done with the straight face of a priest in a confession box. He will tell you all he wants to tell. He will not tell your colleague all that he wants to tell you. He will not talk behind your back in a bid to create positive alchemy with a colleague of yours. He will not promise you a promotion closer to the quarter-end, knowing fully well that nothing is going to happen. He will motivate you with the truth. Not a falsehood.

The no-gift kind

This guy will not accept gifts from anyone at all. Diwali season will not see fire-cracker boxes from Sivakasi lining his office cabin. Suppliers will not be allowed to bring in gifts. Employees similarly will not be allowed to bring in gifts. He will not accept a sweet box even. Not even when a salesman has just had a first baby in the house. He will instead partake of a small piece of a sweet offered to the entire office. He will not take anything home.

The idea is clear. If one salesman offers a sweet box on the birth of his child, everyone of his team will be pushed by peer pressure to do the same. This is unfair. And what happens when one of them does not bring in a sweet box? Does he become a lesser mortal in the eye of the sales manager than all others who have been bringing in sweet boxes regularly, with every additional baby in the home?

He will not accept a diary even from a supplier. Remember, supplier diaries now seem to have a habit of wanting to outdo one another, again wanting to keep up with the Joneses and the Kapoors!

The no private-party kind

This sales manager will not attend the birthday party of his Timbuctoo salesman's third son. If the Tiruvalla salesman extends an invitation to a birthday party at his home, the sales manager is such a straight guy that he believes he must not only be straight but appear to be straight as well. He will refuse the invitation and say that he does not as a matter of principle attend birthday parties.

Again, the issue is one of offering a level-playing ground to every salesman in the team. Does not matter if you do not celebrate your third son's birthday and invite the boss over. The boss never attends any of these parties. No one can try a game of oneupmanship here. And the boss remains vested with the impartiality of a robot.

The boss will, however, attend the wedding of his salesman. No hassles here. But he will not attend his salesman's sister's cousin's wedding for sure. The line will be drawn tightly here.

The no-drink kind

He will not drink with his sales team. Ouch! This is a tough one. The drink lets down guard. It lets down the cloak of confidentiality a sales manager is meant to maintain on issues that matter and issues that don't.

The no-private-favour-demand kind

The guy will not ask any of his sales team to run an errand for him. He will not ask for expensive cigarettes to be fetched. Nor will he ask for his bank passbook to be updated by his MG Road salesman who lives close to the bank.

The de-sexed kind

He will not worry about the sex of the salesperson. To him, a salesperson is de-sexed. He will offer the same treatment of shouting and molly-coddling alike to both the sexes. He must not only be impartial, but appear impartial as well.

The blow-hot, blow-cold kind

You have achieved a super sale today and you get praise that is unique. You muck up the next day, you get a kick that has you feeling weak for a week. The good sales manager is one who will not use the residue of past success to govern his action of positivism and the residue of past failures to govern his action of negativity with his sales folk.

Have you found one of these in your sales organisation? Put him in a showcase!

(The author is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.)

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