The most important person in distributor organization today is not the manager or the president. It's the front-line inside sales person: The individual who charms customers into coming back for service and satisfaction, time after time.
Since he or she spends the greatest amount of time working directly with customers, it's important to keep a few considerations in mind when recruiting, training, retaining and organizing inside sales team members.
People are not the most valuable asset in any company -- the right people are. Not every employee candidate is a good fit for every company's unique value system, mission and customer set. Managers must be selective and specific about whom they want on their team.
Attracting good people depends on creating an environment that attracts them. Become a magnet for excellence by identifying desirable corporate characteristics and striving to embody them.
Hire attitude and teach skills. Ask the important questions before hiring:
Good inside sales people love their customers and are prepared to go the extra mile to keep customers delighted. Find people with positive attitudes and hire them: Skills and knowledge can be taught; experience can be acquired.
Before going into details of the job of the inside sales manager, it's important to distinguish between leadership and management:
Leadership is about direction and speed. All individuals are motivated, but not necessarily to move in the same directions or at the same speed. The skilled leader must have the ability to focus people on highly valued outcomes. Highly effective leaders regularly ask team members what they need to become more effective and successful.
Management, on the other hand, is about control. Control is applied to systems like goal setting, planning, organizing, communication, training, feedback, sales and customer service. Management is about setting a target and lining up all the necessary resources to achieve that goal. The manager's job is to keep all systems in control.
To unleash the power of the inside sales team, sales managers must provide excellent leadership and management by planning, organizing, empowering and measuring.
Organizing also applies to desks, schedules, deliveries and much more. A disorganized sales person might schedule two or three partial and costly shipments rather than making one profitable delivery. Are all up-sell and cross-selling materials displayed so they are easy to access while dealing with customers? Out of sight is very likely out of mind; organizing displays and work environments supports the plan by increasing efficiency and productivity.
Often managers don't trust enough to empower people because they give away the profit margin and use the lowest price as their only closing technique, rather than as a last resort. Training and coaching is the solution. When salespeople know how to sell on the basis of value-adding quality, service, reputation and expertise, they will stop selling on price alone. Execution and a sales representatives' ability to do it better and faster than the competition will lead to success.