We had an unusually strong response to last week’s column when we suggested the difference between mentoring, which is guiding salespeople toward their highest potential with innovation, ideas and wisdom, versus more clinical sales management, where goals are set and salespeople are basically pushed to hit them on their own. Naturally the salespeople who read our column appreciated the nuance, but even many sales managers commented that the best management approach combines both mentoring and structure.
Anyway, this week we thought it might be interesting if we took a poll which might result in some good information for anyone interested in selling through relationships.
So here are our questions:
As a salesperson, if you could ask your company for one resource that would help you sell more/better tomorrow, what would it be?
Answers might be something like a person to hand off orders to for processing, or a better CRM system. It might be a personal sales coach or a continuing education class(es) you have your eye on. For purposes of this review, let’s not include changes in compensation.
As a sales manager, what is one thing you do in terms of mentoring that your people appreciate and moves the productivity needle?
Click here to send your answer. It will take less than one minute. We will report back on the survey next week so you can receive the benefit of your participation immediately.
