Doubling Your Sales By Managing Your Boss
As a business coach, I coach a lot of salespeople. One of the questions that I consistently get from both salespeople, as well as sales managers, is how do I grow my sales? Surprisingly enough, the answer to this question is simple. If you want to consistently grow your sales, then you need to consistently find ways to spend more time in front of your customers! Seems pretty simple, huh? Well, in today’s high tech world, where the salesperson has to deal with tracking software like salesforce.com, being easily accessible via cell phone and e-mail, and sales managers that like to use these tools to micromanage their people, that salesperson has another daily battle to fight – their manager.
If you are a salesperson, I’m guessing that you can relate. So, if you find yourself spending more and more time in the office doing busy work responding to the constant requests from your manager and other corporate people, and less and less time in front of your customers, then you need to learn how to manage your boss! Here are tips on how to accomplish just that:
Tip #1 – Have a strategic plan that your manager has agreed to
If you build a strategic sales plan, that details out your sales goals, as well as the sales activities that you need to be focused on in order to hit the goals, that has been signed off and approved by your manager, you can leverage this in the fight against being micromanaged. If your boss believes in your plan, and you are executing it, then when the distractions start to creep in, you can use your plan to open up a dialogue about how the micromanagement and distractions are getting in the way of your action steps. This usually works pretty well, as you had their buy in up front.
Tip #2 – Be proactive and constantly be ahead of your boss
Similar to the first tip, the second key to eliminate the constant distractions from your manager is to be proactive and have yourself schedule out a couple of weeks in advance. If you have sales calls and customer visits planned out ahead of time, then it becomes hard for your manager, or corporate distractions, to get in the way of what you are doing. The reason for this is your manager will have a hard time telling you to cancel customer meetings that are already scheduled. So, if you can be proactive, this becomes your best weapon against being micromanaged. Additionally, if you are scheduled ahead of time, your boss will think that you know what you are doing, and leave you alone to do your job.
Tip #3 – Learn how to say no
The biggest issue that I see salespeople having with creating healthy boundaries with their manager is knowing how to say no in a respectful way that won’t upset them. The best way to do this is to respond positively to the request that your manager is making, while at the same time making them aware of what is going to not get done as a result. Here’s a simple example:
“Yes, Mr. Manager, I’m more than happy to put together that spreadsheet for you. If I do that though, then I’ll have to cancel my sales calls that were scheduled for this afternoon. While this may cost us some business, I’m more than happy to do so if you feel these spreadsheets are important. What would you like me to do?”
By doing this, you are being positive, while at the same time presenting your manager with a choice that they will most likely not make, and that’s having you cancel your sales calls. Even if they do ask you to cancel your calls, now you have a valid reason for not hitting your numbers.
So, if you are finding that your manager is consistently getting in between you and your customers, use these three simple tips to manage your boss, and leverage your way to higher sales.
Happy Selling!
