Beverly Farms, MA, June 1, 2008. Sales leaders across America are taking advantage of a comprehensive new roadmap to help maximize performance among their sales teams. In the ultra fast-paced world of sales, most managers, despite being top performers in their own right, usually never received specific sales manager and / or leadership training when promoted to the ranks of management.
"And because of that, it's often one of the most costly mistakes that company's can make," says Mike Stankus, CEO and Founder of STM360. "It's just assumed that because a person performs well as a sales rep that they'll be effective as a sales leader. Our goal is to give talented sales professionals the tools they'll need to leverage their successes from being a successful sales rep and apply those skills to the management level."
The Sales Manager Development Program (SMDP) is designed to deliver immediate results to managers through its unique integration of e-learning, weekly one-on-one coaching and individualized self-assessment and development planning. The program is tailored to focus on a participant's current environment and issues, and provides them with effective tactics and strategies to address their role's most critical areas.
The SMDP focuses on nine sales manager competencies: Understanding the Role, Territory Planning, Building Internal Relationships, Hiring Top Performers, New Hire Ramp-Up, Building an Effective Sales Culture, What to Measure and Inspect, Communication and Coaching, and Talent Management. Before completing the program, each participant works to identify the two or three focus-areas that will have the greatest impact on their overall effectiveness, along with a development plan they'll use to actualize their goals. The program enables managers to participate off-hours, and doesn't pull participants out of the field, allowing them to stay focused on the numbers while receiving the skills-training they need to bring their capabilities to the next level.