The Pitfalls of Promoting Good Salespeople To Sales Management Roles

When a company promotes a top-selling sales rep to a managerial role, it's often done on the principle of “disciple selling,” or the hope that the new manager will pass on their sales skills to their new team. Unfortunately, what often happens is the complete opposite of what the company is expecting. On paper it sounds like a great idea, but there are definitely a few potential pitfalls to watch out for.

Sales Figures May Take a Hit

A good salesperson is hard to replace, but to replace an exceptional one is all but impossible. If you promote your top seller, are you going to find that your sales figures take a significant hit? And what happens if your figures drop month after month? Whatever you're hoping to gain by promoting your top seller might be entirely negated if their replacement isn't up to scratch.

Changing the Team Dynamic

Strong sales teams aren't strong solely because they're made up of high-performing individuals. Team dynamics, or the way team members interact with one another, also plays an important role. Changing up the dynamics by promoting one team member can be a positive thing, but it's not guaranteed. Promoting a great salesperson who isn't well integrated within the team, for example, may result in a great deal of disruption. Team leadership training can help address these types of problems, but in the short-term the team's sales figures are likely to suffer.

A Good Salesperson isn't Necessarily a Good Manager

When you promote a good salesperson you don't just risk losing sales; you also risk the possibility that your excellent salesperson just isn't a good manager. The fact is, some of the qualities that make someone great in sales don't necessarily translate into good managerial skills.

In short, don't promote a salesperson purely on the basis of their sales figures. Make sure they also have the qualities you'd be looking for in a manager you would be hiring from outside the company. It is also key that the salesperson fully understands the difference between managerial skills and sales skills to be decide whether the position is for them, which is something that is often overlooked by companies in a rush to fill the position.

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How You Can Improve Your Sales Team’s Motivation

Increasing employee productivity is something that's always of interest to team leaders, especially in sales, where productivity and effectiveness translate directly into customers, orders, and profit. Successful sales reps tend to be people who are naturally highly motivated and productive, but there's almost always room for improvement. If you're looking for new ways to improve the productivity of your sales team, investigating the self-determination theory may be highly beneficial.

Self-Determination Theory and Motivation

Self-determination theory is a model of motivation, which states that people are more productive when their motivation comes from within, rather than when they are pressured by external forces.

In terms of sales it might, for example, be the difference between a sales rep being pressured to perform by their supervisor, and a rep being intrinsically motivated to perform because they genuinely enjoy the job and want to succeed. The latter situation is obviously more effective, and in terms of sales performance, tapping into this kind of motivation can be a game-changer.

Applying Self-Determination Concepts to Sales Coaching

There are three psychological needs that must be met for an employee to have strong internal motivation.

• Autonomy: the employee must feel that their work and work performance is something they choose for themselves.

• Competence: the employee must feel competent and valued in their working environment.

• Relatedness: the employee must feel that they have supportive and meaningful relationships with colleagues.

Sales training can't teach or inspire internal motivation, but a supervisor or coach can support an employee's drive to develop and maintain it. For example, a sales leader can facilitate relatedness by building supportive relationships with each member of the team, and by creating an environment that encourages team members to form supportive relationships with one another.

The needs for autonomy and competence are partially met when an employee chooses, enjoys, and is suited to a career in sales. It's also something that the working environment must support, particularly in terms of feedback given by coaches and supervisors. For example, it's important for team leaders to provide reps with opportunities to make choices, and to give them all the information they need to make choices that allow them to perform to a high level of competency.

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