Learning from the national soccer coaches as a sales manager

How can I increase the performance of my employees? Sales managers are often faced with this question. Accordingly, there are many concepts for increasing sales success. These are often not suitable for everyday sales because their developers have overlooked the fact that the performance of a sales or sales manager is primarily measured in terms of results. Therefore, they do not need a management system that meets scientific standards, but an easy-to-use «tool» with which they can achieve the desired results.

What's more, most management systems try to control success by backing up objectives with key figures. And that's a good thing! However, this harbors the risk that the focus of management work in day-to-day sales work shifts away from controlling success and towards monitoring results. In other words, it is determined whether the (milestone) targets have been achieved, but not what should be done to achieve them.

Looking at the pitch

Sales and distribution managers only recognize this when they look at the processes that lead to the figures, i.e. results. Just as the national coaches of Germany, Austria and Switzerland - Julian Nagelsmann, Ralf Rangnick and Murat Yakin - will do at the upcoming World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

They do not control the success of their teams by telling them before the tournament starts how many wins they have to achieve over the course of the tournament. Instead, they sit on the coaching bench on the edge of the pitch for every game. And from there they don't look at the scoreboard, where the current score is displayed. Instead, they look at the pitch to see whether their team is behind, for example, because the players are not showing enough commitment or are playing a poor positional game. Only by observing the behavior of their players can the trainers or coaches give them tips on how they can still win the game and thus influence their short-term success.

The same applies to medium and long-term success. A coach can only influence this, too, if he analyzes the behavior of his men during the game. Only then can he determine: Who wins how many tackles? And: How many crosses are getting through?

Determine the prerequisites for «success

However, this knowledge alone is of little use to the coach. For example, he can only find out how to increase the number of tackles won if he compares his knowledge that too few tackles were won with his observations during the match. Only then will he find out whether, for example, the player Joshua Kimmich or Kai Havertz lost so many tackles because, for example

• is too slow,
• practiced poor positional play or
• shows too little physical effort.

(Key) figures therefore only show where something should be done. However, they do not reveal what needs to be done to increase success.

It is the same in the sales area. A sales and distribution manager who only analyzes the figures cannot influence the success of his «men». He can only improve their performance if he looks at their behavior in day-to-day sales. Here is a fictitious example: the sales manager of a forklift truck manufacturer agrees with a sales representative that the latter should sell ten forklift trucks in the next quarter - for example, in the period from the beginning of July to the end of September 2026. If the two do not make any further agreements, it is purely a matter of luck whether the sales representative achieves this target. This is because it is left to chance whether the salesperson carries out the necessary preparatory work in July or August so that they reach their target in September.

And the sales manager? He only finds out at the end of September when the sales representative misses the target. But then it is too late to take corrective action. The sales manager can only do this if he asks the sales representative in July or early August: «Who do you want to sell ten forklift trucks to by the end of September? Which potential customers do you have in the pipeline?» This prompts his employee to think about how he can achieve the agreed target. He also asks what measures he needs to take to achieve the desired sales success. For example: calling 100 companies with the aim of arranging a presentation appointment with 20 managing directors.

The sales representative can then plan these measures and agree them with their sales manager. In this way, the salesperson is prompted to do so eight to ten weeks before the deadline of September 30,

• to track down potential customers,
• contact them and
• to initiate the purchasing decision process for them.

And if his initiatives have too little effect? Then he still has enough time to take additional measures to ensure that he still achieves his goal.

Draw up a to-do plan

In order to be able to influence the success factors, i.e. the prerequisites for success, a manager must also take care of the details. They must also deal with questions such as:

• Which companies does the sales representative call? For example, corporations or medium-sized companies? Production or logistics companies?
• How many companies does he call?
• Who does he call and with whom does he primarily arrange presentation appointments? For example, managing directors or production and purchasing managers?
• What arguments does he use to try to convince his interlocutors of the advantages of the new forklift truck? For example, primarily technical or business arguments? And:
• How does he follow up on the presentation dates?

Many sales managers shy away from this (detailed) work - not only for reasons of time, but also because it requires them to enter into a discourse with the sales staff about their work, which sometimes leads to conflicts. However, if a sales or distribution manager rises to this challenge, he or she makes the success of his or her department independent of coincidences, because he or she specifically controls the activities of his or her employees or supports them in their day-to-day work in a coaching capacity.

Learning from (failures) successes

However, sales managers can only achieve this if they sit down with their employees and analyze with them: «What conditions must be in place for you to work successfully?» In such discussions, it usually proves useful to analyze the history of an employee's success together. In other words, what did the employee do to achieve success? Such a discussion can be structured as follows:

• «Congratulations on this good result ...»
• «What did you do to make it happen?»
• «And what did you do before that?»
• «And before that?» ...
• «Does it always go this well?»
• «How many attempts do you have to make on average to reach your goal?»

The result of the conversation can be with a sales representative, for example:

• I have to call five companies to find one that has a need for our forklift trucks.
• I can arrange a presentation appointment with half of them.
• Three presentations usually lead to a degree.

By simple multiplication, the salesperson can then determine how many phone calls he needs to make in July in order to sell ten forklift trucks by the end of September, as planned.

Avoid replacing coaches or sales managers

Such supportive behavior on the part of sales and distribution managers is sometimes interpreted by their employees as a sign that their superiors distrust them or even suffer from a «control mania» - which is another reason why they sometimes only perform their coaching function to a limited extent. In fact, however, they only provide their employees with the support they need to achieve the desired or required performance - similar to what the national soccer team coaches Nagelsmann, Rangnick and Yakin do for their team members. It is important to convey this awareness to sales staff.

However, the sales and distribution managers themselves should also have internalized this awareness. Otherwise there is a great risk that they will be replaced at some point, just like unsuccessful football trainers or coaches.

To the author:
Hans-Peter Machwürth is Managing Director of the consulting firm Machwürth Team International (MTI Consultancy). This supports companies worldwide in developing their managers and teams - including in the service and sales sector (Internet: www.mticonsultancy.com).