This post was originally published by Monika Gotzmann on lessonly.com.
Sales managers have one of the most complicated tasks in any sales organization. After all, their responsibilities combine things like sales development, customer management, training, and coaching. Yet, in a great number of businesses, their professional development is not a top priority.
This is because sales managers often follow the same path. More often than not, they’re promoted to that role because they are effective salespeople. Yet, once they’re in the role, they are largely left to their own devices. However, world-class businesses understand why it’s important to focus on sales manager training and development, rather than letting it fall to the wayside.
Sales management training is lacking
The Sales Manager Enablement Report revealed that investment in sales management training lags significantly behind investment in training for other sales staff. In fact, 18.6% of companies do not make any investment in sales management training whatsoever.
To put that figure into perspective, the number of organizations that make no investment in training for core sales teams stands at just 5.5%. That means that sales managers are more than three times as likely as ordinary salespeople to receive no training—despite the importance of their role.
The impact of training sales managers
Despite the lack of investment, the same study made clear that the impact of developing sales managers is well worth the cost. The organizations that spent more than $5,000 for training per person each year saw better quota attainment, revenue attainment, and win rates than organizations that spent less.
The value of training sales managers was perhaps best demonstrated through win rates. The average win rate for forecasted deals across the entire study was 46.2%. Among businesses that invested less than $500 annually in developing sales managers, the average was 46.1%. Companies that spent more than $5,000, however, saw win rates of 51.4%.
Truthfully, the value of investing in training goes beyond mere numbers, because the average sales manager has more than six people reporting to them. It is only through effective training that sales managers can learn sales development, coaching, and customer management skills, which can positively impact their team of reps.
There’s more to a successful sales manager than promoting a winning sales rep. An investment in high-quality training for sales managers has the potential to positively improve the performance of the entire team—and the overall business.
