The Sales Boss

The Sales Boss reveals the secrets to great sales management, and provides direct examples of how you can start being that manager today. The not-so-secret "secret" is that a winning sales team is made up of high performers—but many fail to realize that high performance must be collective. A single star cannot carry the entire team, and it's the sales manager's responsibility to build a team with the right balance of skills, strengths, and weaknesses. This book shows you how to find the exact people you need, bring them together, and empower them to achieve more than they ever thought possible. You'll learn what drives high performance, and how to avoid the things that disrupt it. You'll discover the missing pieces in your existing training, and learn how to invest in your team to win. You'll come away with more than a better understanding of great sales management—you'll have a concrete plan and an actionable list of steps to take starting right now.

Your people are the drivers, but you're the operator. As a sales manager, it's up to you to give your team the skills and tools they need to achieve their potential and beyond. This book shows you how, and provides expert guidance for making it happen.

• Delve into the psychology behind peak performance
• Hire the right people at the right time for the right role
• Train your team to consistently outperform competitors
• Build and maintain the momentum of success to reach even higher

Without sales, business doesn't happen. No mortgages paid, no college funds built, no retirement saved for, until the sales team brings in the revenue. If the sales team wins, the organization wins. Build your winning team with The Sales Boss, the real-world guide to great sales management.

Foreword v

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 The Work of a Sales Boss 1

Chapter 2 The Importance of Sacred Rhythms 9

Chapter 3 The DNA of a Sales Boss 15

What It Takes to Be Great 17

The Management Code 22

Chapter 4 The Truth About Humans 29

Five Fundamental Truths About Human Behavior 32

A Unique Insider Language 40

Rituals 41

Having a Common Enemy 42

Chapter 5 Your First 30 Days as Boss 45

Getting Started with Your Team: The First 30 Days 49

Chapter 6 Understanding the Market for Hiring 69

Why Hiring a Superstar Salesperson Is Tough 71

Chapter 7 Step by Step to Hiring a Sales Superstar 77

The Selection Process 79

The Four-Stage Interview Process 89

Chapter 8 Use the Power of Science in Selection 103

Chapter 9 On-Boarding a New Member of the Sales Team 109

Chapter 10 Know Your Sales Process and Your Numbers 123

The Numbers That Matter 129

Chapter 11 Who Gets My Time and Attention? 135

Chapter 12 Team Rhythms That Lead to Group Cohesion 141

Group Meetings 145

Chapter 13 Individual Rhythms That Lead to Star Performances 153

Individual Meetings Framework 155

Three Types of Individual Meetings 158

Chapter 14 Keep Score Publicly; Motivate Individually 181

Chapter 15 Lead by Principle, Not Policy 189

Chapter 16 Make Sales Technology Work for You 195

Chapter 17 Money Talks: Compensation Planning 205

Base Salary 210

Variable Commissions 211

Bonuses 211

Chapter 18 Forecasting the Future 219

Chapter 19 Replicating Success 225

Chapter 20 The Business of You 233

The Sales Boss Scorecard 243

The Scorecard 243

About the Author 254

Index 256

JONATHAN WHISTMAN is a partner at the consulting firm Elevate Human Potential (www.elevatehp.com). He has trained, hired, managed, observed, and coached thousands of salespeople through his work with leading sales organizations. His work is centered on the belief that the greatest business results come from focusing on elevating the human potential within a business.

The Sales Boss: The Real Secret to Hiring, Training, and Managing a Sales Team is a hands-on guide for creating a sales team that gets consistent and outstanding bottom line results. Grounded in Jonathan Whistman's winning "Sales Boss" framework, this comprehensive resource reveals how a sales manager can hire, train, and manage a stellar team while inspiring the wider company to greatness. Drawing on the author's in-the-trenches experience and filled with real-world examples of sales coaching and actual sales calls, The Sales Boss challenges the sales manager to operate at the highest level of performance, a state that Whistman calls, The Sales Boss.

Since "nothing happens until someone sells something," The Sales Boss walks managers through the process of building a world-class sales organization. While the author puts the focus on the team directly under a manager's control, the sales team, the best sales leaders also have influence throughout the company. A Sales Boss knows that if it needs fixing, they or you must find a way to fix it, even if it falls outside the official boundaries of her team.

The author begins with looking at a framework for understanding human behavior and utilizing this framework to influence the selling behavior of the individuals on the team. Next he shows what to do if this is your first 30 days on the job as a sales manager or if you need to reset yourself for greater success. He explains the entire process for hiring superstar sales people from how to discover who will do best selling in your company's environment through four stages of interviews that when followed dramatically improve your hiring successes. Discover what rhythms are crucial to the ongoing success of your sales team and what you should be doing when you are in the field with your sales people.

Whistman also includes the details of how to coach and mentor a team and what it means to sit in judgment. In addition, he weighs in on all of the other moving pieces a Sales Boss must master: reports, compensation, technology, and meetings. The book ends by considering the stress encountered by those who serve in the challenging role of a sales manager and looks at what you can do to stay healthy and motivated and live a life of impact and purpose. Utilize The Sales Boss Scorecard included in the appendix to evaluate your performance and identify the areas you can improve.

The author includes access to resources and tools online for those who want to continue to grow as a Sales Boss. Find them at: www.jonathanwhistman.com

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BUILDING AND LEADING AN OUTSTANDING SALES TEAM!

"I am pleased to be introducing you to the book you hold in your hands, The Sales Boss: The Real Secret to Hiring, Training, and Managing a Sales Team, as I have experienced first-hand the financial results possible when an organization's sales team is led by a skilled person operating at the highest level of sales management. My hope is that after you read the book you'll understand all of the nuances involved in leading a high performance sales team and that you'll agree with the statement: Nothing happens until someone sells something."
—From the Foreword by Ruben Salinas, President and CEO, Parsagen Diagnostics, Inc.

"Jonathan has not only helped me to build winning sales teams at multiple companies but has helped me develop my career in the process. His ability to help me understand my leadership roles and how best to use my skills made me become a better leader and developer of sales talent. His Sales Boss framework has proven results time after time and will help you excel in your role as a Sales Leader. Pick this up and read it."
—Jarrod McCaroll, CEO, Weber Inc.

"Over the years I have had ample opportunities to be the beneficiary of Jonathan Whistman's keen insights into the human psyche and how it in simple terms relates to successfully managing the prospecting and sales process in capital equipment sales. His command of the subject has led me to engage his help on many occasions, as I worked to develop or fine-tune diverse sales teams under my purview. The results have always been stellar and I am glad to see he has taken the opportunity to distill his real-life business experiences into an easily accessible and straight forward book on how to be an accountable and successful sales manager."
—Jan Erik Kuhlman, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Marlen International