Developing Sales Managers in Today’s Economy

Amy Miller

Congratulations to Amy Miller, the Center for Sales Innovation’s first professional sales graduate in 1999, who was recently promoted to Branch Manager for Liberty Mutual Insurance in its Maple Grove office. Amy now manages both sales and service, including 11 sales representatives, a sales intern (from St. Kate’s, of course), a sales associate, and five customer service representatives.

Amy was asked: “How is your company supporting your development as a manager in today's economy?” She replied: “When I was first promoted into sales management three years ago, I spent three months shadowing and learning from the sales manager from whom I was taking over half her territory. That experience really helped me to learn and understand my new role before I had the stress and responsibility of taking over my branch. Liberty sends us to multiple management classes (both internal and external) over the course of the first year on the job and after 18 months the company conducts a half-day team review to help improve effectiveness. This is in addition to the one-on-one training I received from my manager and the incredible support I have gotten from HR. When I was recently promoted to a Branch Manager, I received additional training on how to effectively manage the service side of our business." 

“How do customers benefit from inside sales people calling on them?” was one of the many practical questions debated among sales directors and vice presidents at a recent “Inside Sales Leaders Roundtable” hosted by the Center for Sales Innovation at 3M. Three key customer benefits in favor of the inside sales model included:

• Responsiveness is a key benefit. Field reps are less likely to deal as quickly with customer needs. In fact, many customers prefer email communications.
  
  
• Less time consuming and more flexibility. A phone call takes less time out of a customer’s day and, if needed, a customer can call back when it’s more convenient for him/her. What’s more, participants found that customers have more time for conference calls and less time for in-person meetings.
  
  
• It’s easier for customers to understand the value of the company’s offerings. Although inside sales reps cannot fully replace field sales reps, they can promote products and programs over the phone based on identified customer needs. The best inside sales reps get on the phone frequently to find out the state of their customers’ businesses and develop relationships.

The roundtable is one element of a research project underway by a 3M Frontline task force, the Center for Sales Innovation and universities with sales curricula. The research objective is to understand the inside sales coverage model and develop a competency model for better preparing sales students and graduates for inside sales roles. Results will be shared in a future issue. If you had difficulty with the survey link from last month’s issue, click here.
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This inside sales survey will be open for participation until April 1.

	Deanna McFee has moved up through four different positions at OfficeMax by “sheer determination and hard work” since her 2003 graduation from the Center for Sales Innovation. Her current position with the company is Business Development Executive.

Center for Sales Innovation Alum Deanna McFee is an inspiration to sales students dreaming of that first territory. Named “Alum of the Year” by the Business Administration Department on March 2, McFee has come a long way with focus and sheer determination. She started college at age 40 and finished five years later by attending St. Kate’s Weekend College program. Today, she is Business Development Executive for OfficeMax Total Solutions.

McFee is open in sharing her experiences in the St. Kate’s sales classroom, either as speaker, panelist or role-playing buyer. “I like to paint the correct picture, not the shiny picture (about sales as a profession),” she says. “I always reiterate the follow up…..and the ability to negotiate and renegotiate,” says McFee. “People don’t say ‘yes’ right away. They like to do business with people they know and like. It may take a year, or 12 to 15 times, before they are willing to see me. Students have wide eyes; they need to hear this so they don’t let it (rejection) get them down.”

When McFee role-plays as buyer, she’s not easy on the students. “I pull out some of the humdingers that people have pulled on me, such as making three objections,” she says. This helps students to circle back three different times before the objection is satisfied. She emphasizes the need to be a good conversationalist with a good memory in order to listen to customers’ stories so that you may bring a solution that works for them.

Sales Competencies Tested at National Competition

Two healthcare sales majors, Lauren Dunlap, junior, and Bria Hilgers, senior, competed in February at the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) in Atlanta. The Spirit of the NSCM is to enhance the sales education and professionalism of undergraduate sales students.

Competitors from 53 universities — 106 top sales students — focused on selling NetSuite, a CRM system, to a mid-size business. After completing a St. Kate’s course, “Customer Intelligence and Effective Communication,” Dunlap and Hilgers understood CRM tools such as salesforce.com based on textbook and case study work. In preparing for the NetSuite selling scenario, they recognized the product capabilities and observed differences between salesforce.com and NetSuite.