Book SummarySales Management. Simplified., by Mike Weinberg

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Sales Management. Simplified.

Sales expert Mike Weinberg believes that the problem in most struggling sales teams is an ineffective sales leader, not the team members. Thus, if a sales manager can learn how to lead their team effectively, overall team performance will improve. (Shortform note: Generally, sales commentators agree that sales teams with poor managers are doomed to failure. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all sales failures are the responsibility of the sales...

Sales Management. Simplified. Summary Strategy #1: Hire Good Salespeople (and Fire Bad Ones)

According to Weinberg, hiring effective salespeople is difficult because there’s a shortage of good candidates. (Shortform note: Research confirms that sales roles are among the most difficult to fill, and once filled, new hires often aren’t effective at the position. Possible reasons for this dearth of talent include negative perceptions of salespeople driving people away from the profession and small businesses snapping up increasing numbers of salespeople to drive growth.)

Further, Weinberg argues that sales managers find firing ineffective salespeople equally difficult, as they fear appearing cold-hearted or negatively judging team members’ performance unfairly.

(Shortform note: Ray Dalio highlights another reason why managers may be reluctant to fire an underperformer: They may like this employee on a personal level. Firing someone you care for can be emotionally difficult. However, firing someone can arguably, in certain contexts, be an act of care. As Gallup Press notes in _[First, Break All the...

Sales Management. Simplified. Summary Strategy #2: Coach Salespeople Effectively

Weinberg argues that coaching your team in essential sales skills—and continually coaching them in any persistent weak spots—is essential to generating optimal team performance. After all, your team can’t excel if they don’t know how to do their jobs properly. (Shortform note: Research backs Weinberg’s assertion that coaching improves performance: One study found that more than 70% of coached employees reported an improvement in their work quality. Other benefits of coaching include increased employee self-confidence and increased self-reliance.)

Weinberg discusses techniques for both coaching salespeople generally and training them in specific skills:

Use Shadowing to Identify Areas for Improvement

To kick off your coaching, Weinberg recommends regularly shadowing your salespeople—either by conducting joint calls if they work in inside sales or joint visits if they work in field sales. You’ll gain firsthand knowledge of how each team member works, helping you to identify their strengths and weaknesses. You can then coach each person based on their weaker areas.

(Shortform note: Coaching through...

Sales Management. Simplified. Summary Strategy #3: Create a Sales Strategy

Another crucial element of successful sales management, according to Weinberg, is devising and communicating a clear sales strategy for your team to follow. The strategy should highlight which customers or potential customers each team member should call, how they should prioritize these customers, and which products they should prioritize selling. Your people should primarily target the most promising customers—in other words, those who can generate the company the most revenue.

(Shortform note: Weinberg doesn’t dive deeply into the specifics of figuring out which of your possible customers are the most promising. To do this, you might analyze recent sales successes: What types of customers have been buying your product or...

Sales Management. Simplified. Summary Strategy #4: Maintain a Healthy Sales Culture

Another important element of sales management, according to Weinberg, is maintaining a healthy sales culture. Weinberg argues that a healthy sales culture is one in which salespeople feel respected, passionate, and happy in their roles. They communicate openly and respectfully with their manager and each other, and they’re willing to help out their colleagues in the pursuit of shared goals. Most importantly, he notes, salespeople in a healthy culture want to work hard and generate successful sales for the company. Thus, a healthy sales culture breeds the best sales results.

(Shortform note: Opinions on what constitutes a healthy company culture differ among authors. For instance, Rework authors David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried believe that in a healthy culture, managers don’t police employees’ every action and instead trust their people to work hard. They also argue that a healthy company culture encourages employees to have a life outside of work rather than dedicating everything they have to the company. Meanwhile, in _[Smarter Faster...

Sales Management. Simplified. Summary Strategy #5: Focus on Impactful Tasks, Not Non-Managerial Duties

To Weinberg, one of the most important things a sales manager can do is use their time wisely. In his view, this means using their limited time to focus solely on impactful managerial tasks—for instance, coaching team members, tweaking your sales strategy, or holding team meetings. Your team will only succeed if you dedicate time to these crucial activities.

What if senior leaders ask you to complete a low-impact task (such as helping someone from a different department to write a report) and it’s difficult for you to say no? Weinberg argues that you can reduce the likelihood of this happening by thoroughly and publicly blocking your time. This involves splitting your time into blocks (for instance, hourly chunks) then assigning dedicated tasks to each “block.” That way, if you’re asked to complete a non-essential task, you have an excuse to decline (all of your...

Shortform Exercise: Evaluate Your Time Management

To Weinberg, the most important thing a sales manager can do is use their time wisely. Consider how you currently manage your time and how you might focus more time on high-impact activities.

Weinberg argues that managers should spend most of their time focusing on important tasks such as coaching team members, tweaking their sales strategy, or holding team meetings. How much time do you currently spend each week on such tasks? (If you’re uncertain, give a rough estimate.)