The Accidental Sales Manager: How to Take Control and Lead Your Sales Team to Record Profits

by Chris Lytle

Key skills to make sales managers better developers of salespeople Get out of the firefighting business and into the business of developing the people who develop your profits. Successful salespeople rightfully become sales managers because of superior sales records. Yet too often these sales stars get stuck doing their old sales job while also trying to juggle their manager role, and too often companies neglect to train their sales managers how to excel as managers. That's the "sales management trap," and it's exactly what The Accidental Sales Manager addresses and solves.

Full of helpful steps you can apply immediately?whether you're training a sales manager, or are one yourself?this practical guide reveals step-by-step methods sales managers can use to both learn their jobs and lead their teams.

Get tactics to stop burning time and exhausting yourself, while taking effective actions to use time better as a leader Discover how to integrate learning into leading and make sales meetings an active conversation on what works and what doesn't Author has a previous bestseller, The Accidental Salesperson Don't get caught in the "sales management trap" or, if you're in it, get the tools you need to escape it. Get The Accidental Sales Manager and lead your team to do what you do make sales, drive profits, and get winning results.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2011

About the author

CHRIS LYTLE is the president of Sparque, Inc. An acclaimed leader in sales training, he has conducted more than 2,100 seminars worldwide. He is the author of The Accidental Salesperson and The Accidental Sales Manager.

Reviews

[Tracy Antol · Rating 3 out of 5]

If nothing else this books gives you lots of great suggested reads. It has some good ideas and some direct tactical kind of advice. Unlike other sales career advice books, this one gives the reader a 21st century approach. I liked the advice to make your meetings more meaningful. Rather than running down the numbers, focus on what's working and what's not working. Inspire conversation amongst your team instead of being a talking head because contrary to what you may think - you don't know everything.

[Amaan Pirani · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book did its job of helping me reflect on my current sales team.
Unfortunately a lot of the advice was generic.

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great overview of the sales manager role, covering everything from tactical sales skills to general management practices. I recommend it for all sales managers, not just the accidental ones.

Some of the highlights from the book:

Put an expiration date all your contracts and take it seriously not just internally but also communication. Respect the expiration date.

You don't manage the sales. You manage sales people.

Before you set new goals, find out what is actually happening

Look at your top, performing salespeople, have the rest of your team act like them

Many sales people reduce the price before even talking to the customer. Get good at defending high prices.

One way to do that is to respond to their price concerns with, "I understand." Then explain why you have scarcity

The higher their commission percent, the less they feel like they work for you. They feel like they work for themselves. This means they are less likely to respond to company policies and request.

B players accommodate all the requests of their customers. A players convinced their customers why the ideal process is best for them.

If you plan to pay them a lot of money, make them prove to you that they have earned at least 80% of that money in a previous sales role

[Carlyle Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about leading a sales organisation. Includes do's and dont's that will help improve team management. Also goes in detail into effective meetings and key areas for effective sales team focus.

[Chris Carwie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of best sales books ever written on how we promote high achieving salespeople to sales managers - when the two jobs are completely different. A must read for any new or aspiring sales manager.

[John Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good knowledge here.

[Kelsey Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book with some interesting ideas. I'm going to re-read it a few times and start implementing the idea's I like one at a time.

[Farah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What was looking for

[Kristen Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Perfect for a new sales manager.

[Kari LaMotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm.. Perhaps i'm jaded because I've read so many books on management and communication, but I found this book to be somewhat low on actual advice and high on anecdotal stories. Having said that, I found the last chapter to be quite relevant and very interesting, and worth the pricetag.

In essence, this is great for sales people who have been become sales managers specifically. I think that I would not recommended for people with experience in Management already. I far preferred the other author's title with the same name for specific advice on managing a sales department.

For me, 3 stars. But to be fair, at the time this book was written it may have been grounding breaking. Just not enough tools for me, to give it a higher mark.

[Akshay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It happens all the time - good sales people become bad sales managers. This was an interesting read that articulates that train wreck. It has insights that seem like common sense to everyone... except managers who are overwhelmed by watching the pipeline they created fall apart b/c of less competent people that compose the rest of their team. I recommend this for managers of sales managers as an example of why companies need to invest not just on sales training, but also on sales manager training. FWIW.

[Matt Rutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read and reference guide for first time sales managers.

[Dave Warawa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ron Karr has written a great book. It's practical and loaded with useful information. If you want to be a sales achiever, this book is a must have for your sales library.