Kristen Howe: Why talent development at the Alexander Group.
Ann Marie Verhamme: The Alexander Group focuses on revenue growth consulting. We partner with our clients to design new go to market models, new roles, new sales compensation plans implied in those changes, or we’re asking the sales organization to do things differently. And that’s really an important ingredient that we want to partner with our clients on to make sure that those desired behaviors and actions are actually taking, getting adopted by the sales organization. So we help answer the question of, do we have the right people in the right roles? Do we have the right sales skills so that they can execute these new behaviors and actions? Do we have the right repeatable plays so people know what good looks like? And are we enabling our sales managers to help coach their team through this change? And as we know, there’s so much more change going on in organizations today. 100% of respondents in a recent survey have some change, whether it’s go to market transformation, new products, AI. So much change. And it’s really those those things need to be brought forward to make sure that we actually successfully drive that.
Kristen Howe: Give us an example. Tell us more about a client engagement where you were able to pull this through and make a difference for other people?
Ann Marie Verhamme: Sure. Yeah. Take, for example, a sales compensation project. We partner with organizations who want to introduce new skills to the organization. Take, for example, new business. We want to increase the focus on driving net new business versus managing existing. We roll out these new comp plans, but what needs to happen to make sure those comp plans are successful? We need to make sure that we’re enabling our sales organization to do that new business acquisition. That means new selling skills that might be developing skills in the organization that don’t exist today. The playbooks targeting, there’s all of these different pieces that make sure that we’re introducing this new expectation that we’re making it possible for the sales organization to really do things differently to, to achieve on their compensation plan.
Kristen Howe: That makes sense that pull through from the project all the way through the people.
Ann Marie Verhamme: And people often as part of that too, people forget about change. It’s a comp plan. Every year we do a new comp plan. But how often do we talk to organizations where the sales reps don’t even understand their comp plan? And so part of change is clarity, making sure people understand their comp plan, that they have the skills and that they’re empowered to do things differently. So as we know, the first sales manager, we always say it’s the most important role for driving change. Um, but I think the roles changed a lot. And what is the first sign sales managers role in a commercial organization these days? I know we just did some interesting research in that. Can you share more with that?
Kristen Howe: Sure. You’re right. The first line sales manager job is the most complex, hardest job in the company. That’s what we heard universally from all the chief sales officer and chief revenue officers that we talked to. But what was really interesting is what we need from sales managers has shifted from what we’ve been saying in the past. We’ve really focused in on quota attainment, but we haven’t given managers a way to. How do I do that differently from when I was a seller? We tend to choose really good sellers to become sales managers, and we don’t give them a playbook. Then of how do I shift my identity to become a manager? And it’s a very different job and a different skill that they have.
Ann Marie Verhamme: Tell me more about how AI is really changing that too, that it’s adding to the volume of increased expectations that our first line sales managers are experiencing.
Kristen Howe: Yes, for sure. There’s so much change coming at them, especially around AI, because it’s not just change and adopting a new tool, it’s really changing the way sellers sell and the way that buyers buy. And so we’ve got to get our first line sales managers on top of what do we need our sellers to be doing and doing differently as we think about this change that’s happening?
Ann Marie Verhamme: Yeah. And when we see, we see in the research that when a first line sales manager can really get their team to adopt these AI tools, the sellers are more productive. They have can handle more accounts, more customer interactions and ultimately higher quota attainment. But it’s really that first line sales manager coaching to those new expectations.
Kristen Howe: That’s right. And what it was really interesting is for right now, we’re seeing the first time ever expansion in the capacity of a seller. So if we aren’t getting our managers to encourage our sellers to start using AI, those who aren’t using it yet, we’re really leaving a lot on the table.
Ann Marie Verhamme: Let’s talk about the transition from seller to manager. What’s going on there?
Kristen Howe: I’m glad you asked, because it is a huge transition to go from an individual seller to a manager of a bunch of people trying to hit a quota. And again, not having a lot of clarity into what my job is. We talk a lot about onboarding people into a company and how important it is. It is just as important to onboard somebody into the manager role as not. So what we see is there’s an identity shift that’s needed, but nobody’s telling them how to do it or what it should be.
Ann Marie Verhamme: And when we think of the common archetypes of a first line sales manager, that’s a very common one, the super seller. So you’ve got these first line sales managers who came from being a great individual contributor. And so their instinct is to take over, help get the deal across the finish line. But through that, they’re not really developing the skills of their team to be able to multiply and replicate that.
Kristen Howe: Correct.
Ann Marie Verhamme: What about the other archetypes of a first sale?
Kristen Howe: That’s the most common one. Another one is the compliance manager. Right. They’re really just focused on how do we get all the data in the CRM. What kind of dashboards do we need? And really just tracking compliance that people are doing the things that they want them to get done. Also, not getting a performance lift like you talked about.
Ann Marie Verhamme: We spend a lot of time teaching our managers about coaching. Where does that fit in? I think there is.
Kristen Howe: A third and maybe a fourth archetype, but let’s talk about the third of the coach, and I’m sure there are some fabulous coaches out there that are doing all the right things for their teams. But mostly when we think about the coach, they’re again, coaching to a deal, not coaching to a person. And it’s a very different kind of coaching, switching from coaching to leadership coaching or really coaching the person to change the performance, change their skill level is a completely different skill set.
Ann Marie Verhamme: Our first line sales managers are often called the most important ingredient in driving change in the organization, but research has shown that maybe that isn’t as obvious to our first line sales managers. Can you share more about that? Sure.
Kristen Howe: You know, I was recently talking to a chief sales officer and she said it’s just part of the expectation of the job that they’re doing change. So but if you’re not articulating it and being explicit about the job, it’s not going to get done. So we did a survey of chief sales officers. Chief revenue officers ask them, what is the job of your first line sales manager? No surprise. We heard quota attainment was number one.
Ann Marie Verhamme: So they’re trying to get their team number. They want to hit their team number.
Kristen Howe: Yes of course. Of course. That’s the job of the sales manager. Secondary was then coaching the team. My guess is that’s not coaching the person, which is really how we get an uplift in performance, that it’s about coaching the deal and probably more like directing the deal, saying just do this. Yes, just taking it over. That’s not helping anybody.
Ann Marie Verhamme: So we as we said, change is really important. The first time sales manager is super important in driving change, where on the list is driving change. And when they list out the responsibilities of a first line sales manager.
Kristen Howe: I hate to say it, but it was 2% said that was the job of the frontline sales manager. Now I don’t expect it to be number one, but I did expect it to be higher than the very, very bottom of the list.
Ann Marie Verhamme: So the first sign sales managers have this implied expectation that they’re driving the change, but then there’s no support system or even clarity that that’s an expectation. So they’re not successful in doing it.
Kristen Howe: Correct. And they haven’t been told, how do you do it? What are some tools? What are some tactics, what to avoid? All of the things the sales managers needs they’re missing.
