LAST MONTH, I wrote about how a sales manager can teach, lead and develop their team. Now, I want to talk about the necessary skills to be a manager in the first place.
I’ve written before about sales profiles (serpentine, missile and sneak); every manager has a management profile as well. A management profile is broken into four pairs: delegator vs. doer, leading by fear vs. leading by reassurance, proactive vs. reactive, and paper organizational skills vs. mental organizational skills. The profile we want to hire for jewelry stores is delegator, proactive, reassurance, paper.
A common mistake I see is when owners make their top salesperson, or someone who’s been with the company for a long time, the manager without considering their managerial skill set.
Making a salesperson who has no management skills the manager creates two problems. One, their personal sales go down. Two, the other sales associates are upset with their management skills; they liked their personality much better as a salesperson, and some may quit.
The fact is, most great managers are not the best salespeople, but they can drive the floor like a machine.
The other problem I see is some managers don’t understand how to delegate. They are doers. Always ask when you delegate something to make sure that the person knows how to do the task you’ve delegated. Never assume someone knows something that you know, even if you think it’s something that’s common in our industry. If they don’t know how, you’ve set them up for failure in front of the team. Not only will they be embarrassed and disappointed that they failed, but you didn’t get something accomplished that you thought was getting done.
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When you delegate, this is an example of how it should be done. “I need you to do this, do you know how?” If they do, say, “I need this done by one o’clock. Please let me know that you’ve completed it by one and I will say thank you ahead of time.”
Three things just happened. One, you delegated the task at hand to someone who said they could do it. Two, you gave them a time limit to have it done. Three, you were polite and thanked them ahead of time. Now you don’t have to micromanage and check after it’s done to see if they did the job. Most team members are pleasers. They want to know they did a great job. Reassurance goes a long way.
If you don’t delegate, your team will think that you don’t trust them to help with important projects. Moreover, you simply can’t get everything done by yourself.
Today’s stores are way too busy. Your stuff stacks up and you’re disgusted because you’re going home and it’s not finished. Your attitude and communication skills become more reactive. You’re working harder and faster, not paying attention to the sales floor.
But when you train your staff and delegate, the management position actually gets easier. Communication skills get better, teamwork improves, and store floor awareness increases. Everyone is happier, and it all starts with you and your ability to delegate.
