Build Your Sales Management Cadence Develop Highly Effective Sales Managers

What Is a Sales Management Cadence?

A Sales Management Cadence is a management framework that guides how frontline managers should spend their time, on what activities, with which sellers, and at what frequency. Common recurring activities within a Sales Management Cadence may include field travel / joint calling, deal reviews, pipeline reviews, forecast reviews, 1-on-1s and QBRs. The cadence sets the management rhythm for the business to guide managers toward the set of activities that maximize the chance of realizing the company’s business objectives.

Why You Need a Sales Management Cadence

Few sales organizations exist today without a structured Sales Process and corresponding set of expectations regarding activity, pipeline, and forecast metrics. Yet, the same cannot be said for the Sales Management Process, which is arguably just as important.

With <50% of sellers hitting goal, it is the job of today’s sales manager to not only make their number but also coach and develop their sellers. Yet, most sales managers are elevated from individual contributors into the role without a playbook on how to be an effective sales manager. Now more so than ever, today’s sales manager must constantly question where they spend their time, with whom, and most importantly how.

A Sales Management Cadence protects against the biases sales managers have to hit their number this quarter versus build sustainable team-wide performance year-round by guiding them to spend a disproportionate amount of their time at the top of the funnel, working with B players, and coaching winning behaviors rather than taking over deals.

Without a framework for how to be an effective sales manager, your managers will struggle to succeed.

A Sales Management Cadence provides your sales managers with the framework they need to structure their calendars and make the interactions they have with sellers impactful.

Develop Sales Managers. Improve Performance. www.commercialtribe.com

©CommercialTribe 2019

Build Your Sales Management Cadence Develop Highly Effective Sales Managers

Top 5 Common Challenges to Sales Management Cadence Implementation 1. Lack of visibility The Sales Management Cadence is the vehicle to understand the impact managers are having on the business, yet most organizations have limited visibility into whether these interactions are actually happening and to what standard. Sales Leadership needs a way to understand how the cadence behaves and coach managers to perform within it. 2nd line managers play a critical role in reinforcing the expectations of the cadence, coaching their managers on where to spend their time, and even observing the execution of key interactions like a forecast review.

2. Unrealistic time commitment There are only so many hours in the week, yet most organizations don’t take the time to model out what sales managers are being asked to do. If the time spent in a cadence is too onerous, it will be rejected by managers who don’t see it as realistic. To solve this challenge, use a simple calculation to understand key variables like number of sellers per manager, how long the interaction should take, and what the frequency should be. This calculation will provide manager time dedicated to the Sales Management Cadence as a percentage of their overall time.

3. Interactions lack a clear objective The why is just as important as the what. Every interaction you are asking sales managers to perform should have a clear objective that provides context to both manager and seller as to why. For example, there is a difference between a forecast and pipeline review. The objective of the former is forecast accuracy within the current period, while the latter is pipeline coverage for future periods. If these are critical business objectives, a distinct interaction within the Sales Management Cadence is warranted with its own agenda.

4. Inconsistent execution Absent a framework for how to conduct interactions within the Sales Management Cadence, managers are left to their own devices. The result is that while these interactions may happen, they don’t have the desired impact. Take conducting field travel or joint sales calls. Without clarity on how to observe and coach to successful selling behavior, sales managers may bias taking over the calls at the risk of getting an accurate read on their sellers’ skillset. A sales manager's job is to mint successful sellers, not do their job for them.

5. Misalignment with business objectives Any shift in business strategy tends to make or break with the sales managers who may become a competitive advantage for the business if effectively deployed. Yet traditional quota structure can make it challenging to create this alignment. Take new hire productivity, which managers have the greatest impact on than any other role. Yet new hires don’t impact near-term quota attainment so they don’t often get the attention they should, and ramp may suffer. Sales managers directed within the Sales Management Cadence to business objectives can increase the likelihood of their achievement.

Develop Sales Managers. Improve Performance. www.commercialtribe.com

©CommercialTribe 2019 Build Your Sales Management Cadence Develop Highly Effective Sales Managers

Sample Sales Management Cadence

Interaction Objective Number of Hours Per Frequency Total Interactions Interaction Hours Required

Field Travel or Joint Observe and assess sellers in live Discovery, Demo, and Closing calls. Provide relevant, targeted coaching to 4 1.5 Weekly 6 Calling improve performance.

1:1 Discuss performance against goals, learn what is needed to be successful, and identify roadblocks. Review 6 1 Monthly 6 sales competencies, individual skill profiles (strengths and areas for improvement), and personal and professional goals.

Team Meeting Create shared understanding of team objectives, forecast updates, and pipeline growth. Share insights and 1 2 Weekly 2 successes, identify roadblocks, and develop skills and best practices.

Deal Review Inspect and understand the level of preparation for specific opportunities (deals) or accounts to advance the 6 1 Monthly 6 sales cycle. Mutually develop a strategy and coach sellers to win.

Pipeline Review Ensure sellers have sufficient (3X) early-stage pipeline to achieve sales goals in future reporting periods 6 1 Bi-Weekly 6 including: named account review, whitespace analysis, and marketing campaigns.

Forecast Review Review forecast by account and compare with 3X pipeline goal. Ensure forecast accuracy of current 6 1 Bi-Weekly 6 reporting period, coach sellers to close late-stage forecasted deals, and purge the pipeline of stagnant deals.

Business Plan Review Review previous period KPIs/performance and use insights to plan and set goals for the upcoming period. 1 3 Quarterly 3 (QBR) May also include a retrospective on why deals were won, lost, or pushed.

Number of Sellers per Manager 6 (Use to determine Number of Interactions)

Total Time Spent per Quarter 207 (Multiply Frequency by Total Hours Required. Weekly = 12; Bi-Weekly = 6; Monthly = 3; Quarterly = 1. Add up for each Interaction.)

Total Available Time per Quarter 504 (Determine based on your business hours)

% of Time Spent on Sales Management Cadence 41% (Divide Total Time Spent per Quarter by Total Available Time per Quarter)

Sales Management Cadence Worksheet For support to customize for your company, reach us at [email protected]

Interaction Objective Number of Hours Per Frequency Total Hours Interactions Interaction Required

Number of Sellers per Manager (Use to determine Number of Interactions) Total Time Spent per Quarter (Multiply Frequency by Total Hours Required Weekly = 12; Bi-Weekly = 6; Monthly = 3; Quarterly = 1. Add up for each Interaction.) Total Available Time per Quarter (Determine based on your business hours) % of Time Spent on Sales Management Cadence (Divide Total Time Spent per Quarter by Total Available Time per Quarter)