You’re not that smart. They’re not that stupid.
Sales managers can be seduced by their company promotion. One old-time sales manager thought it had to do with the chair in their new office. He said, “these people were sales representatives (SRs) yesterday and sales managers today. They sit in their office chair and something magical happens…. all sorts of wisdom shoots up from the chair into the new manager’s backside somehow making them all-seeing and all-knowing.”
People are no longer impressed by your company-given title or even your academic qualification. One of the most ignored aspects of sales management is the skepticism, and maybe even cynicism, that your SRs have in your management style and with you.
What does impress them (and is the basis of Sales Management 2.0) is that you treat them as valued humans first, and valued employees next.
