THE HARDEST

JOB IN SALES
JUST GOT HARDER
Long known as “the hardest job coaching and support they need.
in sales” and entrenched at the Surely no strangers to stress and
intersection of buyers, sellers uncertainty, sales managers face
and organizational demands, a new challenge in the global
sales managers bear the brunt COVID-19 pandemic crisis for
of rapidly changing realities and which there is no clear answer.
expectations. CSO Insights’ 2020
Sales Management Study shows How do sales managers handle
that they carry this responsibility, managing through a crisis?
along with aggressive quotas,
while typically lacking the

ASK THE EXPERTS: Selling Through and Beyond COVID-19

By this point of the crisis, most
organizations have formulated
enterprise level responses internally
and externally. From travel bans,
supply chain reassembly, re-ordering
of priorities to cost-cutting measures,
organizations quickly reacted and
adjusted to new information as
it arrived. But underneath these
organizational decisions lies the
need for agile individual and team

SALES
execution. With a span of control
of one to 10 sellers, managers have
tremendous influence over the success
or failure of these strategies.
MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES
• Managers spend twice as much
time on administration and
forecasting (34.1%) as they do
coaching their people.
• Less than 1/3 of companies claim
THROUGH
‘developing sales managers into
success’ as a strength. CRISIS
• Organizations that effectively
develop and coach sellers to
success have a 23.8% increase in
quota attainment.
• Deploying a dynamic coaching
process increases win rates by
32.1%.
 SHIFTING FROM
SALES MANAGEMENT
TO SALES LEADERSHIP
By the very nature of the job, Most sellers and sales managers
many sales managers find worked for a great leader at
themselves mired in the minutia some point in their career or
of management: updating knew one in their personal life.
forecasts, negotiating terms, They likely exhibited all of these
protecting budgets and traits and made it seem like
ensuring compliance. Now is they did it without trying. That’s
the time to set aside minutia. doubtful.
Managers now must recalibrate
their work to emphasize the THIS KIND OF
leadership aspects of their roles
to help their teams through
LEADERSHIP
crisis. Specifically, managers TAKES WORK.
will need to demonstrate the
characteristics and capabilities
of a leader.
 Calm. Managers are the face Empathy. This is a human crisis
of the organization to their and people’s well-being comes
frontline sellers and they need to first. Managers may find that
project a calm demeanor, even they need to make time for more
as opportunities drop out of the frequent and longer one-on-ones
funnel and forecasts diminish. Deal with sellers. One of the unintended
with situations in a level-headed consequences of a home-bound
way and provide sellers with workforce is an explosion of
specific and productive next steps. meetings. Don’t shortcut the
opportunity to show empathy by
Confidence. If sales managers jumping to the next client call.
indicate skepticism that the new
outreach or pricing strategy Resilience. Sellers and their
will work, sellers won’t believe managers are known for their
it either. Managers need to get ability to recover from adversity.
enough information on their Daily, they endure a thousand
organization’s crisis response to cuts: rejection from prospects, the
genuinely convey confidence in loss of an opportunity because a
the approach. prospect laid off their champion,
an inability to recognize revenue
Courage. Leaders take decisive because of a late shipment.
action knowing that inaction Managers need to call on this
results in a worse outcome. An resilience now more than ever
organization may decide to before.
shorten their horizon to the near-
term, shutting down all business IN THESE TIMES
development activity and directing OF CRISIS, HOW
sellers towards implementation
work. Or they may decide to take MANY OF THESE
a risk and offer non-standard
financing terms or set other costly
TRAITS HAVE
precedents. Such decisions must YOUR SELLERS
be made proactively, fueled by
data.
SEEN IN YOU?
SHORT-TERM
ACTION,
LONG-TERM
SUCCESS
We outlined what a manager should be; now it’s time to
explore what they should do. There are an infinite number of
places where a manager can spend time. While there are no
guaranteed strategies for what we face today, our research
into sales organizations undergoing transformation reveals
several options to pay immediate attention:

1. Communicate your bandwidth with online

internally; model the learning). Ask for interaction.
way externally. More importantly, focus on
your messaging. Managers
Yes, your CEO may send out need to model conversations
daily messages and your for their sellers. Show
CSO weekly reflections, but them how to communicate
that is not a replacement with precision and deliver
for manager-level meaningful value to clients
while expressing themselves
WHATEVER YOU genuinely and authentically.

DO, TALK TO YOUR It feels like an unnatural time

PEOPLE. ASK FOR to try to conduct business.
INTERACTION. Even the most experienced
sellers likely struggle with
outreach in today’s uncertain
communications. Record world. At the same time,
videos, turn on your webcam business is critical to the
for team meetings, celebrate economy and to recovery.
every small success (even if Organizations need to
that success is just getting partner, serve, and transact
through a day of conference if and when they can. That
calls while your kids pop starts with conversations.
in and out and bog down
 QUALITY INTERACTIONS
AND QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS
ARE THE ONLY PATHS
FORWARD NOW.

2. Find data and do what you 3. Double down on quality.

can to scrub it.
Our research shows that over the last two
When forced to make a hard decision, years, sales organizations grew by using
you want to make it once. Therefore, sales increased coverage to take advantage of
managers must work with accurate data. demand and push up revenues. This never-
Direct salespeople to ensure the data sustainable approach is now impossible.
within the CRM is accurate and scrubbed. Managers need to formally convey the
Enter all contacts, reconsider all next steps, change in direction. Quality interactions
recalculate opportunity scores, and update and quality relationships are the only paths
sales objectives. forward now.

Validate these inputs with individual Additionally, consider where a little bit
funnel reviews. Be honest with yourselves extra investment would make a difference.
and each other on the state of your Look across your territory and determine
pipeline. The better the information, where your organization can deepen client
the clearer the direction you provide to relationships. Inevitably, each proposal
sellers. It also allows managers to more deck includes a slide that talks about how
effectively partner with sales operations you want to be a client’s trusted partner.
on modelling contingencies, such as quota Now is the time to fulfill on that promise.
relief, compensation plan redesign, or Times of crisis act as a catalyst. Adding
restructuring activity. value to relationships in these times can
result in stronger and longer-lasting
partnerships. On the flipside, neglect a
relationship now and that small crack
grows into a chasm of disloyalty.
4. Err on the side of too much detail.

Make it easier for salespeople to be productive. Tell them exactly

where to focus. Should salespeople craft conversations for high
in the funnel if your value proposition creates value for customers
struggling to execute on their new business responses? Or will
they need to rework late-stage proposals to accommodate new
realities? Maybe they simply maintain contact, providing thought
leadership and connection with middle-of-funnel opportunities?

Each organization will take a different tact, based on value

proposition and business model. Whatever the approach, sales
managers need to break it down and make it specific and
actionable for their sellers. This requires an additional layer of
detail versus what managers historically provide.

5. Fix nagging issues. As you conduct detailed funnel

reviews and scrub your data,
This crisis caused all but a look at the formality of your
small number of organizations sales process. Refine your
to experience sharp declines sales process, install a more
in demand, inflicting severe formal approach to opportunity
damage on business health and planning, fix your weighting
requiring immediate response. system for forecasts—and do it
Immediate, however, does not now.
mean temporary. Once this
crisis passes, the recovery As you assemble your thought
could be just as sharp. If an leadership and help clients
organization is not ready to apply it to the crisis, think
through your content strategy.
Do you have the right engine to
FIX THOSE NAGGING fuel perspective-based selling?
ISSUES THAT Build processes that create
PREVENT SUCCESS IN better external content and
GOOD TIMES put together a draft of a value
messaging framework.
catch that boomerang, it will
go through a second wave The good coaching habits
of damage. Now may be you develop through this
the perfect time to fix those crisis—regular check ins, human
nagging issues that prevent engagement, development,
success in good times: modelling, rigorous funnel
reviews... keep them going for
the long-term!
MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES
THAT WORK

Sales managers are the lynchpin

of the sales organization.
When they excel, sales teams
achieve their goals and when
they struggle, those failures are
magnified by 8-10x depending
on their span of control.

While a global pandemic is

hopefully a rare occurrence,
times of crisis will be common.
In such times, the tone and
approach of managers have
an outsized impact. Genuine
behavior changes can have
lasting impact through this time
and beyond.
Byron Matthews
Chief Commercial Officer,
Korn Ferry Digital

ASK THE EXPERTS: Selling Through and Beyond COVID-19