The top 10 most popular vacancies in recent years have consistently included the position of "Sales Manager". Becoming a sales manager young people often want to be able to earn on interest. In some industries, the demand for sales managers outstrips supply by 5-7 times. At the same time, it should be noted that there are not so many professionals on the market, and young applicants often do not have enough experience to work effectively in this profession.
At the same time, the requirements of companies to candidates for this position are by no means reduced, and sometimes they are very specific. The current position of employers is fundamentally different from the previous one, which took shape in the 1990s, when smart, quick people were needed, able to easily sell both women's tights and metal wagons at the same time. Companies have realized that sales jobs usually require highly specialized knowledge about the products and services they sell. Therefore, one of the main trends today is as follows: not just sales managers in the broad sense of the word, but specialists in a particular field are in demand.
Education
The profession of a sales manager is in demand on the market, but the Russian higher school does not train these specialists so far. In this case, technical, economic, financial education becomes suitable.
Employers of the middle level willingly take on the work of those who have a secondary specialized education. In large companies, they prefer to take people with experience in sales from a year or two. At the initial stage, this experience is much more important than any education. But if you build your career seriously and for a long time, and aim for the position of sales director, you cannot do without specialized education.
For a serious career, the best option is to get a universal managerial education in the specialty "organization management". It will be useful for both a novice sales specialist and a future manager. The best universities in this area are:
Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov (Moscow State University);
Moscow State University of International Relations;
Financial Academy under the Government of Moscow;
High School of Economics;
Institute of International Economic Relations;
State University of Management.
You can continue your studies at trainings, specialized courses or MBA programs. In this case, it is better to choose programs one way or another related to the profile of the company in which you want to work. In any case, when moving up the career ladder, the manager will need additional knowledge, as well as knowledge of foreign languages.
Career
Based on the requests of employers, you can make a brief portrait of the ideal sales manager:
Highly motivated specialist
friendly and customer oriented
with an active lifestyle.
Characteristic personality traits: conscious focus on achieving results, psychological maturity and dynamism, high intellectual level (ability to work with information, generalize, draw conclusions).
Advantages to candidates in the eyes of the employer are given by diplomas of additional business education, special achievements in studies, organizational work, sports, as well as the presence of a driving experience.
Start
Today, in order to become a sales manager, sales experience is no longer required. Many successful sales managers start their careers as salespeople, sales assistants, or floor managers. A striking example is the communications market that has been rapidly developing in recent years. Most of the sales directors of such companies as Svyaznoy, Evroset, Anarion came to the company to grassroots positions. The salary for these positions is largely dependent on the percentage of sales. Thus, a novice manager can receive both $300 and $2000 (500+%) depending on the ability to sell.
Average level
Middle-level specialists are sales agents, wholesale managers, product managers. Their activities, as a rule, are related to the sale of a certain group of goods, negotiations with suppliers, the development of a dealer network, interaction with the marketing and advertising department to promote these goods on the market.
These specialists must have mobility, high efficiency, stress resistance, the ability to find a common language and understand the problems of different people, as well as perseverance. The salary of these people consists of a fixed salary of $ 700-1000 and a percentage of the deals.
Vertex
The top of the career ladder in the field of sales is the commercial director. In many companies, he plays a key role, forming a sales strategy: he analyzes the demand for the goods or services of his company, and then builds a phased program for their implementation. Decisions are made on the basis of a detailed calculation, taking into account many parameters.
Financial indicators, marketing programs and pricing, business strategy - this is an incomplete list of knowledge that a professional specialist should have. This specialist must have the following qualities: developed logical thinking, organizational skills, the ability to influence people, and a focus on achieving results. The salary of a commercial director consists of a fixed part of $ 1500-2500 and considerable interest.
About the profession in general
There is no exact definition of the profession of a sales manager. Each employer invests in the concept of "sales manager" something of their own. And the candidates themselves do not always understand what awaits them. Many still believe that a sales manager is a profession that does not require special skills, it is enough that “the language is well suspended”, and everything will work out. This is true only for grassroots positions.
Indeed, there are vacancies that involve only phone calls to potential customers in an attempt to sell a product or service, but the level of income of such a manager will not be too high.
At the opposite pole of offers - vacancies "Sales Director" in large Russian and international corporations. Here the salaries are an order of magnitude higher, but the range of responsibilities is much wider: finding customers, maintaining a database, developing a sales concept, working with distributors.
In any case, people who know how to sell are very valuable in the market today. Therefore, choosing a profession in the field of sales, you can reach almost any career step.
Representatives of what profession today can be found in any company, regardless of its direction of activity, form of ownership and size? Without which specialist is it impossible to work both a small company and a huge corporation? Of course, without a person who manages the activities of the company, that is, without a manager. After all, without the correct organization of the work of a group of people striving to achieve a certain goal, it is impossible to achieve any noticeable results.
Representatives of what profession today can be found in any company, regardless of its direction of activity, form of ownership and size? Without which specialist is it impossible to work both a small company and a huge corporation? Of course, without a person who manages the activities of the company, that is, without a manager. After all, without the correct organization of the work of a group of people striving to achieve a certain goal, it is impossible to achieve any noticeable results.
It's easy to guess that managerial profession in the modern world is not only one of the most sought after, but also incredibly popular among ambitious young people who think that the manager is an easy job that does not require much labor. And at the same time, they absolutely do not take into account the fact that the specialty of a manager, like any other managerial position, is a difficult and responsible job that has its own characteristics, which we will try to introduce you to today.
What is a manager?
A highly qualified specialist belonging to the top and middle management of the enterprise and exercising general management at a specific production site. The main defining feature of any manager is the presence of subordinates.
The name of the profession comes from the English manage (manage, manage). In other words, a manager can be called any boss who organizes work at an enterprise or in a company. The first managers appeared in the 19th century, when a large number of large enterprises arose, the owners of which could no longer cope with their management on their own. It was then that hired managers were needed, who used four actions at once in their work, which became the basis of management: planning, organization, motivation and control.
In modern society, it is customary to single out managers depending on the number and size of management objects:
- lower-level managers - junior bosses, which include heads of departments, foremen, heads of departments, etc.;
- middle managers - leaders junior chiefs, which include the director of the branch, the head of the workshop, the dean of the faculty, etc.;
- top managers - the general director of the enterprise, the director of the store, the rector of the university, etc.
In addition, managers are distinguished according to their line of work: sales manager, personnel manager, advertising manager, financial manager, content manager, office manager, tourism manager, etc.
The professional duties of a manager largely depend on the area of his work. For example, a sales manager is responsible for increasing profits from sales of products, an office manager specializes in organizing the management activities of senior management, and a tourism manager does everything possible to attract as many tourists as possible to his agency.
However, in any case, officials manager duties imply the performance of managerial actions, which include: planning and organizing the activities of an enterprise within the framework of a production site subordinate to it, maintaining reporting documentation, solving personnel, organizational, technical, economic and socio-psychological problems in a team, monitoring the quality of work of subordinates, participating in development of an advertising strategy and innovative and investment activities of the enterprise, etc.
What personal qualities should a manager have?
Because manager job Basically, it consists in managing the production activities of employees of the enterprise subordinate to him, such a specialist must necessarily be distinguished by high organizational skills, leadership qualities and a well-developed sense of justice. In addition, a good manager should be:
- resolute;
- proactive;
- self-critical;
- sociable;
- responsible;
- active;
- patient;
- stress-resistant;
- ambitious.
In addition to personal qualities, a manager must have a certain set of knowledge and skills, without which he will not be able to effectively perform his duties. In particular, a representative of this profession should be well "savvy" in the field of economics, social psychology, law, management, pricing patterns, marketing, taxation, commercial negotiation techniques, production organization, conflict resolution and advertising.
Benefits of being a manager
Main the advantage of being a manager, of course, is its prestige and great opportunities for self-realization. Therefore, today even preschoolers dream of being not pilots or long-distance sailors, but bosses at some large enterprise, and even better, a director in their own company.
Other benefits of this profession include:
- demand - managers are needed in almost all spheres of human life;
- business trips, including foreign ones, are a great opportunity to see the world;
- a variety of acquaintances - communication with a variety of people allows you to significantly expand your horizons;
- a high level of salary - the average salary of managers in Russia is about 40-45 thousand rubles.
Disadvantages of being a manager
Despite all the attractiveness and prospects of this profession, managerial work is fraught with a huge number of shortcomings, due to which not every specialist can achieve professional success. And talking about disadvantages of the manager profession First of all, it is necessary to note the great responsibility. After all, the manager is responsible not only for the work done by his own hand, but also for the work of his subordinates.
It is also impossible not to say that the common belief that the manager only distributes responsibilities between employees, while he himself spends time in idleness, is not true. In fact, the work of a manager is very difficult and nerve-wracking, requiring complete dedication and a huge capacity for work: sometimes you have to work after hours, without the opportunity to get distracted and relax.
And all this in stressful conditions, when important decisions have to be made in emergency situations. At the same time, you must constantly remember that even one wrong decision can have the most negative impact on your career. Agree, not everyone is able to withstand such a crazy pace of work and the "burden" of responsibility.
Where can you get a job as a manager?
Get a job as a manager today it is quite simple: almost every economic university has a faculty of management. In addition, you can learn this profession in specialized courses. True, in this case, it will be possible to successfully find a job only if you already have a higher education behind you.
Also, to become a manager, you can overcome a more difficult path. Quite often, large companies independently train managers from among the most promising employees. Therefore, you can first get a job in a company, try to prove yourself from the best side, and then learn your favorite profession at the expense of the enterprise.
It should be noted that based on the current situation on the labor market in this area, we can say with confidence that graduates of such best economic universities in Russia, How:
- Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University
- Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics (MESI)
- State University of Management (GUU)
- All-Russian State Tax Academy (VGNA)
- Russian Economic Academy. G.V. Plekhanov (REA)
Today, customers are more demanding than before. And they're also less forgiving, which means the salesperson only has one shot and must make a good first impression. In today's world of fast high digital technologies, where decisions are made in an instant, the role of a good sales manager cannot be turned a blind eye. And besides, the job of a sales manager is now much more difficult than a few years ago. So now the question is, how can you become a good salesperson? How can you become a top seller? The answer to these questions is actually quite simple. Be active.
A good sales manager is one who can build relationships
To be a good salesperson, you need to work on relationships with your customers so they feel comfortable talking to you. Good selling is about building relationships of mutual trust and understanding between you and your client. It is also a long way to earn the trust of customers who would like to do business with you again in the future.
A good sales manager always answers calls
Instead of an answering machine, answer your phone calls yourself. This shows customers and customers that you care about them and that they are not just a checkmark on your records and a fad to fulfill your sales plan. If you are very busy, hire an assistant or additional staff to handle phone calls. And remember that the human voice is much more effective than the robot voice.
A good sales manager never promises what he can't deliver.
It is important that your clients know that they can trust you to get the job done at any time. A good salesperson must always keep his promises. If you feel like you can't deliver what you promise, be honest with your customers, they will appreciate you more for your honesty. Breaking promises only leads to the fact that the client ceases to trust you.
A good sales manager listens to his customers
While a sales manager must convince a customer to buy something, it's also important to listen to your customers. Take a moment to get to know your customers personally and then give them an adequate response. Listen to what your client has to say, find out what he likes and what he doesn't care about at all. In a word, everything that would be useful for building fruitful relationships.
A good sales manager handles complaints with confidence
While no one likes complaints, it's important that the sales manager is prepared to take them head-on. This shows clients that you are considerate and that you care about them.
A good sales manager is willing to help, even if it doesn't make a profit.
A good sales manager is always an expert
Know that a good sales person is always a master of his craft. He knows his product or service down to the smallest detail. There is nothing about the product that he does not know. By having confidence in what you are selling, you will be able to sell everything you need much more effectively.
A good sales manager takes the lead or goes one step further
A good sales manager takes the lead. This means that if your customer asks you about something, introduce or introduce him to another similar product or service. Give them the distinction of choice. Also, always go one step ahead. If your customer is a repeat customer, offer a discount or some kind of bonus on a product or service they have purchased.
A good sales manager is able to admit his mistake
Being able to admit your mistakes can be difficult, but it also shows the client that you are responsible for your actions. This, in turn, helps to strengthen relationships with customers, as they believe that they can trust you in the future. Trust is the most important tool that a good sales manager should always have.
A good sales manager says "I'll do" not "I'll try"
The word "try" should not be in the vocabulary of a good sales manager. It is this word that clearly shows your client what you will do and what not. By using the word "I will" you show that you will move mountains in order to do what you promised.
From the author: Sales Manager is one of the most sought-after and highly paid professions today. It is this cog in the general mechanism called “business” that provides companies with the necessary level of profitability. Let's figure out how to become a sales manager, and what skills you need to have in order to succeed in this direction.
Sales is not just a profession, it is a whole psychology. If you want to become a successful sales manager, be prepared to endure constant stress and failure in the early stages of practical training. However, if you can master the ability to sell, most likely you will never be left without a piece of bread, as in our time it is a most valuable skill.
Where to begin?
First, figure out why you want to become a sales manager, and whether you need it at all. The job is tough and stressful. Many people naively believe that every second call will end with a purchase, the dividends from which will be safely spent on the purchase of cars, apartments and other joys. However, in practice, everything turns out to be somewhat more complicated.
The ideal deal is when you offer the client what he just needed and in the end helped the person solve the problem, getting his percentage. However, managers often work with a "cold base", that is, the people you will call do not need the proposed product. In a few seconds it is necessary to explain why they need it, and why it is worth tearing it off with your hands like a hot cake, right now. Of course, in practice this is much more difficult to do than in words.
You can make 10, 20, 50 calls and get rejected in all cases. Here, a person’s stress resistance and the will to achieve a goal are already manifested. Are you ready for interesting battles and battles in the ocean of trade? Then welcome on board and move on.
What is the priority - practice or training?
If you are interested in how to become a sales manager from scratch, then in this case, oddly enough, you need to act first and then learn. In the field, you can master the profession much faster and immediately take off the naive rose-colored glasses about all sorts of expectations.
To quickly get up to speed and become a great sales manager, you can go two ways:
1. Get a job in a large company.
Find a company that provides full-fledged training for staff from scratch. After even a month's internship in a team of professionals, you will learn the basics of this profession much faster than after reading any superbook on sales.
2. .
To become a good sales manager in the future, you can practice by creating your own online store. In this way, you will earn extra money at first, and understand what difficulties the negotiation process involves.
We do not recommend immediately taking on heavy niches like selling cars and apartments, otherwise you risk losing a lot of time in vain. In order to sell high-priced products that are expected to earn the most profit, you will need some experience in negotiating with "difficult" customers.
It is better to start practicing "on cats". Try to get into an online store and sell things like inexpensive electronics to reduce the stress of the negotiation process and slowly gain strength in this business.
Beacon installation
Make a rough plan for the long term. Having decided on the purpose of your route while still on the shore, the chances of your ship to sail to a given point will increase significantly. Why you might want to become a sales manager at all:
1. Learn the basics of sales in order to open your own business in the future.
Many businessmen began their journey with this profession. If you see yourself in the future as a big businessman, then you can try. The skills of a “salesperson” will definitely come in handy when negotiating in the future.
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2. Master the profession and aim for long-term career growth to become a top sales manager.
Another option is a carefree future in a large company. Yes, you will remain an employee, however, there are often top managers who earn more than businessmen and at the same time feel much less stress, without worrying about what will happen tomorrow.
How and where to study?
Practice is great, of course. However, without constant learning and improvement, it will not work. To be an effective salesperson, you must try new negotiating techniques, learn creative ways to deal with customer objections, and be able to present the product you are selling in a positive light rather than just listing its features. All this can be learned with the help of the right books, articles, seminars and various courses.
Top 5 most useful books for those who want to become a sales manager with no experience:
"Sales and negotiations" (Sergey Azimov).
"Personalization of sales" (Alexander Derevitsky).
"Partisan sales" (Murat Turgunov).
"An effective commercial offer" (Denis Kaplunov).
Selling Champions (Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson).
Try not to try to read the books to the end as soon as possible, thinking that the more you scroll through the material in this way, the smarter you will become. No, that doesn't work. Use books as a learning tool, gradually putting everything written into practice.
Only in this way can you learn the basics that successful authors of printed publications have tried to convey to you. As a rule, success in sales depends on the ability to work with the objections of the client ("I'll think about it", "expensive", etc.), so focus on this parameter as you study further.
To give the learning process in sales some excitement and interactive, you can. In it, tell people what your goal is and show your audience the whole wrong side of sales: how simple or difficult it is, what is hidden behind the beautiful scenes, is the salary of “salesmen” good, etc. In the future, when a large number of the number of subscribers, you can even try to sell author's sales techniques.
If, after reading the above horror stories, you are not afraid and still continue to persistently repeat: “I want to become a sales manager,” then take the first step towards mastering this profession today. Find a suitable job in your city, or study and try to start working on your own, selling any goods you like.
This will be a good practice, but not - so at least master the skills of developing sites. Then you can study and try to improve yourself in this matter. In general, there are a lot of options for the development of events, there would be a desire. Good luck!
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It's not that hard to be a manager. Take five people for yourself, tell everyone what to do, watch them, constantly correct them, from time to time push them aside, showing them how to do it right.
This is the exact recipe for how to be a bad manager. Being a good manager is much more difficult. From time to time, they conduct research on how good managers differ from ordinary ones. This leads to amazing discoveries.
It turns out that great managers talk quite differently. Ordinary managers most often put forward proposals. Initially, there seems to be nothing wrong with this approach, but in fact it is not. First of all, by putting forward ideas on their own, managers prevent subordinates from putting forward ideas themselves. The subordinate gets used to the fact that in this company their ideas are of no interest to anyone, but only to the ideas of the management itself. At the same time, the ability to develop ideas among subordinates gradually atrophies.
Great managers actively invite the subordinate to speak out and then encourage the development of these ideas. Subordinates gradually develop a good reflex: going to management with a problem, they already know that at the same time as the problem they will be required to offer suggestions for resolving it, which means they need to be prepared.
But what, you ask, if a subordinate brought a bad solution to a problem and you have a better one? To begin with, it should be remembered that there are usually no absolutely best solutions. Sometimes it's better to allow an employee to carry out his decision than yours (objectively better). The enthusiasm with which people implement their ideas is a powerful catalyst. Perhaps his idea, embodied with enthusiasm, will turn out to be better than your idea, embodied with despondency.
Brute force technique
In addition, you can use such a speech technique as enumeration technique. In practice, it might look something like this. The manager asks: “What ideas do you have about the contract with Alpha?” “I’m thinking of going to them myself,” the employee replies. The manager doesn't like this idea. "What other thoughts do you have?" he asks. “You can send Petrova. She has excellent contact with their director,” says the employee. "Good," the manager replies. - It's a great idea! (The leader likes this idea more, but it seems to him that not all the possibilities of dialogue have been exhausted). But, for sure, this is not all that you have. “We will see them tomorrow at the exhibition,” the flattered employee replies, “everything can be decided at the buffet table.” “Listen, this is brilliant,” says the leader. - I knew you'd offer something special. Be sure to tell me how great it turned out for you!”
In the above dialogue, we see the use of several techniques at once: the active listening technique (which in itself is worthy of a separate topic), the enumeration technique and, importantly, the skill of giving positive feedback. Ordinary average managers tend to give negative feedback. While everything is going well, managers will not let the employee know that he is doing well. As soon as he makes a mistake, they immediately point it out to him, often hurting his honor and dignity.
Great managers behave differently. When a subordinate does something wrong, they tell him about it, but in terms of their own feelings. “I'm so worried,” they say, “that your deal fell through. I am very upset, it does not give me peace. I will be happy if you do your best to change the situation for the better.” When a subordinate performs well, great leaders look for every opportunity to give him positive feedback. To use the words of Kenneth Blanchard, great managers are constantly trying to "trap the subordinate in something good." Upon discovering any success, they immediately praise the subordinate.
Explain or learn
Ordinary managers are more likely to supply their subordinates with information. It usually looks like this. The manager calls the employee to him and says: “I have information that Beta has problems with working capital. Be careful with shipments to them, they can stop paying at any moment.” In the case of an outstanding manager, the conversation will proceed differently. “How are you, Alexei Petrovich,” he asks his subordinate, “I don’t like the situation with Beta, Gamma and Delta firms. I think they have some problems. I tried to make inquiries: they had difficulties with the fiscal organizations, and they are forced to spend part of their working capital on organizing their defense. What are you thinking of doing?" “We have split deliveries into smaller ones, we track each payment for these companies.” “Great solution,” the manager uses the principle of positive feedback. “You are absolutely correct.”
Let's pay attention: the manager asked only open-ended questions, i.e. questions that need to be answered not “yes”, “no”, but questions that can be answered in detail - another skill characteristic of an outstanding manager. But what if the subordinate does not say anything about the company "Beta"? Obviously continue the series of open questions. If we do not wait for the coverage of this issue, we should focus the topic in such a way, for example: “What do you think about the Beta company, Alexey Petrovich? How are things going with her lately?" And what to do, you ask, if we never hear anything about this company? The fact of the matter is that when delegating authority and responsibility, the conditional Alexei Petrovich is much more likely to know something about the state of the partner firms than the manager, who must cover a much wider range of problems, flying his "helicopter" high above the clients , suppliers, banking and other stakeholders significant to the firm.
“Ordinary managers” try to protect their subordinates from significant information, giving them this information not even in a teaspoon per hour, but by dropping a few drops from a pipette when it is impossible to do without it. Accordingly, not having knowledge of the situation, subordinates often make wrong decisions, are not motivated, their responsibility is low, they do not look for information themselves, acting on the principle “the master will come, the master will tell us.” Or not tell, but rather even judge. Our business is small, a hut on the edge.
For outstanding managers in delegating organizations, the situation is different. Subordinates have maximum access to information, except for the most terrible secrets. Their search for information is strongly encouraged. Their decisions become better, motivation and responsibility are higher, and 125 people will always collect more information than one. In moments of communication, the leader tries to collect information from subordinates, and not to supply them with it.
Zone of Proximal Development
The famous psychologist Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (1896-1934) coined the term ZPD: the zone of proximal development. Imagine a staircase with many steps. To climb it, you have to step from step to step. You can, of course, jump over one or two, if your talent allows. However, you can overcome several floors at once only by elevator or helicopter. Life sometimes throws up such opportunities, but rarely. Besides, life is not a ladder; there you have to be able to get used to each next floor. Therefore, it becomes better to become a millionaire gradually, and not in a lottery, and not with the help of an inheritance. Most of these life bonuses are lost by those who acquired them in a short time, because there is no skill in handling them.
The zone of proximal development is the next step in your self-development, career, in the service hierarchy. It is good to be aware at every moment, in relation to each case, on which step you are and where you want to get to. The ZPD should be constantly outlined for oneself and boldly step into it as soon as an opportunity presents itself.
The idea of “Better for a year than for five” is in contact with the idea of ZPD. According to this idea, people who are five years ahead of their time, let alone a hundred or a thousand, have a high probability of failing. A Formula 1 car is not needed where there is no road. A business consultant is not required where the business itself has not yet appeared. Forming needs, of course, is good, but it's better to come to a place where this need has already begun to form or even formed - and then you jump out from around the corner with a finished product. If no one has heard about the product, you need to invest a lot of money in its promotion. All this also applies to your career and your development.
