Bloggy Business Today

Any business entity would resolve to hiring qualified people with good background and experience.  Some entities process the hiring by giving series of tests, through evaluations and ratings.  For some, they prefer promoting people from within the organization than hiring new ones. Read the rest of this entry »

The word bondservant during the ancient days is comparable to the word employee today.  They are of the same principle.  The code of conduct for the righteous employee can be found running counter to present society, which has adapted the theme “my rights”. Read the rest of this entry »

Any business entity would resolve to hiring qualified people with good background and experience.  Some entities process the hiring by giving series of tests, through evaluations and ratings.  For some, they prefer promoting people from within the organization than hiring new ones.

Whether an employee is picked by intuition or by formal assessment, there are some people who get selected for favored treatment.  Promoting an employee however, can cause conflicts and maybe difficult to handle.

Considering the said issues, any subordinate can still be given the opportunity to grow and be promoted as a continuing office practice.  The upgrading system from within the organization also creates a highly-spirited working environment because of strong competition among employees.  But there is the need to minimize the risk of special treatment for favored candidate for promotion and this can be done through the following suggestions.

1.)    Selection of employees to be promoted must be done fairly, bearing in mind of the company’s requirements and qualifications in the selection process.

2.)    Be honest and frank when there is someone given special treatment and ensure that the candidate is willing to accept the job and the responsibilities attached to it.

3.)    Do not forget that there are other capable high-performing subordinates that can be tapped for upgrading or promotion.

4.)     Favoritism can only be acceptable when the favored candidate has the qualities everyone in the organization will recognize as desirable and deserving promotable status as a clear cause for advancement.

Selecting favored employees for promotion entails a lot of well thought decision to avoid risking ones credibility in judgement.

As leader of a sales team, a sales manager is expected to motivate in order to achieve sales goals, to manage and solve problems fast and objectively, to fairly discipline erring subordinates.  Most importantly, sales managers need to inspire teamwork and cooperation while maintaining the interest of every member to perform their best.

Enumerated is the second and last series of some pointers which can help a sales manager to also become an effective leader:

• Encourage salespeople to set their own goal.  Salespeople usually set their personal goals higher than what the manager does.
  • Have salespeople write down their goals;
  • Work with the salespeople to make sure their set goals are realistic and attainable.
• Conduct joint field activities with the salespeople at least once a week.
  • This will give the opportunity to see how they are doing with their sales presentations.
  • Give feedback whether it being positive or negative.  Commend what they are doing right and correct what they are doing wrong.
  • Show genuine interest in what they are doing.
• Do the power of role playing.  Sales meeting should be for learning and practicing sales techniques.  Role playing should involve everyone and promote team spirit as it educates.
• Handle conflicts between two people objectively.  Bring them together in the office so that they can both tell their stories in front of each other.  As a result, be able to gather a more truthful version of the situation and eliminate back stabbing and rumor mongering.
• Have salespeople listen to sales or motivational tapes in sales meetings.  This can help boost their morale particularly when faced with rejection.

The new breed of sales managers see situation in a broader scope than the salespeople does.  Authoritative style does not work anymore to today’s salespeople.  The salespeople of today respond to a teacher, a team builder, a coach.

Read: Attention: Sales Managers – Part 1

One of the challenges encountered by every manager is dealing with employees’ personal problems.

While the manager makes sure that the subordinate is capable of performing the assigned tasks, he must also avoid getting involved in any arguments or conflicts related to the personal life of the subordinates.

A manager can still manage to handle a troubled subordinate with sympathy and encouragement while making sure that the objectives and the company’s best interest will still be the focus.

Martin M. Broadwell, trainer and educator from Georgia suggest some approaches to managers on how to maintain balance in handling a scenario that will cause embarrassment to the employee or violate working relationship.

The first step the manager has to do is to specify the differences between the company working standards and the subordinate’s actual performance. Then ask what action should be initiated to improve performance.

This is the moment wherein the manager gives opportunity to the subordinate to disclose the problem, may it be personal or work related. The subordinate should feel the manager’s sincerity to listen without imposing.

As such, any employee who feels the sincerity of his manager’s concern and willingness to help may be encouraged to reveal the problem.

The next step is to determine the kind of problem the subordinate disclosed. If the problem is personal, it is best to refer the subordinate to experienced individuals who is an expert in handling the identified problem.

If the problem is about poor performance, a receptive manager can bring back the employee into performing based on standard through support and guidance.