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“I’d like you to consider taking over as Vice President of Sales.” I can still hear those words ringing in my ears more than 20 years after they were uttered by the man who is my mentor to this day.

At the time, he was president of the company and had called me into his office one afternoon in early 1995. Was I in trouble? Had I done something wrong? He and I had a great relationship, but a closed-door, spur-of-the moment meeting was a bit strange.

“Uh, I’m not sure … are you …” I stuttered and stammered for a few moments trying to let what I had just heard sink in. “I’m not bucking for a promotion right now,” I can remember managing to get out through the hemming and hawing.

“I realize that. But, I want you to take over the entire sales department.”

I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t my goal, but now? I hadn’t even been with the company for a decade yet and had entered below the lowest rung on the ladder. In fact, I couldn’t even see the ladder. I got promoted twice before I found the ladder. I’d only been a division sales manager for a few years at the time.

Being a vice president was part of my goal, but not necessarily this fast.

The tone of his voice let me know this was a bit more than a request – it was a challenge. It was time to get in the game or shrink back to the bench. “I’m really not trying to take anyone else’s job, I’m just trying to do the best I can as a division sales manager.”

His next words let me know it was now or never: “If you don’t do this, I’m going to have to hire someone else who will.” And so began my career in sales management.

I inherited an entire sales department of more than 25 people, most of whom had been with the company or in the industry a lot longer than I had. I took over with no direction, no roadmap, no instruction book, and really no past experience to draw from. To say I was flying blind is an understatement.

If I was going to learn to be a leader, I was going to have to go with gut instinct and make it up as I went. I didn’t have a fall-back plan and failure wasn’t an option. I’d been hired at 21, been made division sales manager at 25, and now, at not even 30, I was being handed the job of managing a sales department generating about $75 million a year in sales.

“Do you think I’m ready?” I asked.

“If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

I took the job. And through a lot of missteps, mistakes, and complete meltdowns, grew that company to more than a quarter-of-a-billion dollars a year in sales before acquiring controlling interest in the company with a business partner just five short years later.

I always wished I had a book in which to look things up. Now, I give you what I never had.

About This Book

You’re holding the book I always wished I had. In it you’ll find real-world experience drawn from many years (more than I care to remember) and even more mistakes while I was suffering through a lot of OJT. (For those of you new to the world of management, OJT stands for On the Job Training.)

This book truly is my gift to you: my experiences, lessons learned, and all the broken bones and skinned knees of learning to manage a sales team laid bare. I won’t tell you this book will keep you from making any mistakes – we both know it won’t. But, it can help you learn from the ones I made and minimize the ones you have to experience firsthand.

Throughout the book I use real-world stories and situations I believe you can relate to. I use a lot of sports analogies because I think a sports coach is as close to a sales manager as you can get. The two share similar philosophies, goals, and ideals.

Some of the examples I use may describe the exact situation you face, and you can see how I handled it – and whether that was the right call. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t close!

If you’re like most managers, you’ve said to yourself more than once, “I’ll bet this never happened to anybody else.” Well, yeah, it did. It happens to everyone. All that stuff you think is exclusive to you isn’t.

All sales managers go through similar if not identical situations. And all sales managers tend to think they’re the only one who has to deal with their particular issues. Just wait until you go to a trade show or industry function and talk to other managers – you’ll come home thinking, “Wow, I’m glad I’m not that guy!”

I attempt to paint you a picture of the world of sales management, and that picture isn’t always pretty. There are ups and downs, highs and lows – but I can say without hesitation I have never wanted to do anything else. You represent the greatest profession on earth. Unfortunately, there is a low barrier of entry into sales and it seems as if anyone thinks he can just “go be a salesman.”

As you probably know, it takes a strong, disciplined, creative sales manager to make things work. Anyone can call himself a salesperson, but that doesn’t make him a professional salesperson. That’s where you come in. You’re the reason I wrote this book – so you can help me create more professional salespeople in this world. That’s what I ask of you in exchange for all these years of knowledge and experience: Help me produce more professional salespeople in this world.

I use the term salesperson throughout the book. Let me say upfront that I’ve found that great salespeople and duds come in both genders. I alternate pronouns with each chapter: even-numbered chapters use female pronouns and males get the odd-numbered chapters.

Although my experience was primarily in business-to-business sales, I worked hard to include those of you in retail sales and other business-to-consumer organizations. From automobiles to … to … well, something that starts with a z, I try to include everyone.

Also, this book isn’t written just for those who are managing world-wide teams doing hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. You can certainly benefit, if that describes you, but my advice is also applicable to managers whose sales team consists of herself and a part-timer. Hey, you have to start somewhere.

Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy – just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

Any time an author writes a book, they have to make certain assumptions about the reader – and I did. My first assumption is you’re a sales manager (or you’re about to become one) who wants to improve your performance and the performance of your sales team. I assume you understand the sales process and the role you – the sales manager play in it. But, perhaps my biggest assumption is that you know there are things you don’t know. You understand there are things you still have to learn, questions you need answered and a guiding light through some tough situations.

If that sounds like you – I’m glad we met.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book, I use certain icons to call your attention to specific text. These are the places where your highlighter generally comes into use. Here’s what they each mean:

This is a tip from me to you. This entire book is filled with useful information, but there are times I want you to be aware of a certain passage. These little tips are your chance to learn from my experience.

Again, I hope you find the entire book memorable. Heck, I want you to highlight the whole thing. But, when you see this icon, pay close attention. Whether you need it now or not, this denotes something I believe is worth filing in your mental bank.

Pay special attention when you see this one; it’s called “Warning” for a reason. These will save you time, money, embarrassment, and heartache. I know from experience.

I use this icon for situations and passages of text where you may think you know the answer, but I want to make sure. These are things my late mother would have prefaced with, “I’ve got news for you, young man.” Well, you get the picture.

Beyond the Book

In addition to all the information regarding becoming a great sales manager included within these pages (or in the e-book) I put together a few little bonuses that you can access any time, anywhere on the web. I include some questions to ask when hiring a new salesperson, offer advice on how to handle conflict between two salespeople, and give you several more goodies at www.dummies.com. Just click over to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/salesmanagement and see what all I have for you there.

You can also access some bonus material at my website, including a free digital copy of my previous book, The 10 Essential Habits of Sales Superstars: Plugging into the Power of Ten, by going to www.butchbellah.com/free10habits.

On top of several hundred blog posts on sales, sales management, and more at my website at butchbellah.com, you can also find out information and sample videos on my speaking at butchbellah.com/speaking and information and ways to contact me regarding sales training at butchbellah.com/coaching-and-training.

Finally, I’d love to hear from you, the sales managers making a difference in this world. Share your stories of triumph and tragedy (hopefully more of the former) by emailing me at butch@butchbellah.com.

Where to Go from Here

This book wasn’t written with the idea that you’d sit down with it and read it cover-to-cover in one sitting – unable to put it down. It doesn’t have any wizards, vampires, or zombies, and I didn’t have the opportunity to kill off a main character during the slow parts to keep you interested. (I am the main character so that was definitely out of the question.)

Here’s the good part: You don’t even have to like to read to get something out of it. It’s not really designed to be used as a textbook or something you sit beside your bed like the latest novel of romance story. In fact, you’re probably not going to read it cover-to-cover and that’s okay. You can start anywhere – just pick a spot and jump in.

This book is assembled so you can easily find the chapter or heading on what issue you’re facing right now. Read it, absorb it, highlight it, and then keep it nearby to be referred to the next time a fire is ablaze and you’re searching for an extinguisher.

However, if you want a suggested place to start (especially if you ever want a suggestion), check out Chapter 4, where I guide you through assessing what you have to work with in your organization right now, or Chapter 7, where I dive into the fun of training your team.