Shared Sales Manager Might Work For Some Small Businesses

To achieve revenue growth goals shared sales management might work for small businesses CEOs looking for innovative solutions.

While for some traditional CEOs this business model might be a big leap it does have many advantages, says Rene Zamora, Founder, Sales Manager Now.

According to Zamora, for starters, this approach requires them to consider hiring someone who is not captive to the firm.

At the same time, she adds, it can fill the need for a top notch, proven successful sales manager without breaking the bank.

Often they are sharing success strategies that are working for other companies, she says.

Zamora offers these thoughts on when to consider a shared sales manager: With this scenario in mind, a shared sales management approach just might be a workable solution under the following conditions:

• The company has a supportive sales culture, but it’s been difficult to lure or retain talented, proven sales management full time. Often, looking at the sales management role through a paradigm of difficulties, owners or CEOs don’t realize the job as portrayed may not be challenging enough for the most talented prospects.
• The company has hit a ceiling in growth and is now prepared to do something different to push past it.
• The company has expert product knowledge that resides throughout the organization or via a trusted vendor, not just in the head of one person.
• The company doesn’t have a true champion who focuses on sales conversations, attitudes, activities, root causes and department culture. As Peter Drucker once said, “culture eats strategy for lunch.” If you can’t change a culture, then any other improvements may be short-lived before employees fall back into bad habits.
• The company owners are prepared for a high trust level arrangement with a key leader of the team not working in the office.

Similar to using an outside resource to perform essential internal management roles such as a chief human resources officer or a chief financial officer, a shared sales management model is a growing trend. Yet, taking advantage of a shared sales management system requires CEOs to be innovative.

Why? Because it necessitates a mindset shift and creative approach to addressing a company’s inability to pay professional sales management personnel adequately or retain them because the job is just not challenging enough to keep high-powered personnel around. For these reasons, the concept is gaining traction.

Rene Zamora is the author of Part Time Sales Management for Small Business Sales Teams and is the founder of Sales Manager Now.