The Sales Management. Simplified. Podcast with Mike Weinberg

In this podcast, Mike Weinberg discusses the importance of sales managers helping salespeople conduct effective sales calls. He highlights common mistakes made by salespeople and challenges managers to raise their game in coaching sellers. Mike emphasizes the importance of preparation and provides a free Pre-Call Planning Checklist. The podcast also includes discussions on a negative experience with Southwest Airlines, positive survey results from a sales leadership event, and development opportunities for sales managers.

Exploring the challenges and mindset shifts when transitioning from salesperson to sales manager, including learning to win through others, moving from a selfish to a selfless mentality, and balancing individual production with leading a team. The host expresses gratitude for the success of his book, The First Time Manager Sales, and discusses the importance of proactive developmental coaching for sales managers.

This is an episode like no other. It's launch day for Mike's new book and you can hear the excitement in his voice! Proclaiming with a smile that this book took 34 years to write, he remarks how odd it sounded hearing these words come out of his mouth in a recent interview: "This is my very best book." Unprepared for the interviewer's follow-up asking why he felt this way, Mike gave this unrehearsed, honest answer: "With no disrespect to Sales Management. Simplified. (because that's the book that positioned me to do all of this work helping sales executives and front-line sales managers), the reality is I've basically worked nonstop for eight years and have had the opportunity to speak with, coach, and consult countless sales leaders on five continents. I learned a ton and with this new book I was able to distill my writing down to the bare essentials and include only what is absolutely necessary for sales management success. The First-Time Manager: Sales is my best book because all of this experience provided absolute proof of what works and what doesn't when it comes to leading sales teams, creating healthy, high-performance cultures, and driving sales results." While the publisher asked Mike to write The First-Time Manager: Sales for newer and first-time leaders as part of a series, the truth is that according to executives who have read it, this book is the perfect resource whether… you lead a sales team... you lead managers who lead sales teams... you're a senior executive over sales executives... you support sales leaders... you are an individual contributor salesperson considering or aspiring to a management role... Tune in for more of the backstory of why Mike wrote the book, why it's his shortest and favorite book yet, and what you can expect reading/listening to it. Grab your printed, Kindle, or Audible copy HERE. For a sneak peek at what your sales leader colleague's had to say after reading an advance copy, and for the contents, introduction and a sample chapter, click HERE.

In this podcast, sales leader Drew Ellis shares insights on the discipline required to succeed as a sales manager, including the power of focus and prioritization. They also discuss effective time management strategies such as using a color-coded calendar and saying no. The importance of maintaining mental and emotional well-being is emphasized, along with tips for managing pressure and maintaining work-life balance.

The podcast explores the #1 reason why sales teams struggle to bring in new business. It discusses the common challenges faced by sales teams and emphasizes the need to prioritize high-payoff activities. The chapter highlights the struggle salespeople face in developing new business and suggests that leaders should reevaluate their priorities and hold sales teams accountable.

As we near the conclusion of this series covering common sales leadership sins, Mike tackles two biggies in Episode 56: Anti-Sales Cultures and Searching for the Secret Sauce. Years ago, Mike asked the CEO of the company with the healthiest sales culture he'd ever observed for his secret. This CEO replied, "Everything flows from culture" and went on to declare that their sales culture was, in fact, the company's secret sauce. In this episode Mike reminds listeners that culture, particularly sales culture, can be an unstoppable force (either for good or for bad!). He describes what it was like working in two incredibly healthy, positive, pro-sales cultures, and he also shares horror stories from two of the worst anti-sales cultures he's come across – one where he worked and one where he consulted. Buckle up as Mike reads the no-holds-barred letter he sent to an executive team calling out their disdain for the sales organization and the inappropriate ways they blamed salespeople when things went wrong and categorically denied them credit when things were good. Mike also tackles how too many sales leaders live with constant FOMO, fearful that they're missing out on some new secret sauce, shortcut, or hack for driving more sales and offers a not-so-subtle reminder that he's never seen a sales leader or sales team struggle or fail because they didn't have the latest and greatest cool, new tool. Resources and Links Mentioned in Episode 56: Mike's viral LinkedIn post about the release of his newest book Fall Sales Leadership Coaching Cohort info The New Sales. Simplified. Video Coaching Series (course) October 3rd Supercharge Your Sales Leadership Event (only 8 seats remaining)

Continuing this series tackling common sales leadership sins, Mike challenges us to pull back the covers and take a hard look at ALL the things we are asking our salespeople to do. He also makes the strong case that it's really hard to win big in sales management when you have the wrong people in the wrong roles. Beware: Mike does not hold back putting HR people and executives on the stand asking difficult questions about their flowery, feel-good job descriptions and what feels like an insatiable desire to put kind, gentle, collaborative team-players in sales roles… Even sales roles that require developing significant new business…Roles where just about every highly successful top producing seller exhibits these two characteristics: They Are Intensely Competitive They Are Not Conflict Averse (they don't shy away from a fight) Take a listen as Mike debunks the myth of the highly relational, collaborative sales superstar, makes the case that SALES MANAGERS' LIVES AND JOBS WILL BE MUCH EASIER WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE ON THEIR TEAMS, and challenges us to consider whether we are overloading our salespeople with so many tasks and responsibilities that we are actually hindering their ability to sell and bring in the new business we need! Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Supercharge Your Sales Leadership Full-Day Intensive (mikeweinberg.com/events) Six-Month Sales Leadership Coaching Cohort (mikeweinberg.com/leadercohort) Episode 12: Ask Candidates These 7 Intriguing Questions to Upgrade Your Interviews

In Episode 54 Mike continues the series on Common Sales Leadership Sins, and this time he touches the "third rail" — compensation! If you have complacent salespeople, Mike argues that the very first place to look is at the compensation plan... And he claims to be the very first person to discover and publicly declare that the words COMPensation and COMPlacency start with the same four letters! As the sales leader, you may be the very best at selecting and developing talent, arming, equipping, and enabling your team, coaching on sales skills and deals, and even at holding people accountable, BUT if your sales comp plan is incentivizing the wrong behaviors and is not driving the desired results, then you have a massive problem. Mike unpacks his three big pet peeves when it comes to comp plans: 1. Plans that are too flat (not enough difference between what top and bottom-performers "earn") 2. "Commission Annuities" (commission in name only, commission that really isn't variable, or paying people in perpetuity to service/renew accounts for deals that were sold years ago) 3. Not rewarding New Sales (paying the same rate/percentage in variable comp for renewing/servicing existing business as for the heavy lifting to develop true new business - major cross-sell/up-sell victories or acquiring net new customers) Resources mentioned in this episode: Mike's Article: 4 Very Common Causes for Lack of New Opportunity Creation Supercharge Your Sales Leadership, October Event in Atlanta. Only 2 VIP and 21 full-day intensive spots remain available

In Episode 53 Mike resumes the series on Common Sales Leadership Sins by tackling two biggies: 1. Desk (and CRM/screen) Jockey Sales Management 2. Not coaching and mentoring salespeople Prepare to be challenged about your priorities as Mike asks you to open your calendars for a time (and gut) check on whether there is enough evidence to convict you of being a people-development-focused sales leader. Too many frontline sales leaders are cheating themselves of what should be one of the most satisfying and results-driving parts of their job — helping their people get better at doing their own jobs! Buckle up for a dose of blunt sales management truth that you cannot effectively lead a team staring at analytics, dashboards, or CRM screens. Salespeople win by connecting with other humans. What makes us think we can lead and develop them with our heads buried in data or via email? From the Heart: After concluding the episode Mike took a few minutes to share personally about two losses he just experienced with the passing of his step grandmother and a meaningful spiritual influence in his life, Tim Keller. Resources, Posts, Events mentioned in this episode: JUST ANNOUNCED: The next Supercharge Your Sales Leadership event: October 3rd, Atlanta. More info at mikeweinberg.com/events Mike's article from the 2020 World Series: This MLB Manager Blew It Relying on Analytics Rather Than His Eyes Episode 13: Game Changing Lessons from My World-Class Golf Coach

In Episode 52 Mike takes a break from the current series on sales leadership sins to host fellow St. Louisan and sales rockstar, Carson Heady. Carson is a managing director in Microsoft's US Health Solutions business and was a highly decorated, multi-year award winning salesperson and Microsoft's Social Selling Lead prior to taking on his current leadership assignment. Carson self-describes as perpetual optimist, resourceful problem eliminator and an outcome driver! He's also a podcast host and author of two Amazon bestsellers, Birth of Salesman and Salesman on Fire. Mike invited him on the show after an enlightening lunch conversation where Carson shared what it's been like leading his team through recent turbulent times in the world of tech. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation that pivots from leading through uncertainty and "controlling what you can control" to mastering social selling. And prepare for your mouth to drop when Carson shares how many different contacts he engaged enroute to closing the biggest enterprise deal of his career. Carson Heady on Linkedin ________________________________________ Last Call: Take advantage of this once-per-year special on Mike's most focused course to help sharpen your most critical sales weapon – YOUR SALES STORY. 40% OFF through May 3rd at mikeweinberg.com/your-sales-story/