4 Questions a Manager Should Ask (and 1 They Shouldn’t)

Sales reps are … well … different.

Managers need to understand that. They think they do, but they don’t.

On a call with a company president last week, I heard something unique:

“I appreciate my sales reps. I just don’t understand them enough to lead them properly.”

This. Was. Huge.

Admitting you know what you don’t know is a far cry from believing you know but you really don’t.

You know?

Managers need to ask their reps four questions in order to best support them:

1. What do you need from me?
2. What do you need from the company?
3. What are your top priorities for the week?
4. What is the best time for us to meet on a regular basis?

These four questions get to the heart of effective sales management. Asked weekly, they keep the focus where it should be as opposed to this, the worst question a manager can ask:

“Did you sell anything today?”

Mark Twain once said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt.”

In other words, managers/presidents/owners who don’t ask the right questions should ask none at all, stay in their lane, and leave the sales force alone.

Bill Farquharson has had a more bad managers than good. Actually, there was only one decent managers. The others sucked. Anywho, he can be reached at 781-934-7036 or BillFarquharson.com.