Smart Sales Manager

About the Author

Josiane Chriqui Feigon is a pioneer and maverick in the inside sales community. Recognized among the Top 25 Most Influential Inside Sales Professionals, she is one of the world's leading experts on inside sales team and management talent. Her book, Smart Sales Manager: The Ultimate Playbook for Building and Running a High-Performance Inside Sales Team, provides indispensable guidance for navigating the complexities of modern sales management. Feigon's extensive experience and innovative insights have made her a sought-after speaker and consultant, helping organizations worldwide achieve sales excellence.

Main Idea

In Smart Sales Manager, Josiane Chriqui Feigon addresses the evolving landscape of inside sales in the Sales 2.0 ecosystem. The book emphasizes the need for sales managers to adapt to new tools, metrics, and prospecting rules, as well as to manage and motivate a tech-savvy, millennial workforce. Feigon provides a comprehensive playbook for building and leading a high-performance inside sales team, offering strategies for hiring, training, coaching, and leveraging digital communications and social selling techniques.

Table of Contents

1. The New Normal: Managing the Sales 2.0 Ecosystem
   • Customer 2.0 Is Mad as Hell!
   • Decoding Customer 2.0
   • Talent 2.0: Why Millennials Make a Winning Team
   • Tool Power 2.0: Sales 2.0 at Work
2. The Compassionate Manager 2.0: Your Playbook for Building an Effective Hiring, Training, and Coaching Ecosystem
   • Hiring Superheroes
   • Training the Talent
   • Ready, Set, Coach!
   • Metrics 2.0: Call Activity Gets a Makeover
3. Motivate Fast! Smart Strategies for Team Meetings
   • Flex Your Influence!
   • Contests, Spiffs, and Texts
   • Tough Talks: Smart Strategies and Interventions

Analyzing and Explaining Each Idea

The New Normal: Managing the Sales 2.0 Ecosystem

The Sales 2.0 ecosystem is a dynamic and rapidly changing environment. Traditional sales techniques are becoming obsolete, and sales managers must adapt to new methods and tools. Feigon introduces the concept of Customer 2.0—busy, mobile, and self-sufficient buyers who prefer doing their own research over interacting with salespeople. This shift requires a new approach to sales, where understanding and meeting the customer's needs becomes paramount.

Customer 2.0 Is Mad as Hell!

Today's customers are highly independent and digitally savvy. They no longer rely on salespeople to make purchasing decisions, leading to frustration among sales teams accustomed to more direct selling methods. Feigon explains that sales managers must understand these new buying behaviors and adjust their strategies accordingly. She emphasizes that salespeople should stop being intrusive and instead focus on providing value through engaging and relevant content.

"Today's busy prospects are independent, self-sufficient, and self-educated. These hardworking multitaskers don't want to be crowded and held in a sales headlock." – Josiane Chriqui Feigon

Decoding Customer 2.0

Feigon deciphers the key messages often conveyed by modern customers and provides coaching tips for sales managers to handle these situations effectively. For instance, when a customer says, "Stop harassing me with meeting requests," it indicates the need for better appointment-setting strategies. Sales teams should nurture relationships with valuable content and secure appointments through social media engagement.

• Appointment setting involves nurturing with contagious content and confirming appointments through social media.
• Providing engaging video content is more effective than lengthy white papers for modern customers.
• Demonstrating ROI and sharing case studies can alleviate the customer's fear of taking risks.

Talent 2.0: Why Millennials Make a Winning Team

Feigon highlights the unique characteristics of Millennial salespeople, describing them as ambitious, tech-savvy, and eager for career advancement. She advises sales managers to harness this potential by providing clear career paths, leveraging their social networking skills, and encouraging innovative sales approaches.

"The Millennial Generation brings a renewed sense of economic optimism, a tone of extreme self-confidence, and an acute desire to challenge the traditional ways of business." – Josiane Chriqui Feigon

• Define clear career paths to align with Millennials' ambition and need for advancement.
• Guide Millennials on using professional networking sites effectively.
• Capitalize on their affinity for social networking to enhance sales outreach.

Tool Power 2.0: Sales 2.0 at Work

In the Sales 2.0 world, leveraging the right tools is critical. Feigon outlines various tools essential for different stages of the sales cycle, from time management to closing deals. These tools not only improve efficiency but also help sales teams connect with customers more effectively.