A note on my experiences leading young managers in their first few years as sales managers...

1. Why Young Sales Managers Sometimes Fail
Last night was a rather emotional night. It was my farewell. As the evening meandered into the
wee hours of the morning, I found myself reflecting on some of the experiences I have had over
the years. Why I struggled through my initial years? Why young sales managers struggle
through their initial years? Not really bad managers, but so many whose initial performance
and leadership though adequate, is uninspired and uninspiring, and who simply don't seem to
be able to produce a team of successful, capable and entrepreneurial field force? This is truer in
my personal capacity than anyone else I know. I was a disastrous manager in my first 18
months as I muddled through some of the mistakes I will list later in this note. While there may
not be an easy answer to what makes a world class sales manager, I sure as hell know what
makes a bad one, having been one. I have spent 5 months as a BLT in Madhya Pradesh, 30
months as a sales manager in Karnataka, 25 months as a regional sales manager, and 15
months in the sales center of excellence and 18 months as a customer marketer. I have seen
over 30 sales managers at close quarters and the progress of many managers from their early
days in the organization as BLT through to leadership roles later in their career. I know a thing
or two about sales and leadership. So here goes my attempt to share some thoughts on this
question.
Right on top of the list is the attempt to be a ‘stereotype’ HUL ASCM. A very serious fault, this,
and fairly common among managers who, either because of inexperience or unsuitability for
job, are insecure. The organization has minted world class leaders for years on end, and the ‘HLL
Way’ of doing things is at times quite overwhelming for a young manager starting out in a
large organization. This need to be ‘the ASM’ results in a desperate attempt to play the tune in
different keys to different people, hoping that one will sound right. One day the manager will
thunder, "Do it or you will be in trouble!" If this doesn't work then on the next day the same
manager will purr, "Please do it, or I will be in trouble!" A manager who blows hot and cold like
this loses all respect and engenders a cynical attitude in his team.
The second stumbling block is the tendency to have a single view - the salesman's point of
view. The manager was once a salesman himself, while in training, and the temptation is great
to take the salesman's side against the company in any confrontation, no matter what the facts
are. After all, the salesman is a person, easy to relate to and identify with, while the company is
an impersonal, monolithic giant. There is also a sneaky feeling that standing up for the
salesman is an easy way to get the whole team on your side, loyal and steadfast against THE
COMPANY. Alternatively you are young and you strongly believe you need to fight for your
people. You need to find a fine balance between taking the TSO’s point of view and between
espousing and championing for the company’s point of view whenever these are in conflict. The
choice almost always needs to be based on an objective recognition of reality and your value
system.
Some go the other extreme. They fail to represent the salesman. This seems to be a complete
contradiction of what I have just written, but there is a distinction to be made between taking
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2. the salesman's side against the company (which is inexcusable) and truly representing the sales
team to the company when there are suggestions, ideas, problems, or genuine grievances to be
addressed. This is a failure in upward communication, and it happens because the manager
fears that his own position will be jeopardized. This is a very dangerous breakdown in
communication. People quickly resent it if they feel that their manager is afraid to act as their
spokesman to the top. People leave the company and, as always it is the good people who go.
Insecurity often finds great comfort in hiding behind higher authority. That brings me to what
must be one of the most stupid mistakes young managers make. Overwhelmed by the size and
scope of the assignment and afraid to take responsibility for an instruction themselves, they
will say," This has got to be done - the big boss says so." Some of the more recent refrains I
have heard make it even more inanimate – “THE CDLT has DECIDED”. This clearly implies, "I
don't personally agree with this instruction, but it comes from on high and I suppose it has got
to be done." Terrible! And the consequences are just as terrible: a sulky and rebellious team.
What would you think of a man who, if he doesn't agree with an order from the top, won't
fight it at the top? You are more likely to earn the respect of your team by making a strong
representation, and telling them that you are now fully aligned to the course of action.
One of the most critical areas where a new manager falls short is their failure to set standards.
I would ever punish Aidan or Dylan for drawing on the walls of the house if I had not first made
it clear that such an expression of artistic genius was unacceptable, yet many managers blame
their people for not complying with policies and procedures when these have not have been
spelled out in the first place. Your team has a right to know what you expect of them, and their
performance depends greatly on how well you set out the standards you expect him to follow.
The faster your team gets your standards, your values, your belief systems, the better.
Another emergent trait from a fundamental insecurity is the futile attempt to try to please
everybody. Faced with conflict between two people, or two departments, they try to find a
solution which will not offend either party. There is only one solution and that is the right one,
and it often offends one side or the other. Very well, this is where human relationships come in.
But authentic human relationships are not about soft-pedaling in order to please everyone.
Effective leadership is not about winning a popularity contest. What usually happens with the
compromise solution is that we please nobody - and we still don't have the right solution.
Finally and most importantly, many young managers fail to set an example. That probably is the
real secret of why managers fail. They fail because (and this is the last time I shall say it) you
cannot fool the people who work for you, and unless you practice what you preach, your
preaching will be in vain. Ralph Waldo Emerson was on the money when he said - There are
only three ways to teach - by example, by example, by example. Alan Deutschman is spot on
listing numerous examples in his book – Walk the Walk.
We often talk of the importance of planning and organization and our people can see that we
ourselves do not plan and are not organized. We preach that we should always put people first
and yet keep people waiting till well beyond office hours for a five minute chat. We stress that
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3. the company pays them for a full working day and they see us arriving late and leaving early.
We hammer them for a poor company attitude and after three drinks on a Friday night; we
start a diatribe against the company with the whole team as audience.
Marcus Buckingham will argue that there is one fundamental insight that can support
everything that I have said before. While I don’t have the luxury of a few million research
questionnaires and interviews, I will hazard a guess. The one reason young managers fails is
their inability to live in consistency with that they are saying. You are in the limelight, right
there in the centre of the stage, visible to your team at all times, and believe it, they are
watching you. I discovered to my utter horror that some of my sales team would call my area
stenographer to ascertain what time I would come in to office. I would always insist on being
at the RS point at 9:00 in the morning, and they were looking to check whether it was a façade
or just my way of being. You must be above reproach. You stand on a higher level than theirs,
and they expect you to conform to higher standards. It is the burden of leadership, but one that
you must learn to shoulder with responsibility and conviction.
We all know that top management expects more of us than it does of the sales force, but what
we often forget is that the sales force expects it too, and unless they see it, clearly and
constantly, they lose faith in us, and they resent it when they find that the feet of their idol are
solid clay. That is the bad news.
The good news, and you are surely intelligent enough to figure it out, is that all we need to do
is turn this picture around. If managers fail because they don't set an example, is it true that
managers succeed because they do?
Yes, Yes, Yes! My experience of the last 10 years has put me in close and continual contact
with young managers. I know them. I know how they think and how they act. I know their
triumphs and disasters, their weaknesses and their strengths. I know their deepest fears, the
things that keep them up at night. Among these young managers are those who don't know
any of the things I have written in this note, who break all the golden rules of management
that we memorize in business school, who are not, God help them, the most intelligent - and
who yet run a successful, engaged, and entrepreneurial team. Why? Because they lead by
example, by example, by example and that is their secret.
I don't know if you have ever realized just how important your job is in the HUL marketing
organization. The old cliché is that in a FMCG company the most important job is that of the
salesman, because nothing happens until somebody sells something. This may be true, but it is
too facile. The real truth is that a salesman is only as good as the person directly in charge of
him - and that's you. I don't say that anything in this note will make your job any easier,
because managing salesmen can never be easy. I do however say that if any of this helps you to
avoid the bigger mistakes in the early part of your career, and if you manage by example, you
may just make it.
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