Sales managers are far too deferential, way to easygoing.

Let me rephrase that, if I may.

Many of them, despite their tough, take-no-prisoners auras, are wimps.

Theyre afraid to MAKE their people make sales.

Sales, generally speaking, dont happen by themselves. Theyre not received, or accepted, or handled, or experienced.

Theyre MADE.

Like transforming coal into diamonds, salespeople require pressure to become wealth producing.

Either salespeople pressure themselves, or managers pressure them, or both.

But left alone, like most things in nature, salespeople die on the vine, wither, and shrink from view.

It is the role of the sales manager to prevent that, to struggle against inertia to make people do unnatural things.

Sleeping late; thats natural. Blowing off otherwise good leads because of laziness or poor work habitsthats natural, too.

Never giving up, creating something out of nothing, making people say yes when their natural tendency is to say no; these things, are UNNATURAL, BUT NECESSARY.

A sales manager that is reluctant to get into his peoples faces like Coach Bobby Knight used to invade the space of his privileged players; is a wimp.

A sales managers goal is not popularity, but productivity.

Get into your peoples faces, today, and dont let up.

Like a strict teacher who is ridiculed today, everyone will thank you tomorrow.