As a sales manager, your job is to help make your reps better. To teach them how to sell. To make it so that they can achieve greater and greater results without you.
But that doesn’t mean sales managers (or other company leaders) can’t help reps close business.
Put yourself in the shoes of the rep. Let’s say you’re an A+ salesperson, top performer, consistently above quota. You have a deal that’s qualified, needs what you’re selling, just needs a little extra attention. Would it help if they heard from someone else in our organization? What if the VP of Sales or CEO left the prospect a voicemail? Would that show them you’re serious about winning their business?
If I’m a sales-hungry rep (and the best ones are), I want the help. I want my manager involved when I ask for it. I want company leadership to help me close. I know I can’t abuse that, I can’t ask for help with every deal, but I know when a couple minutes of their involvement is going to make a big difference in whether a deal stays on the fence or finally closes.
There’s a lot of value in “hunting heavy,” especially in enterprise sales but even when you’re selling smaller products and services.
Asking for help to close a deal isn’t about the quality of the rep. This is about helping close as much business as possible, and helping the prospect gain the confidence in the overall organization (not just a single salesperson) to make the decision to buy.
