3 Areas Of Self Management

Sales professionals today are required to perform at levels that have not been defined in previous decades. Technology and fierce competition are driving our sales teams to rely more on their own strengths and resources. To that extent, they need to manage "self" with more efficiency. Described below are three areas where self-management can be seen as a standard that sets the professional apart from the pack.

1. Self-Managed Skills - The difference between selling a product and selling a process can make or break a sales person. The sales professional understands selling is a process where need are discovered, problems are defined, and solutions are offered that meet or exceed these discovered needs and problems. The trouble is we are taught to sell the product and not the process, leaving the customer with a feeling that we really know our product, yet we do not know our prospect/client/customer. Self-managed skills means that sales professionals need to improve our game, need to enhance our skills, need to work hard on understanding and practicing the selling process. We cannot expect the company to do this for us. We cannot expect to strive for excellence without the need of self-discipline and study, to become a master of our craft.

2. Self-Managed Accounts - As sales professionals, we are the front lines to our accounts. Resources needed to close the deal are coordinated through us when the time is right. Our accounts want to be cared for, respected, and made to feel important. That is our responsibility as a professional. To improve on this, we need to understand the makeup and complexity of our accounts. Is this a complex sale with many decision makers? Are we required to interact with the technical buyers, the economic buyers, and the users? Do we have a coach inside this account able to assist us in winning? We self-manage by inserting ourselves and insuring a tighter relationship with our accounts based on our desire to manage them with care and satisfaction.

3. Self-Managed Time - Technology is available today in the form of Contact Management software, PDA devices, wireless communication, and Internet access to assist the self-managed time professional to be efficient in their time allocation. Stephen Covey covered most of this in his four-quadrant illustration of time management, from Urgent Important to Non-urgent Unimportant.

As we move toward selling teams, and blending sales personalities together, the three areas above can become exponentially more complex. To reduce this, each person on the sales team should know their strengths and challenges contained in these three areas, and know the other individual's strengths and challenges on the team. Full disclosure will assist in interacting and managing the sales team. Understanding and coaching will give the sales team more self-managed wins and less time doing unproductive tasks.

The moment to start is now. Begin by assessing yourself against the measures above. Are there areas where you can improve?