This review provides essential start-up tips for new medical sales managers and looks at the people skills required for new medical sales managers to enable them to build successful relationships with their bosses and with their team.
Becoming a medical sales manager can be a fairly stressful experience, particularly if the induction process is not as good as it should be. Unfortunately, all too often, new managers are simply thrown into their new roles, the expectation of senior managers being that they have promoted the new manager on the basis that they can ‘hit the ground running.’ In many cases, this is just not the case as there is often a huge difference in their new role compared with the one they have just left.
Also, if there is an induction course, many tend to concentrate solely on various processes such as reporting systems, budget monitoring, employment law and, perhaps, disciplinary procedures. Although these processes are important, unless the skills surrounding the leadership of people and teams are addressed then these processes cannot be implemented effectively. People skills tend to be left until a course is put in place some time in the future, perhaps even months (in my case, years!), down the line of a management development programme. By that time, the new manager’s lack of leadership and people-influencing skills may have led to unnecessary challenges and upsets.
So, for a new medical sales manager who has been thrown in at the deep end, this review will enable them to get up to speed as quickly as possible on the people skills side. In the process, the expectations of the senior manager can be managed effectively and the new manager will gain the confi dence to start their new career in sales management.
There are, I believe, three key things that a new manager must do in order to give themselves the best possible chance of an effective running start in management. These are:
1 Managing the senior manager’s expectations. 2 Understanding and agreeing to your own specific business objectives. 3 Engaging your team, agreeing their objectives and managing their expectations in relation to how you are going to work with them.
If the new medical sales manager can tackle these three areas quickly and effectively then the chances of him/her becoming effective managers quickly are increased.
CONTENTS
Introduction
About the author
Managing the senior manager’s expectations
Understanding and agreeing to specific business objectives
Engaging the team, agreeing their objectives and managing their expectations in relation to how you are going to work with them
Conclusion
References
Further reading
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allan Mackintosh is a Training and Development Professional with over 24 years of experience in industry. The years he spent in the pharmaceutical industry have given him experience as a sales executive, sales manager, sales coach and trainer. He latterly spent 6 years working as a Manager/Development Coach with GlaxoWellcome and GlaxoSmithKline, before branching out to form his own management coaching business in 2001. His last industry role involved coaching top-flight sales executives, first-line and senior managers, and providing support to enable them to identify and achieve their business objectives. Particular emphasis was placed on supporting new managers who had been promoted to management from the sales function.
In May 2001, Allan founded Performance Management Coaching Scotland, to promote the skill of coaching in management, and to enable and support managers to become great coaches in the workplace. Since starting Performance Management Coaching, Allan has steadily grown ‘The Coaching Manager’ brand and it now covers a book and three unique coaching models, in addition to an e-zine, e-book and several structured courses.
New medical sales managers often struggle to make an impact in their role due to lack of support from senior managers who tend not to hold regular one-to-one coaching sessions. A good senior manager will ensure that a ‘contract’ is created between themselves and the new sales manager, and that this contract is two-way, with equal ‘air-time’ for both parties. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. Often, when expectations are not laid out up front, with both parties unaware of each other’s needs and expectations, the end result is a mutual lack of trust and respect that leads inevitably to conflict.
The key to avoiding such conflict lies in a combination of learning about behavioural styles, contracting a relationship to enable the management of expectations and establishing a continuous programme of feedback between both parties.
Success for the new sales manager depends upon having a full understanding of what the role entails and its specific objectives. Many senior managers are not comfortable in setting specific objectives, and this can lead to confusion, poor performance and demotivation. In addition, success depends on how the sales manager manages his/her own team - engaging with the team, agreeing their objectives and managing their expectations.
This Improving Practices review looks at the people skills required for new medical sales managers to enable them to build successful relationships with their bosses and with their team. It also looks at the important art of agreeing objectives, and how to engage team members in order to help achieve them.
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