I receive regular requests from authors to review books and the title of one recently
caught my attention. The book’s title, Turbulent Times Leadership for Sales Managers: How the Very Best Boost Sales
, piqued my interest because it speaks to the world that many sales leaders find themselves in today – the real world. I also picked it up because the book is concise and is a fast read, unlike most books these days which are full of unnecessary fluff.
The book’s author, Tom Connellan, has studied businesses for the over 30 years as a New York Times bestselling author, business builder and as the Director of the Michigan School of Business. The central theme of the book surrounds the notion that sales people perform best when you believe in them, hold them accountable and provide feedback.He admits that there is nothing revolutionary in the book, and there is not, however there is a lot of common sense advice that will be useful for both new sales leaders and experienced sales leaders who like to revisit the basics of motivating a team.
The book is organized into the following sections:
- Three keys to Sales Performance
- Believe in Them
- Hold Them Accountable
- Feedback: Get the Balance Right
- Motivational Feedback
- Informational Feedback
- Developmental Feedback
- Putting It All Together
This is all packed into a small package, which for me is the key. Let’s face it the majority of books on people’s shelves are never read. This one takes about an hour to read cover to cover and leaves the reader with ideas that can be actioned right away.
There are some tips in the book about dealing with the poor performance that often happens in tough times, but for the most part, the concepts apply when times are good or bad, so the book could easily be entitled simply Leadership for Sales Managers, but either way I would put this in my list of recommended sales management books.
The book is available from Amazon via the link below:
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Eliot Burdett
Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.
He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.
Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)
- 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
- How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
- Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021
