The Sales Influencer Series Presents: Marcus Cauchi

Welcome to Episode 34 of the Sales Influencer Series, a podcast featuring the brightest minds in B2B sales and marketing.

Welcome back. In today's episode, we welcome M arcus Cauchi, the premiere sales management trainer for the legendarily effective Sandler Training organization.

Marcus has the familiar trademarks of a great coach and organizational leader: blunt, compelling, fiercely intelligent and passionate beyond words. The topic of our conversation? The fundamental thing you're doing wrong, as a sales manager. Listen below to hear why managers should spend 97% of their time recruiting, onboarding, developing, and coaching, Marcus's 90 second ritual to focus activity and mentality each morning, the irony of multiple priorities, and more.

Ep. 34: The Death of Great Sales Management

Interview Topics

Introductions. 0:00 - 2:50

Marcus is a lifelong sales professional. He struggled for years and was, in his words, a mediocre sales professional.

That inauspicious start to his career ended when he found Sandler Training. Marcus found his calling and became a force of nature who in the world of sales management, training, and recruiting. practices and principles.

The #1 Thing 99% of Sales Managers Do Wrong. 2:50 - 7:00

98% of sales management problems start with bad recruitment. Bad managers hire people who are weaker than them, because they don't perceive those people as a threat. They also try to be friends with their people, as opposed to being tough on them and training them to be better.

Managers should be interviewing a minimum of four candidates per week, building a people bank and investing in A players that will thrive on their team.

How Great Sales Managers Interact with Reps. 7:00 - 15:09

They are having meaningful conversations with reps at all times. They understand their reps, know what motivates them and possess total control. They interview rigorously, put hiring candidates on the microscope and make them think on their feet.

Marcus is interested in - how do they respond to the line of questions? Are they prepared? Do they understand themselves and their own motivations? Motivation is an internal force. It has to come from within the rep, not from the manager. Marcus also looks for someone who is extremely strong on attitudes, beliefs and values. Self-concept is pivotal. You will only rise to that level.

How Great Sales Managers Lead. 15:09 - 21:32

Marcus hates nothing more than managers who hire A players then leave them alone for 4-6 weeks with the company's most mediocre, average salespeople. Because all they hear is people complaining about how the competition is better, the product isn't what it claims to be, and the pricing is too high, et cetera.

Marcus advises implementing a full 120 day onboarding plan that is utterly comprehensive. A manager should devote 25 percent of his or her time on the new hire during those 120 days. Why? That person is an investment and - if he or she is good - a very expensive one.

97 percent of a manager's time should focus on the right end of the problem - hiring. Bad managers don't hire well, fail to set clear expectations and manage to numbers. A great way to prevent that, as a manager, is a quick daily huddle with 3-4 behavioral goals.

Sales meetings are a classic tell-tale sign of management quality. Is it spent looking at reports? Or learning how to be better? You can't manage from an ivory tower. They spend their time trying to nurture the sparrows with the broken wings, rather than focusing on their best people?

The Costs of Bad Hires vs Good Hires. 21:32 - 22:58

Bad hires can cost up to 128 times their salary. Marcus cites, in support, the following explicit and hidden costs:

Recruitment costs
Management costs
Interviewing and Selection
Testing and profiling
HR & Legal costs
Training costs
Provisioning costs.
Salary for as long as you keep them
Time they waste of other salespeople in forecasting lies
Lost lifetime customer value )
Lost lifetime referrals
Opportunity costs
Reputation damage
Lost cross-sell and up-sell revenues and profits
Lost maintenance and support income
Management time in managing their underperformance
HR time in managing them out
Pay offs to get rid of them
Impact on the morale of your team
You being distracted by this nitwit

Why Reps Need Measurement and Transparency: 22:58 - 31:10

Marcus cites the book, The 3 Signs of a Miserable Job, to offer 3 signs (plus 2 of his own) of bad work culture:

Anonymity.
Immeasurement.
Irrelevance.
Stagnation.
Isolation.

In sales, great sales people love to be measured. Bad sales people want to hide. If bad sales reps dominate your culture, then no one is succeeding. What's relevant to sales managers is the need to set expectations, challenge people to be measured, critiqued and developed, and tell dissidents to go kick rocks.

Where to Follow Marcus: 31:10 - 33:35

Find Marcus on LinkedIn and email him at marcus.cauchi@sandler.com. He's on Twitter under The Inquisitor at @T_I. And he has a YouTube channel you should absolutely check out.

Finally, be on the lookout for 3 forthcoming books from Marcus. Connect with Marcus and feel free to share, comment and disagree with them. Marcus loves a good fight.

The Sales Influencer Series Library

To check out further episodes and see why CloserIQ has ranked the Sales Influencer Series as one of the very best sales podcasts of 2016, just click on the links below.

Episode 1. John Barrows

Episode 2. Lori Richardson

Episode 3. Max Altschuler

Episode 4. Matt Heinz

Episode 5. Mark Leslie

Episode 6. Kyle Porter

Episode 7. Jon Bradford

Episode 8. Eks Anderson

Episode 9. Matt Hottle

Episode 10. Heather Morgan

Episode 11. Ilan Ferdman

Episode 12. Ryan Jenkins