The Sales Manager's Guide to Modern Selling

As sales managers, we have a tendency to look to modern-day examples for inspiration and insight into the sales process. But just as much can be learned from the great sales pioneers of the past.

Equally as important is not to overlook the techniques and behaviors of those who changed the way we think and do business… even if they’re not directly involved in sales. 

Case in point: Henry Ford. Though not known for being a sales manager, we in the sales industry can learn a great deal from how Mr. Ford approached life and business. Here are two things every sales manager should know about Henry Ford and try to emulate.

1) Always be marketing

Ford knew how to work the press and he put his showmanship to work on numerous occasions. While we as sales managers may never have the opportunity to talk to the press like Henry Ford did, we can use the spirit of Ford’s behaviors to market to our leads and our existing clients, never letting a marketing opportunity pass us by.

2) Be persistent…and don’t give up

Few people know that Ford failed twice to get an automobile startup rolling. In fact, he was pushed out of his second company in 1902. But Ford didn’t give up. Just 15 months later he started the company that would go on to change the way America, and the world, thought about cars.

We can take a page from Ford’s playbook and be persistent in our sales activities—like sales engagement. Regardless of what some of our prospects, leads, and clients look like at present, with persistence, we may be able to turn them into the next big sale. Here’s some 20th-century thinking for a 21st-century job. What if Henry Ford were alive today? Would he stick to his traditional sales and marketing activities, or would he adopt sales technologies that use persistence and a desire for new opportunities as fuel?

Please continue reading to learn more about today’s evolution of the modern sales manager.