What the recession has meant for companies, their sales managers and the teams beneath them

It is no secret that the recession has caused many more people to reconsider how employable they are, and whether they would benefit from taking another college or degree course. 2009 has seen university classes fill up, with business and sales management courses proving extremely popular among those eager to make the most of when the job market and economic climate picks up again. So how has the recession changed how sales is managed in today's businesses?

The simple answer is that these businesses are moving through unsurprisingly difficult times. After a good number of years of so-called ‘downhill' or ‘wind-behind market conditions' (terms paraphrased from Alasdair Jeffreys' Mobile News article, Home Truths: Would turkeys vote for Xmas?) where companies have been more inclined to spend than save, today sales teams are increasingly coming up against potential customers who simply don't have the money to spend.

For the individuals on the frontline of the sales team the current climate will likely be seeing them achieve the lowest results they have done for some time, and those new to the job are perhaps the best example imaginable when describing the adage of an employee being ‘thrown in at the deep end'. Alternatively, those managing these teams (as exemplified by Jeffreys at: mobilenewscwp.co.uk) - who no doubt have had more experience in the business - will be seeing falling figures and measuring them against those of the market of yesteryear.

Consequently, in situations such as this the first thing for sales managers to scrutinize is whether their team are working as hard as they should be. This is certainly the opinion of Jeffreys (and others such as Darrell Zahorsky), and this is precisely one of the ways in which sales management needs to adapt - particularly if the ambition of the business is still eager to build up a dependable and zealous workforce instead of the team becoming a revolving door cast akin to that of soap opera that's losing viewers.

So what should managers be doing? There are a number opinions on the matter, but one of the most obvious things for business leaders to ensure is that both the sales manager and the sales team are in partnership. If an employee is having difficulty, a sales manager should be quick to analyse and discuss the process, as well as to demonstrate the delivery within the actual environment. If the sales manager is not equipped or able to do so then management is the real area that should be scrutinized, and it will be clear where the actual problem is.

Sarah Maple is writing for Kaplan adult education about degree courses.