Every sales person thinks they can do
a better job than their manager. That is a sales person's
right.
Managers come in many shapes and sizes. Some are good with numbers and analysis. Some are good with people. Some are good at management theory. Very few are good with everything.
You'll find that managers often have good and original ideas. The problem is that when they are good they are not original, and when they are original they are not good.
Most managers have a blind faith in the company and the products it sells, and seem to forget that competitors and competitive products exist to stop you gaining 100% market share 100% of the time.
As far as sales managers go, the better ones tend to be those that have 'carried the bag'. They appreciate the problems and frustrations of their sales force, and are able to get the best out of them by making it easy for them to go out and sell. They also tend to be leaders, not managers.
I once asked my sales manager how difficult his job really was, specifically handling all the diverse personalities in his team. He replied, "Pete, it's easier to herd cats!" He also claimed to be covered in sh*t all the time. "I get it from above, and below."
How do you get a job as a manager?
The best way to obtain a post in management is to get yourself made redundant from - or be failing in - your current job. You can then sign on with a recruitment agency, who put you forward for anything going. It's OK to do this because your prospective employers never ask why you were made redundant, or choose to ignore both the facts and the 'word on the street'. They employ you on the basis of the interview and the tailored CV which shows you are the only person for the job! The number of people who reappear in a higher management role via this route is amazing and is one of the great paradoxes of the commercial world. I suppose it's a variation on the 'Peter Principle' which states that in a hierarchically structured administration, people tend to be promoted up to their "level of incompetence".
Anyway, I digress. Even if you aren't made redundant, you may still find you have to leave the organisation that you are currently working for to get a management post. It isn't cost effective for a company to move a successful sales person out of their current role to make them a manager, since you may lose the sales on their territory.
Also, it isn't a good idea to promote from within your own sales force if you have two or three candidates who all think they are suitable for the post. If you give one of them the job you will probably end up looking for new people to replace both the promotee, and the others who left in a huff because they'd just seen their career path close down. It's better to give the job to an outsider, then offer 'extra responsibilities' to the others to keep them interested until 'something more fitting' comes along.
This is a short term solution because often 'something more fitting' does come along quickly, but from a competitor company.
N.B. This site looks best when viewed from a distance after drinking six pints of lager.