I’m often asked by brokerages to help consult and coach their management teams to improve performance, predominantly of the sales managers. A high-performing, top manager is operating at peak performance: increasing revenue and marketshare, recruiting and creating adoption of core service affiliates, and successfully retaining their agents and building successful cultures.

Here are the common characteristics you can emulate to be on top of your sales management game for high performance and wildly successful results:

1. Take ownership. As the leader of your office, it is important that you take ownership of your office—not only taking responsibility, but owning everything that happens, good and bad. Things are going to happen, and how you handle them says so much about you. A quick admission of a mistake shows humility and teaches your team to also take ownership of their work. At the end of the day, when you jump in to take ownership of a situation, and then solve the problem for an agent or client, you are in that very moment exhibiting leadership by owning the situation, even if you didn’t cause it. It’s really a great way to diffuse situations, create solutions, serve and help lead your organization or team to success.
   

1. Know your numbers—relentlessly. As the sales manager, you must know your numbers, and know them every day. How many sales do you bring in daily? How much revenue is coming in as new written business? How much revenue has closed? Where are you month-to-date, year-to-date, and year over last year? Know your breakeven number of what it takes monthly to run your operation, so you know, to the day, when you’re in profit. Knowing your numbers and focusing on them increases your improvement of those numbers. Tracking and reporting these numbers will help you implement and execute plans to increase them accelerated results. Knowing your agent’s numbers is also most important. They feel so amazing when you know their numbers better than they do. In sales, your numbers are your pulse—it just has to be. Top-performing sales managers are obsessed with their numbers, and so should you be, if you want to grow.

1. Know your agents personally and professionally. Building relationships on trust and confidence is what makes a top-performing manager successful. They know that their relationships are the key to long-term retention and partnership with their agents. Personally and professionally knowing your agents helps you have a special relationship with them that they don’t have with anyone else. You are their coach, their confidant, their rock