What I am about to say can be executed by a new sales manager on their own, or via the direction of senior level sales manager.

The challenge of a new sales manager getting up to speed and succeeding would be a common problem for most companies because most have not done their homework.

Everyone would agree that in order to succeed you need a "plan." Well this is true of the position of sales manager; it too should have a plan.

If you are a sales manager, or have this position reporting to you, you should have a very complete document telling how to execute that job. Each task of the sales manager's job should be listed and described in enough detail so that anyone needing to fill in for the sales manager can run the show as it currently runs.

To make a new sales manager successful I would suggest that their first job be that documenting the tasks and execution of the position. The manager should discover the key things that need to be done, learn how to do them, and then document how and when they are to be done.

This exercise will get the new manager evaluating the duties of the position and learning how to do them at the same time. This task will also quickly reveal those things the new sales manager doesn't know how so that he can go to his manager to learn them.

As a new manager you should not worry about changing anything, unless there are major problems left by your predecessor that simply can't wait. The new manager should maintain a steady focus on doing and documenting the principle tasks of his job while developing this new relationship with the team.

The focus with team members should only be on "How can I help?" or "What can I do that will make you better?" Corrective actions should only be taken on at this point for the most serious of problems, those things that simply cannot wait. In the beginning, just helping is the best strategy.

It may take a week or two for the new manager to accomplish this task. The result will be a complete documentation of the sales manager's job and a manager who now knows all the critical things he needs to be doing and how to do them.

The "just help focus" with the team will have revealed a potential list of projects that may improve team performance. And, by focusing only on "helping" the team during early part of the relationship, there will now, hopefully, be in place a good working relationship between the new manager and the team.

The new sales manager will now be in a position to evaluate what is going on (maybe with the help of his manager) so that the critical and most important issues can begin to be solved. He will know his job and responsibilities and will have a working document that can be added to or improved as he works into the future.

The next step in the process would be to evaluate team skills and the sales process so that these areas can be optimized.

This concept is certainly not limited to sales management - companies should do this for every position (including salespeople). You will find this an invaluable exercise in creating success with any new manager (or employee). And if you are one of the few companies that has already done this, the manager now can execute this exercise with the benefit of that document achieving the same objective and possibly even enhancing what currently exists.