It's OK if managers step in to help their sales staff—but not too much

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Workers in sales might roll their eyes when they deal with a micromanaging boss. But many customers actually appreciate it if a store manager offers to help when they're mulling over a purchase, whether it's a dishwasher, a tablet or a lawn mower.

That's the main finding of a new study I co-authored. As a scholar of sales and pricing, I delved into this question, along with fellow researchers Molly R. Burchett and Brian Murtha, by analyzing data from a massive field study involving more than 5.5 million real-world exchanges at a Fortune 500 company, in addition to six related experiments.

We found that this kind of intervention does pay off—to a certain extent. Sales teams that included a manager outperformed teams without one by 5% to 13%, which meant an extra US$13 million in yearly revenue at the company in question. The biggest lift came when a manager joined a sales team dealing with new customers—and assumed a supportive role rather than taking the lead.

We were somewhat surprised by the lift from managers taking a back-seat role, so we ran additional experiments. We found that customers view this kind of secondary support positively because it boosted the status of the salesperson and team. This perception, in turn, increased their openness to buying and ultimately increased sales.

It's fairly common for managers to step in this way. Between 12% and 20% of all sales managers will help an associate close a sale, according to prior research. In our survey of 85 business-to-consumer managers, they reported a somewhat higher share, noting that they spend 41% of their time selling with their salespeople.

Sectors where this is especially common include clothing and accessories as well as home improvement. More generally, managers have to juggle different demands at once. To be effective, they have to know how to best allocate time across managerial tasks and interactions with customers.