When I ask sales managers to describe a typical day, they often say that they come into the office at 7:00am with a good plan for the day, then at 8:05am a rep calls up or walks into their office and says “We’ve got a problem.” The next thing the manager knows, it’s 6:00pm and they haven’t done a single thing on their own To Do list.
Sales managers’
time is a precious commodity. Solving other people’s problems is not the best
use of your time. If you want to see better sales results, you’ve got to do
more developmental coaching where you teach and help your reps improve their
skills. One of the best ways to avoid becoming your team’s
“problem-solver-in-chief” AND to help develop their skills is to get savvier
about how you handle the problems that walk into your office daily (Or call/email you). Here are
three tips to get you started:
STOP responding
so quickly to the “urgent” requests made by others in your company.
A former
colleague of mine was once the director of sales training for a successful company. Before leaving for an exotic vacation, she left a voicemail greeting
that said, “I’ll be overseas for two weeks and unable to respond to either
voice mail or email. If this is important, please speak to my assistant.”
When
she returned from vacation she discovered 93 voice mails! One series of
messages was from Joe, one of her regional sales directors. It began two days
after Penny left on vacation:
Day 1: “Penny,
this is Joe. We’ve got an URGENT crisis here. I need to speak to you right NOW!
Here’s my phone number, cell number, home phone number, wife’s cell number.
Call me right NOW!”
Day 1 (later):
Joe leaves Penny another “urgent” message.
Day 2: Joe
calls a third time. “Penny, we’re making some progress here, but I’d still like
to talk to you.”
Day 3: The
fourth message from Joe: “Ahhh, Penny, I think we’ve got it under control. Call
me when you get back. Have a nice vacation!”
So yes, as odd
as it may sound, my advice is to not always be at the beck-and-call of
co-workers.
STOP adopting
the day-to-day problems encountered by your salespeople as your own problems.
What I find
most interesting about the statement “We’ve got a problem” is the pronoun use —
“we’ve” got, not “I’ve” got. The rep is hoping you’ll take on the burden of
solving a problem for them.
Do NOT allow yourself to become their clerical
assistant! Continually ask yourself throughout the day, “What is the impact on
revenue growth of doing what I’m doing (or about to do) now?”
Both you and I
know that you will do great at whatever you do, so it’s critical that you
choose to do important stuff!
The next time a
sales rep approaches you with a problem, listen but don’t offer your own ideas
or allow yourself to be dragged into the drama. The goal should be to help that
person figure out a way to deal with the problem on their own. I do this by
engaging the rep in a conversation based on what I call the two magic
questions:
- What have
you done about it so far?
- What do
you think ought to be done next?
By discussing
these questions, you can (a) gauge how effective the rep is already in dealing
with problems, and (b) guide them towards steps you want them to learn to take
on their own in the future.
STOP being
overly task-oriented.
A sales manager
who is overly task-oriented can spend too much time making sure mundane to-dos
get done while ignoring the development of the team. Sales management is about
people development. The key question you need to ask yourself is: “Is my sales
team more skilled today than they were one month ago?” Simply put, if your team
is not getting better, it is getting worse.
We often get so
focused on what we need to do that we forget that leadership is also
about what we choose to stop doing. Everybody has the same amount of time –
great sales managers are great because they put more time into more important
tasks and priorities.
To your greater success!
To your greater success!
Peter Mclees, Peter Mclees, Sales Trainer and Coach
petercmclees@gmail.com
Mobile: 323-854-1713
P. S. Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping sales teams, ports, restaurants, stores, branches, distribution centers, food production facilities, nonprofits, government agencies, and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.
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