It Ain't About You
An article by Keith Rosen MCC, award winning author and CEO of Profit Builders, the leading global provider of management training, sales coaching, executive coaching and sales training. Enjoy our free library of rich, timely and relevant content and articles on selling, leadership, life balance and time management that will enhance your career and your life.
Whether your team consists of one thousand salespeople or just one, the simple fact stands; avalanches roll downhill. It starts from the top. That's why the first of six principles managers need to incorporate in order to build a world class sales team is this:
Strategy # 1
Take Full Responsibility For Your Salespeople
Become 100% accountable for the success and failure of their sales team. While there are many symptoms as to why a salesperson fails, it is the reluctance on the manager's side to take on this full accountability which is the leading cause of a salesperson's failure. You can be burdened with excuses or empowered by the ability to make better choices. Either way, you're accountable for the excuses used as to why your salespeople fail, just like you are accountable for your sales team. Here are just a handful of excuses that managers have used to justify why their salespeople fail.
Take Full Responsibility For Your Salespeople
Become 100% accountable for the success and failure of their sales team. While there are many symptoms as to why a salesperson fails, it is the reluctance on the manager's side to take on this full accountability which is the leading cause of a salesperson's failure. You can be burdened with excuses or empowered by the ability to make better choices. Either way, you're accountable for the excuses used as to why your salespeople fail, just like you are accountable for your sales team. Here are just a handful of excuses that managers have used to justify why their salespeople fail.
1. I inherited my sales team. I didn't hire these people.
2. We don't have time for a sales training and coaching program.
3. That's normal in my industry. Turnover is just something we just have to deal with.
4. We can't offer competitive packages like other companies can. It's straight commission. No salary or benefits. We do our best to play the hand we're dealt.
5. The salespeople are really independent contractors. So if they need help, they should get help on their own.
6. They fail, then they really weren't cut out for this position.
7. Needed help? Then they should have come to us. We would have helped them. That's their responsibility. How can I read their mind if they're having a problem.
8. It's hard to find good sales talent out there now. Our market is super competitive and this is what I have to work with.
2. We don't have time for a sales training and coaching program.
3. That's normal in my industry. Turnover is just something we just have to deal with.
4. We can't offer competitive packages like other companies can. It's straight commission. No salary or benefits. We do our best to play the hand we're dealt.
5. The salespeople are really independent contractors. So if they need help, they should get help on their own.
6. They fail, then they really weren't cut out for this position.
7. Needed help? Then they should have come to us. We would have helped them. That's their responsibility. How can I read their mind if they're having a problem.
8. It's hard to find good sales talent out there now. Our market is super competitive and this is what I have to work with.
Since you are evaluated or compensated by how successful your team is, then tolerating these excuses will come at a heavy price. Ultimately, you will be the one responsible for breathing life into these excuses or pioneering innovative solutions in order to squash them from existence. Once you take full accountability for yourself as well as each person on your sales team, you are now able to empower others to be fully accountable for themselves.
What follows are five additional strategies that any manager can begin to implement in order to build a team of sales champions; strategies that any business owner or manager can incorporate into their management style, strategy and approach that is sure to reduce turnover and increase the retention of star players, prevent a new salesperson or a star veteran from becoming an underperformer and maximize the performance and production of your team.
For those salespeople who are reading this and feel these strategies only apply to management, consider this. The more awareness you have around the role you and your manager play in your overall success and failure, the more you can educate and help your manager best support and manage you around these areas which you may feel you have less control over.
Strategy # 2
Develop your Skills as a Coach
Without actually working with your own executive sales coach or participating in a coach training program to develop your coaching skills and competencies, then all you are doing is changing your title, rather than your essence, your thinking and your skills. The coaching model is based on the belief that the question is the answer. Coaching isn't about giving information. The coach is responsible for people finding the answers themselves and developing their own problem solving skills. And being able to self generate solutions and solve problems on your own is the premise of coaching; a competency that; like learning any new discipline, sport or hobby needs to be learned and developed over time.
Develop your Skills as a Coach
Without actually working with your own executive sales coach or participating in a coach training program to develop your coaching skills and competencies, then all you are doing is changing your title, rather than your essence, your thinking and your skills. The coaching model is based on the belief that the question is the answer. Coaching isn't about giving information. The coach is responsible for people finding the answers themselves and developing their own problem solving skills. And being able to self generate solutions and solve problems on your own is the premise of coaching; a competency that; like learning any new discipline, sport or hobby needs to be learned and developed over time.
Strategy # 3
Consistent Weekly Coaching
While some managers tell me they don't always have the time to meet with their team, think about the things that are taking you away from coaching and meeting with your team in the first place. I guarantee many of the issues and the problems you're dealing with are actually a result of not coaching and connecting with your team on an individual and more frequent basis. If you have a team of five or ten salespeople, it's much easier to manage your time and your schedule to accommodate weekly, one to one meetings. It's when you have a larger team that makes it more of a challenge strictly due to time constraints. While group or team coaching is also an option to fill in some developmental gaps, there is still no substitute to providing individualized attention. I suggest a minimum of two individualized coaching session per month for each member of your team, understanding that weekly one to one coaching sessions would be ideal. Frequency and consistency is key, just like when going to the gym. The more time you spend at the gym and the better you eat, the healthier you become. The same rule applies to maintaining and building the health of your career, your leadership skills and your sales team.
Consistent Weekly Coaching
While some managers tell me they don't always have the time to meet with their team, think about the things that are taking you away from coaching and meeting with your team in the first place. I guarantee many of the issues and the problems you're dealing with are actually a result of not coaching and connecting with your team on an individual and more frequent basis. If you have a team of five or ten salespeople, it's much easier to manage your time and your schedule to accommodate weekly, one to one meetings. It's when you have a larger team that makes it more of a challenge strictly due to time constraints. While group or team coaching is also an option to fill in some developmental gaps, there is still no substitute to providing individualized attention. I suggest a minimum of two individualized coaching session per month for each member of your team, understanding that weekly one to one coaching sessions would be ideal. Frequency and consistency is key, just like when going to the gym. The more time you spend at the gym and the better you eat, the healthier you become. The same rule applies to maintaining and building the health of your career, your leadership skills and your sales team.
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