Working Wounded: Managing a Sales Team
June 2, 2006 — -- WOUNDED: I've never had to manage salespeople before. They strike me as a different breed, so please tell me what I need to know to be successful.
ANSWER: Recently, I learned an amazing trick that many women have turned into an art form. When asked a question they don't want to answer, women might pause, smile and ask a question. Most guys' egos immediately kick in and they answer the question and forget all about the unanswered question.
Salespeople, especially the really good ones, can be equally adept at controlling a conversation. That's why it's important as a manager of salespeople to get your own ego out of the way and really focus on what your people are saying. I've included some questions below to help you to do this. For more, check out "The Mind of the Customer" by Hodge and Schachter (McGraw Hill, 2006).
Do you ask more than tell? I remember once asking someone on the street in China a question. He nodded his head and I kept thinking he understood what I was saying. After a few minutes of this I finally realized he was just being polite and didn't understand a word I was saying. That's why it's so important to ask challenging questions that force people to reconsider their assumptions and then to listen intently to the answers. It's also very important to always let them suggest solutions before you start offering your own.
Do you adapt to their style? I had a boss who never wanted to visit my work space; we always met in his office. Are you like that? It's important to make your coaching more about the workers. Find out how they learn the best and what topics they think are the most important to discuss. The more you make it about your people, the higher the odds that they'll start improving their performance.
Do you provide specific, fact-based and practical feedback? Specific, fact-based and practical -- what a concept. Sorry to make this personal one more time, but the majority of bosses that I've had in my day seemed to specialize in riddles. It was often really hard to sort out what they were really trying to say. That's why it's so important to make your feedback relevant to the issues that your sales people are struggling with.
Do you filter the demands on their time? Salespeople make money when they are selling. Yet so many companies drown them in meetings and "admistratriva" (don't look that up in the dictionary, I just made it up). Do everything you can do to focus their efforts on making you money and eliminate everything that doesn't.
Do you model the behavior you'd like to see from them? If you want a customer-focused sales team then model that behavior. Ask a lot of questions, focus on their concerns and be responsive to their needs. People learn by example, so set a good one.
Follow these tips and your sales force will answer your questions the right way -- with huge sales.
We'd like to hear your strategy for managing a sales force. I'll give an autographed copy of "Working Wounded: Advice that adds insight to injury" (Warner, 2000) to the best submission. Send your entry, name and address via: http://workingwounded.com or via e-mail: bob@workingwounded.com. Entries must be received by Wednesday, May 31.
Here are the results from a recent workingwounded.com/ABCNews.com online ballot:
Which best describes your approach to your own personal shortcomings?
- What shortcomings? 8.3 percent
- I work around them, 25 percent
- I deal with them, 66.6 percent
Our winning strategy for dealing with your shortcomings comes from B.A. in Philadelphia:
"Most people walk around with rose colored glasses. I'm a big believer in regularly finding out my shortcomings. So I ask co-workers, bosses and customers to tell me how I could do a better job. Don't wait for your company to evaluate you; by then it's too late. You've got to be more aggressive and get your own feedback. Sure some people only tell you what you want to hear, that's why it's important to ask a lot of people for feedback."
It's all about the stress, stupid … Studies find the importance of a positive attitude
Responses from a survey asking people to name the least trusted profession:
- Negative events at work affected employees five times more than positive events.
- The absence of workplace stressors made telecommuters more productive.
- When Sears employees' attitudes on 10 essential counts improved by 5 percent, customer satisfaction jumped 1.3 percent and revenue rose by 0.5 percent.
- By 2020 depression will be responsible for more lost workdays than heart disease.
- Employees who participated in a behavioral health program showed statistically significant improvement in work performance.
From: "Take Charge of Your Mind" by Hannam and Selby (Hampton Roads, 2006)
Bob Rosner is a best-selling author, speaker and internationally syndicated columnist. His newest best-seller, "Gray Matters: The Workplace Survival Guide" (Wiley, 2004), is a business comic book that trades cynicism for solutions. Ask Bob a question: bob@workingwounded.com or http://graymattersbook.com. ABCNEWS.com publishes a new Working Wounded column every Friday.
This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.
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