By
Simon Hazeldine
Ever wondered what your salespeople really think about the way that you manage and lead them? Are they thinking (but not actually saying) any of the following about you?
1) “When you come out in the field with me don’t screw up my day. I have sales to make.”
When you go out in the field with your salespeople respect the sales calls and the journey they have planned. Don’t assume you can just change it to suit your agenda,
2) When you come out in the field with me your job is to make me an even better salesperson and not to stroke your ego by playing the big ‘I am’
When you are in the field with your sales people observe how they behave in customer meetings and then provide them with constructive, evidence based feedback on what they did well and what they can do even better. Better still, ask them to critique themselves (this will raise their awareness and encourage them to take responsibility for making the necessary improvement) and then you can reinforce and add your feedback – if required.
You will know when you are doing your job properly when your salespeople proactively request you to accompany them in the field rather than doing their best to avoid having you out with them.
3) “When you come on customer visits with me please stop taking over the meeting.”
Your job is to observe your sales people so that you can provide effective feedback and coaching. Taking over the call means that you cannot do this.
4) “Please don’t undermine my authority in front of the customer.”
If the customer attempts to take advantage of your presence and, for example, pushes for some extra discount, do not undermine your salesperson. If you do you will damage their credibility with the customer. Empower them to make the right decision.
5) “Please don’t assume that just because you are the boss that you are the most capable person to negotiate the deal.”
Far too many negotiations default to the most senior people (in management terms) in the room. Put your ego to one side – you may not be the best person to conduct the negotiation. Your salesperson probably knows a lot more than you do about the deal. Be careful that through lack of knowledge (your salesperson is closer to their customer than you are) you don’t do or say something stupid that costs your company money.
6) “Please don’t pretend to be checking in with me when in reality you are checking up on me.”
There is a big difference between checking in with your people to see how they are doing (once a week would be a minimum standard for all direct reports) and checking up on them because you don’t trust them. If you really can’t trust them then you have either made a recruitment mistake or have someone you need to deal with.
7)“When we have a 1:1 meeting don’t play with your phone or look at your emails.”
Your salesperson’s 1:1 meeting with you (one a month is the minimum acceptable standard) is their time. It is where you provide support and help them with their development. If you check your emails and take calls during their 1:1 you are sending them the message that they aren’t as important as everything else that you have to do. Although you may say how important your salespeople are, if your behaviour contradicts this, they won’t believe you. Your people pay more attention to what you do than to what you say.
8) “Please don’t pretend to consult me when you have already made the decision”
Consulting with your salespeople and gathering their views before making key decisions has the benefit of making them feel more involved and valued and will often result in far better decisions and better solutions than you can come up with on your own. However, only do this if you are genuine about doing so. Salespeople can spot a sales manager who pretends to be interested in their views but isn’t really. They will also respect the fact that sometimes you must decide and then tell them what you need them to do.
9) “Please make our monthly sales meetings as efficient, effective and fun as possible – currently they are too long and too boring.”
Sales meetings are a fantastic opportunity for clear communication, prioritization of sales activity, forward planning, reviews of success and failure; best practice sharing, creative brainstorming, debate, and discussion; training, development, team building and fun. Your people should leave feeling more energised than when they arrived. The agenda should dictate the duration – not the agenda expanding to fit the time available.
10) “Please trust me and give me as much freedom as possible to do a great job. I might just surprise you with what I am capable of.”
Recruit the right people, train, and coach them, provide them with clarity over what is expected and required of them and then trust and expect them to do a good job. Give them the freedom and autonomy they need to do their job and empower them to make decisions. Most of the time, they will amaze you. Deal with the exceptions vigorously – don’t punish the masses for the transgressions of the minority.
Subscribe to Simon Hazeldine’s
“More Sales, More Often, More Margin” newsletter.
Simon’s regular newsletter contains powerful and practical sales and negotiation
strategies, tactics, and tips to help you to grow your revenue and bottom-line profits.
About the author
Simon Hazeldine works internationally as a revenue growth and sales performance speaker, consultant, and coach. He empowers his clients to get more sales, more often with more margin.
He has spoken in over thirty countries and his client list includes some of the world’s largest and most successful companies.
Simon has a master’s degree in psychology, is the bestselling author of ten books that have been endorsed by a host of business leaders including multi-billionaire business legend Michael Dell and is co-founder of leading sales podcast “The Sales Chat Show”.
He is the creator of the neuroscience based “Brain Friendly Selling”® methodology.
Simon Hazeldine’s books:
- Neuro-Sell: How Neuroscience Can Power Your Sales Success
- Bare Knuckle Selling
- Bare Knuckle Negotiating
- Bare Knuckle Customer Service
- The Inner Winner
- How To Lead Your Sales Team – Virtually and in Person
- Virtual Selling Success
- How To Manage Your People’s Performance
- How To Create Effective Employee Development Plans
- Virtual Negotiation Success
