So what exactly are the ‘seven sins’? They’re a set of beliefs which sales leaders may commonly hold but very often fail to recognise in themselves: these beliefs influence a sales manager’s attitude, which in turn, affects how the sales team is managed and, ultimately, determines the performance of the individual team members.
Why are they sins? They’re ‘sins’ because these common beliefs can limit a team’s performance rather than maximising it!
But how do you know that these beliefs could be limiting the team’s performance? Prior to forming Sales and Sensibility, I spent the majority of my career in sales leadership. So the answer is simple, I have made all of the above mistakes!
Ask any successful leader if they’ve made mistakes; the answer will be yes! Great leaders believe that success comes from being able to identify their mistakes, learning from them and having the confidence and skills to adapt their current approach to improve their performance.
How do I know whether I hold these beliefs? To determine if you hold any of these beliefs please read each of the seven statements below. If you find you agree with any of it, you are holding some of the beliefs that may be holding your team back. It is crucial that you be honest with your self whilst conducting this exercise.
How can I change them to maximise my sales team’s performance? The first step towards changing beliefs is to become aware that you are holding them and understand why they could be limiting your team’s performance.
The second step is to take action. Below each of the ‘sins’ I have provided some practical tips that will start you on your journey to maximising your team’s potential.
Sin 1
One-to-ones are a great chance for me to update my sales figures and find out what my team needs from me. I always send out a summary of the actions so that I can track my team members’ performance and regularly give feedback on what they can do to improve their performance. Do you agree or disagree?
One-to-ones are not for the sales manager; they are about your salepeople.
If you simply update sales figures, what value are you getting from your one- to-ones. Rather than fill in a spreadsheet, ask you team members to give you a review of their performance to date.
I see so many managers dictating in one to ones: you should do this, you should do that …. If you tell salespeople what to do, guess what? It is your action not theirs. They will not take responsibility for such actions and, in many cases, they will not even take action. Ask your salespeople what they could do and coach them to come up with their own solutions and actions.
After one-to-ones, ask your sales people to send you a summary of the actions that they agreed to. This way, they own the action and they will be more committed to taking it.
Sin 2
I know what I want to achieve from my team this quarter. I have created my sales plan and have set the team some challenging team goals, which I believe they can achieve. I have issued the targets, KPIs (key performance indicators) and goals to my team so that they also know where they are going and what they need to do.
A leader is someone that people want to follow; a manager is someone who people feel they have to follow. Involve your team members when setting team goals. You will gain a better buy-in, you make the team goals their own and, as they are more involved in the team success, individual members will want to follow you rather than having to follow you.
You may know where you are going; however’ it is very dangerous to assume that your members do. Treat everybody as an individual and help them to create their own plan to achieve the target. Establish what is in it for them personally if they do achieve and ask them how under-achieving could affect their personal goals.
Proper Planning Promotes Positive Performance
Sin 3
My team members would say I am a firm-but-fair manager. I feel that I do get the very best out of my people; when they get a big win they know I will congratulate them but, equally, they know I will encourage them to go out and get another big win. I am supportive of my team and they know that they can always come to me when they have a problem.
If I asked your salespeople ‘Do you see your manager as a problem-solver or an inspirational leader?’ which would you prefer it to be? Coach and inspire salespeople to come up with solutions to a problem rather than solve it for them.
Do you remember the song ‘I get knocked down but I get up again’? That is what this belief will do to your team. When recognising performance, include everything that your team member did well and ask: ‘If you were to advise your fellow team members on how they could achieve a big win next time, what advice would you offer? This way, you celebrate their success, you recognise everything they did well and you have confirmed that they understand the steps they took to get the ‘big win’ which, in turn, reinforces the process they need to follow to get another ‘big win’.
Sin 4
My team are all experienced and they have a natural and structured sales process that they follow. They have had product training and sales training so they are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to do a good job. I continuously develop my team members by listening in or going on customer visits so that I can show them how ‘it’s done’ and advise them on what they could do to improve.
Knowledge and skills training are without doubt necessary. However, one little thing that makes a big difference is missing from the above statement… and that is attitude. To create top performers you need to develop their skills to achieve; however, if you do not also develop their will to achieve – their attitude to succeed – you are wasting your time and your money.
By going on visits with the belief that you need to ‘show them how it’s done’, you are effectively giving the message to your team members that you are better than them and that they are doing things wrong. To gain more from your salespeople, coach them.
When you go on visits, sit back and watch them: see them demonstrate the sales process; ask them what they feel they did well, what they feel they could have done better; and coach them to implement the changes in the next meting. Your team members will feel more confident, motivated to show you that they can improve in the next visit, and supported by you.
Sin 5
I know my team well and have a very good relationship with them. I know who my top-performers are from the sales figures and I encourage my average and under- performers to learn from them. I reward my top-performers by providing them with cash incentives and the opportunity to gain management development training so that they can, one day, further their career.
Forget about sales figures for a moment and make a list of the top 5 attributes of a top-performer? Beside each of the attributes, list the team members who hold that attribute. Now look at your sales figures and compare the list.
What steps could you take to develop all of your team members to have all of the attributes of a top-performer, make a plan and take action to develop each individual. That is how to increase the number of top-performers and your sales figures.
Cash incentives do not motivate everyone and most salespeople hate the top-performer being ‘paraded’ in front of them – doing this can actually demotivate some of your salespeople – so establish each individual’s motivational drivers.
Your top salespeople may not necessarily be the best managers. Identify the skills they already have and develop the skills they lack before talking about management development, otherwise you could be setting them up for a fall.
Sin 6
The current economic climate is certainly a big cause for concern and these are challenging times for my team. Over the last year, I have over-achieved my team targets and increased the team’s productivity; however, my team has let me down in the past few months and sales results have dropped as customers feel the pinch of the credit crunch.
You have probably heard the saying ‘There is no “I” in team’. Your team is a reflection of you. If they fail, you fail; if they over-achieve, you over-achieve. Managers who claim the success and blame the under-achievement of their team are limiting both their own and their team’s performance. A team will only follow a leader who supports them, so stand by your team.
If you believe the downturn is to blame for your sales results then you are giving your team the perfect excuse to blame their under-performance on the recession and you could be giving your team a ‘limiting belief’. To get the very best out of your team, start talking about any opportunities the recession could bring and brainstorm ideas on how you can use this approach with your clients to retain customer spend.
Sin 7
It is a competitive market place that I work in, so my salespeople need to be hungry to earn money; they need to be driven by targets; they need to be ambitious, tenacious and they must be able to ‘talk the talk’.
Salespeople do need to be goal-oriented and focused on achieving results. However; a target is not a salesperson’s goal. A target is a means for the salesperson to achieve their goals. Therefore, to get the very best out of your team members, establish what their real goals are.
In today’s climate salespeople who are more customer-focused than ‘hungry’ are the salespeople who will continue to be successful, so develop their relationship-building skills to develop your pipeline.
‘Ambitious’ to one salesperson could mean something completely different to another of your team members, so check their understanding of what ambition means to them, and how they are planning to achieve it.
If you have got this far in the article and still want to learn more, then you have taken the first step towards becoming aware of why you may need to adapt your style. Remember, it is easier to tweak what you are currently doing than to learn a whole new skills set, so decide on what actions you could take and go out there and take them. Good luck
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