This one is for all of you out there who have been entrusted to lead a sales team. Regardless of your industry, your pay grade or the way your position is viewed in your organization, there is no doubting the tremendous responsibility that comes with this leadership position, both within your company and, more importantly, for the people who report to you.
There are countless articles, lectures, slogans and quotes that cover the differences between just managing and actually leading, so I won’t delve into that exact angle. Instead, I want to focus on what I see as some of the true obligations of the sales leadership role and the many different hats you need to wear to truly support your team members.
Of course, there are the requisite company duties of any first line or middle manager. Tracking performance indicators, staying within whatever compliance framework is relevant to your industry, spending time in the field with your people and managing their activity/performance, overseeing expenses and other budget items and all of the other operational and administrative tasks that are non-negotiable. These must be done, but they can be undertaken in a variety of ways.
Do you find yourself playing the “gotcha” game and pouncing on any errors, transgressions or mild infractions you find? Do your reps walk (and talk) on eggshells when they’re with you? Does your presence in their passenger seat give them flashbacks to when they took their road test, such that every time you make a comment or jot down some notes they die a little inside because they know the content isn’t likely to be positive? It’s easy to get caught up in that mindset since the majority of sales managers are spread thin, overworked, highly scrutinized and buried in administrative/busy work.
I once heard a statistic that most field sales reps feel worse after spending time with their manager than they did beforehand and that troubles me deeply. And we all know the old saying that states you should never join or leave a company because of your direct supervisor, while in reality that’s what most of us do on a regular basis.
What are we doing to these people?!?
So, here are a few things that, in my opinion, are of critical importance as you define your style as a team leader. Most of them don’t show up in any job description, nor will they usually be covered in your performance review with whomever you report to. But if you want to build genuine trust, enduring loyalty, mutual respect and an overall positive culture on your team, make sure that you’re filling these roles in your daily interactions with your people.
CHEERLEADER: There’s an abundance of negativity in the world and critics are everywhere, both in our overall society and in Corporate America. Push back against this destructive flow and bring a spirit of sincere positivity to your leadership efforts. Make sure that your people know you believe in them and their ability to succeed and that you will work as hard as they do to foster that success.
I’m not talking about going full-on Pollyanna on them, just bring an overall tone of support and confidence to bear. You’ll still be giving them balanced feedback on their performance, because that’s your responsibility to your company and to them, but be sure to end on a positive note and offer/provide the assistance they need to excel. As the old saying goes, “catch your people doing something right”!
PERSONAL TRAINER: Most of us have been to some sort of a group fitness class and many of us have also tried personal trainers, and there’s a big difference. While both approaches provide some value, it’s the direct one on one, tailored style that really accelerates accountability and results.
Your people deserve and need that level of attention from you, even if they won’t admit it. When I schedule field time with my team members, I always ask them if there are one or two things THEY want to work on while we’re together, and I’m a firm believer that we each know our own areas of development better than anyone else. If they are comfortable enough with you to open up and share their needs you’re more than halfway there; if you can then help them improve in those areas, you’ve moved the relationship to a whole new level.
It can even be something relatively simple. One time a gentleman on my team said that what he really needed help with was understanding the incentive compensation program that was in place that year. It was a legitimate question because one, an IC plan can’t fully motivate people if they don’t understand it, and two, our plan for that time period was way more complex than is ideal. Multiple products, multiple weightings for each call point, sliding scales against moving averages, blah, blah, blah.
We spent 30 minutes or so over coffee reviewing things and he walked away with a clear vision of what he needed to do to maximize his earnings and his resulting level of appreciation was profound.
STUDENT: This may seem somewhat paradoxical at first but bear with me.
Most people like to be an authority on something, to know things that others may not and to be able to share that knowledge. It makes them feel good about themselves and they enjoy teaching people. This is particularly true for salespeople since we are all educators and problem solvers by nature. In light of this, ask honestly curious questions when out with your people. The questions can be about their current territory, customers or business, but be sure those don’t come across as interrogative. Even better, ask them about previous positions they’ve been in or things they did in school if they are early in their career. The questions can even be about things they do concurrently with their position on your team, either in their community, as a hobby or as a side business venture.
Let them feel like the expert when you can – it will bolster their confidence, fortify your mutually beneficial relationship with them and you may even learn a few things along the way. Most likely, you’ll also find some ways to tie that knowledge and those experiences in with your current team, individual and company objectives, which will add to the positive outcomes.
CONFIDANT/SHRINK/BARTENDER: Let’s be honest, sometimes you just need to bitch, moan and get things off your chest. This especially applies for field salespeople who many times operate in a solitary state due to the nature of their position. Company directives, procedural and policy changes, decisions that impact their dealings with their customers all come at them over time. And aside from muttering under their breath or complaining to their loved ones, they have no direct and personal outlet for the frustrations that can result from all of those things that are out of their control.
That’s where you come in.
Will you have all of the answers? No.
Will you be able to change whatever’s causing the annoyance? Most likely not.
But you can advance your connection with your people just by being a sounding board or an ear for them to bend.
I remember a time when one of my people picked me up at the hotel and for the first 15 minutes of the ride to our first call she went on a rant. Some of it was legitimate, some of it was irrelevant, some of it was downright incoherent. She fumed, I listened. And when she was done she looked at me and almost laughed at herself a little. I smiled and said, “All done now?”. She said she felt better and we went about having a productive day. Now, to be clear, these should be isolated occurrences since usually we want our people to object rationally and try to identify potential solutions to the issues they bring up. But every once in a while, let them blow off steam without fear of judgment or repercussions.
So, in conclusion, while you don't have the option to neglect the core company responsibilities that require you to select, inspect, detect, dissect, direct and correct when managing your team, be sure to make the time and effort to connect with each individual by trying some of the approaches mentioned above.