How Does a Sales Manager Find Their Job Rewarding With an Underperforming Team?
How Does a Sales Manager Find Their Job Rewarding?
It is a question worth asking honestly: how does a sales manager find their job rewarding when the team is underperforming yet the expectations stay sky-high? Here is what I have seen work, alongside why every sales leader needs a genuine point of view.
I am privy to the secrets of many sales leaders who have reasonable expectations for the performance of their team (aka results) and face the reality of underperforming team members (aka relationships)
What to do?
When you consider one of the key functions of a sales leader’s role is to build relationships that achieve results, then one of the key competencies must be to have the tough conversations.
And this is where the difference between a sales manager and a sales leader becomes crystal clear.
We spoke last week about the 3 fears of a sales manager, being: 1. Fear of making a decision, 2. Having the tough conversations and 3. Asking for help and if those 3 fears aren’t addressed, then your team will continue to underperform and you become part of the problem.
And when teams consistently underperform the Micro-Manager shows their cards or the Glorified Seller shows up. (Refer our Sales Leader Income and Impact Scale).
The Courageous Sales Leader does what they expect their salespeople to do:
💭 Think through strategy
☝️ Continually be curious and ask questions
💩 Do the things they might not like doing themselves!
As a start…have you:
✔️ Identified what the 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 stands for because values and standards vary across different organisations?
✔️ Identified what 𝘆𝗼𝘂 stand for as a leader and know what you are prepared to put up with and not put up with? Understanding there must be enough wriggle room to give your team space to be themselves.
✔️ Identify what your 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 stand for (they may not know) and what they see as high performing behaviours and what they see as examples of low performing behaviours? And have you agreed on accountability toward those behaviours?
To be a high performing sales leader, it is not just about action plans and numbers… it’s also about creating an experience for your team members.
And if one of your members continues to be toxic and undermines all the above, then:
💪 Have the courage to make a decision to do something about it keeping in mind that this change is a process not an event.
💪 Call them out and have the awkward conversations with confidence because the longer you wait, the worse it gets.
💪 Ask for outside assistance because whilst accountability is your responsibility, next steps may not be in your wheelhouse.
Remember, it’s about accountability and not indulgent behaviours.
If taking action is something you wish to do to set yourself up for a super successful and respected 2022, then schedule a FREE 15 minute confidential conversation with me personally.
#3RedFolders #Transformational #Sales #Leadership
My Pic: Silent Breakfast,Le Monastere Des Augustines, Quebec
In the end, how a sales manager finds their job rewarding comes down to redefining what winning actually looks like.
If you want to keep learning how a sales manager can find their job rewarding, start with the conversations you have been avoiding.
I’m Bernadette – founder of the Decision-Led Revenue™ Operating System and The Revenue Leader of Influence™, where I work with CEOs and sales leaders to build a sales team they can rely on to think, make the call, tell the truth about pipeline and own the result.
If any of this resonated – or if you’re staring at a revenue problem that feels like it should have been solved by now – I’d love a conversation.
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And if you’d rather join the discussion, you can also join me on Substack. That’s where the Revenue Leader of Influence community is starting to have these conversations in real time.
