by Colleen Stanley
4 min read
Warren Buffet’s oft-quoted phrase, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked,” is quite timely for sales managers leading during a pandemic.
The pandemic has forced CEOs and sales managers to look closely at their sales ocean — and many are finding a less-than-scenic view. They are realizing that it might be time for a shopping trip to purchase suits!
In the good ol’ days — five months ago — sales were flush, as were commission checks. Companies were looking at full pipelines. We were all rock stars.
Then the pandemic hit.
Prospect budgets froze, as did their decision making, as they tried to determine which sales approach was the best way to win business in the new normal (or new abnormal).
This business environment is not an easy one. It is not kind to average salespeople and average sales organizations.
This business environment requires excellent, resilient, and proactive salespeople and sales organizations.
So, the big question to ask yourself is: Do I have the right people on my sales bus to thrive in these tough times? To win the present and the future?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you evaluate your sales team. Similar to sales, not all prospects earn the right to be in your sales pipeline. And in sales management, not all salespeople earn the right to stay on your sales bus.
Question One: Is my salesperson a learner? This always has been an important trait for sales success. Today it is non-negotiable. For example, in this ever-changing business environment, salespeople need to learn and craft new value propositions that resonate with the prospects.
That requires paying attention and learning about those new pain points. Their prospects’ needs and wants have changed and so must their value propositions. Salespeople find themselves meeting with new decision-makers during the pandemic, requiring them to learn and, pre-call, plan new questions — proactive ones. Face-to-face field salespeople are challenged with learning how to be as effective through videoconferencing as they were meeting with prospects in person.
If your salesperson isn’t demonstrating the aptitude or attitude to learn, change, and grow, it might be time to give that seat on the bus to a salesperson that does.
Question Two: Is my salesperson a self-starter? Lack of this competency is really showing up with the move to remote offices. Without the ability to self-start and self-direct, many salespeople have trouble starting their days! They hit the snooze button one more time because no one is checking when they are showing up to their office. And, when they do begin their workday, it’s filled with fits and starts of sales activity. Why?
Low self-starters need outside momentum to help them remain motivated to execute consistent sales activity. In a remote environment, salespeople aren’t hearing the ringing of a bell when a sale is made. They aren’t holding the hallway conversations that motivate them to continue to prospect and reach out to clients.
If your salesperson isn’t demonstrating the ability to self-direct and self-manage their day, it might be time to find someone that is able to self-motivate and achieve results.
Question Three: Is my salesperson coachable? This trait lines right up with learning and includes two other traits: confidence and humility. Some of the most talented people I know are comfortable admitting they don’t know what they don’t know. They have the inner confidence to raise their hand and ask for help.
Coachable salespeople recognize they don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. They want to find the smartest person in the room. They proactively seek guidance in order to win a future account or eliminate a repeated selling mistake.
It takes inner confidence and humility to ask for feedback and listen to it without becoming defensive and defaulting to, “Yeah, but you don’t understand” responses. Coachable salespeople know how to take feedback on their role performance, not their self-worth. As a result, they actually hear well-intended feedback and more importantly, apply it.
Is your sales bus full of confident and humble salespeople? Or is your sales bus full of salespeople that are defensive and arrogant?
Question Four: Is my salesperson resilient? For many sellers, this might be one of the toughest times in their careers. Resiliency is as important as mastery of sales and influence.
When you study resilient people, you will find common traits of optimism and locus of control. The optimistic salesperson believes better days are ahead. There are valuable lessons to be learned during this crisis. The resilient salesperson recognizes that most adversity is temporary, not permanent. Bad economic cycles come and go. Instead of giving in to negative thinking, they play full out every day, giving it their best effort.
A salesperson with an internal locus of control believes that success is up to her. She doesn’t focus on external factors that she can’t control. She doesn’t blame the company for lack of leads, insufficient marketing, or pricing structure. She’s intensely focused on what she can control. That includes consistent execution of sales activity, improving selling skills, asking for introductions from clients, and seeking advice and mentorship. Excuses and blame are not in her vocabulary, but personal accountability and responsibility are.
Is your current sales bus occupied by optimists or pessimists? Are the salespeople taking a seat on your sales bus thinking of what they can control or what is out of their control?
The tide is out and sales managers need to take a close look at who has been swimming naked on their sales team. Now is the time to up-level and right-size your sales team. Your future depends on it.
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Colleen Stanley is President and Founder of SalesLeadership Inc. You can follow her on LinkedIn. You can hear her episode of the Sales Leadership Podcast here.