These days you can find a coach to help you with everything from your golf swing to your marriage to your life. That's because we've realized that we get better faster when there is a detached and knowledgeable observer helping us along. That certainly applies to sales skills. If you are a sales manager, director, or VP, it's important to realize that sales coaching is key to getting better results. This is especially crucial if you are tasked with getting bigger numbers from a sales team that's not going to get any bigger, Unfortunately, though, many sales leaders are horrible at coaching. But with just a simple shift in approach, … [Read more...]
How Peer Pressure Kills New Sales Initiatives (And How it Can Save Them)
Let’s be honest, the world of selling is changing a lot right now. For those responsible for leading, managing, and coaching sales teams, there is always a new program or tool to adopt. But, as you might have found out, it is rarely an easy transition. Getting people to adopt new behaviors is hard. There is usually a lot of resistance and change is slow. Many factors impact that friction, but there’s a big one that escapes most people’s attention. Peer pressure. Peer Pressure Stymies New Programs On a recent podcast by author Malcolm Gladwell, he shared a story about the career of Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt, while one of the best … [Read more...]
3 Things You Need to Do to Improve Your Sales Meetings
Have you ever sat in a sales meeting and thought, "What is the point of this meeting?" Even worse, have you ever been running a sales meeting and half-way through thought, "What is the point of this meeting?" Weekly sales meetings often turn into a "zombie activity". We put it on the calendar without thinking, it's just there because it's there every week. And then we go through the motions until the meeting is over and we don't have to think about it until the next one. No one seems to know the purpose, and no one gets anything of value from attending or leading the meeting. Eventually, they drop out of the schedule due to lack of … [Read more...]
2 Ways to Understand Your Buyer’s Needs: Why Insurance Agents Should Understand Demand & Non-Demand Sales Cycles
(If this article resonates for the challenges you have in your agency, be sure to check into the Small Business Sales Manager Coaching Program) In coaching hundreds of insurance agents over the years, I've become aware of a challenge that has arisen for many of them. As they've added additional products and services to their mix, their sales processes have become jumbled and muddled. They don't sell a few straightforward insurance products anymore. Instead they are now insurance providers, financial planners, health-care agents, and wealth managers that offer a wide-range of financial products to their customers. It can be … [Read more...]
3 Simple Ways to Motivate Lazy Salespeople (Including Yourself)
I was having a conversation with a sales manager about how to train and develop his salespeople. After mapping out an effective curriculum, he paused and asked, “This is great for the motivated ones, but what about the people that are just lazy?” It’s an interesting question. But in the end, I think it’s the wrong one. I have yet to meet a person who is genuinely lazy: someone who has laziness as an inherent part of their personality. I have, however, met many, many individuals who exhibit lazy behaviors. Laziness is a symptom, not a disease. I’ve found there are three reasons why someone will act lazily: 1. Fear of the … [Read more...]
How to Help Your People Fail
When I was a young sales manager, one of the most challenging parts of my job was having 1-on-1 meeting with my sales reps to assess their performance. It was easy to do when they were rockin'. I'd give them a few pointers and some words of motivation and send them back out. But when they weren't doing well it was another story. It can be really hard to fail. It can be even harder to watch someone fail. It's the worst when you have to watch people fail... and you're their boss and the one who is supposed to address that failure. Manage Through Failure I think this is why so many competent individuals are such struggle as managers and … [Read more...]