Sales Managers, have you and your teams ever noticed how when times are tough and that begins showing up in the company’s results, some senior leaders resort to “communicating” more? All of a sudden, the noise level goes up dramatically. It takes many forms such as new reports to do, new conference calls to join, new discounts and offers to pass along, new activity goals, etc, etc, etc. What does this do to salespeople? It DISTRACTS them, often PARALYZES them and sends them running in circles which really isn’t a recommended approach for winning in any arena (business, sports, etc).
The best sales leaders I have had were really GREAT at something — RUNNING INTERFERENCE. They blocked a huge percentage of the noise and pushed back on senior leaders when there was too much noise.
Here are some ways you can run interference for your team:
1. With your team, pick one or two things that you can do that can make the biggest difference in your results. Focus on those things, report on those things, make minor adjustments as needed and don’t give into the temptation to abandon a good plan before it gets momentum.
2. Don’t just pass along everything that your leadership sends your way. If you must pass it along, do it in a controlled way. Decide with your team how they would like to receive all this information. Can you save it up and send all the information on a Friday afternoon, can you put it in newsletter form, does your team have a team blog or webpage where you could post these items. Figure out a way with your team to NOT distract them during the selling week with non-urgent matters.
3. Protect your team’s selling time. When times are tough, every department wants a piece of the sales team. Let anyone who wants access to your team know that you will decide what makes it through the filter and then when they can access them. I had a Sales VP who didn’t allow ANY internal conference calls, e-mails or any other communication except on Mondays. If you wanted access to her sales team, you went through her and if she decided it would help grow sales, you got limited access on Mondays. You cannot imagine how much the noise level dropped and everyone got back to selling.
4. Reports! If senior leaders want another slice of data, a quick report, etc, figure out how you can gather the information without asking your team to stop what they are doing to run a new report. Go into your CRM and get the info yourself, gather the info during your regularly scheduled one-on-ones – anything other than ask them to stop selling and start reporting.
5. Push back on senior leaders who are causing the noise. Follow your chain of command, but push hard to protect your team’s selling time and stop the distractions. Show senior leaders what you will do in return – more face-to-face sales calls, more sales activity, etc.
These are just 5 ideas for dealing with the additional noise our own company’s produce. Please share your experiences in regards to dealing with the noise.
(Information gathered and shared by Meeting to Win, LLC. Visit us at www.meetingtowin.com for engaging, relevant, productive team conference calls every week.)
