It seems that when some make the transition from revenue-producing sales rep to sales leader, they forget some very important realities. They no longer want to hear about the realities of the field. They want to call those “excuses”. I admit, I like to look at everything and determine the worst case scenario. This does not bum me out, it actually makes me feel better to have a game plan should the worst case scenario play out. It never does and it still feels good to be prepared.
The reality is that things happen that are disruptive. Some of these things the reps’ own companies do to them, some are economy driven, some are customer driven. Yet, leadership still expects the reps to turn in 8% revenue growth. If you kick a marathon runner in the knee at mile 13, that runner may not beat his previous finishing time. That’s a reality. I don’t believe that sales reps like to “make excuses”. I believe they really want to explain their performance, good or bad. Being able to explain why something happens is a key ingredient in duplicating the good results and avoiding the poor results.
So, I challenge sales leaders to face reality. Among other things, the following is a list of things that ARE disruptive:
- Moving territory lines.
- Adding or taking away accounts.
- Pulling them out of the field for training.
- Asking them to complete a whole new set of reports.
- Introducing a new CRM.
- Giving them a new product to sell.
- Reorganizing your sales team.
- Changing compensation.
And the list goes on. I challenge sales leaders to face the reality of disruptions instead of pretending like they won’t be disruptions. It’s delusional to think the sales team won’t be distracted. They are human beings, not machines.
Instead, look 30-90 days out and figure out what is coming down the line that could possibly cause distraction for your sales team. Figure out the worst case scenario in terms of how this disruption may impact your sales results. You can’t see everything coming so at least get out in front of what you can see. Get your team together and face reality together. Expect to be distracted and proactively figure out how to sell through it. You’ll reduce distraction and your team will have fewer “excuses”.
Face reality and your reality will be much brighter.
