Nope, it’s not that your sales team hasn’t yet mastered social selling. And believe it or not, it’s not your sales process. Despite what the thousands of new purveyors of sales enablement tools tell you, that’s not the answer either. It probably isn’t even your lazy, reactive sales team who love to over-serve existing customers and find reasons to play good corporate citizen instead of proactively pursuing new pieces of business.
Your company’s sales “problem” is a leadership problem stemming from the company’s sales culture and the executive(s) and managers over sales.
Sales leadership dysfunction from companies, executives and managers is the main culprit why sales teams underperform. I boldly share this observation fully recognizing the risk I’m taking by pointing the finger squarely at the people who hire me everyday to help fix their “sales” problem. Yet, I am compelled to share this message because I believe it’s the truth, and tackling the sales leadership problem is the only way to address and fix sales team performance for the long-term.
I’m not saying that your salespeople have it all together and there isn’t room to improve their approach, discipline, skills, process, commitment, activity, etc. Not even close. There’s a lot to be done there, and no one likes helping sales teams become more proficient hunters than I do (just read the 230 reviews for New Sales. Simplified.) BUT, that is not enough to fully address your “sales” problem, and it certainly won’t transform your sales organization into the high-peformance winning team you crave it to be.
You will be hearing much more from me on this topic because it needs to said. Some sales leaders and senior executives will take offense to this blunt message. And privately, because I’m a salesperson at heart, I smile on the inside knowing that salespeople across the globe will be relieved, and many will cheer, that someone was willing to hold up a giant mirror to their leaders and make that case that there’s two sides to the sales results coin – the salesperson’s side AND the management side!
In my next post, I’m going to pull back the covers and expose the most common and blatant sales leadership reasons that sales teams underperform. You won’t want to miss it. For now, though, I’d like to point you to two interviews that were just released, including one with a special offer to receive a free copy of my new bestseller, Sales Management. Simplified.
- Yesterday, the incomparable Kelly Riggs had me join him on BizLockerRadio to talk sales leadership. We had a fun, loud, and very blunt conversation about the realities of sales management! I strongly encourage you to listen to the recording here.
- Just today, my friend Andy Paul published this great podcast with our wide-ranging interview covering the gamut from companies burying sales managers in tons of crap to the harsh truth that salesforce.com will fix a broken sales team just like having kids will fix a bad marriage. We are also giving away a bunch of copies of Sales Management. Simplified. to those who respond with the code Andy provides during the podcast. So listen to Andy and me here and follow the easy instructions to get a free copy of the book.
Until next time, wishing you and your team great selling!
