Keith Rosen’s Executive Sales Coaching Blog on Selling, Leadership, Management » articles on leadership

About 25 years ago, I read my first book on selling. It was, The Secrets of Closing the Sale. Like many sales and business professionals, this was the first book that I was ever exposed to which focused on the subject and the art of selling. 25 years later, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down and meeting with the master of selling and personal development, the often imitated but never duplicated, Zig Ziglar.

Now, if you’re in sales or a self help junkie, you know who Zig Ziglar is. (If not, you’re either someone who hasn’t truly invested in your career and embraced lifelong learning by continually investing in your development, you’re fairly new to the selling profession or are just starting out, or you’ve been living under a rock for far too long.) Zig (he prefers to be called Zig over Mr. Ziglar) is truly an American Legend, an icon in the world of personal and professional growth and one of my personal heroes. (The conversation I had with him further cemented why this is still true today). Zig has shared the platform with many distinguished Americans such as Presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush and has authored over two dozen books on personal growth and success, family, sales and leadership that have touched the lives of millions of people across the world.

Zig has an appeal that transcends barriers of age, culture, industry and occupation. Since 1970, he has traveled over five million miles across the world delivering powerful life improvement messages, cultivating the energy of change.

Zig Ziglar’s corporation is built upon the same philosophy he expounds to his audiences – hard work, common sense, fairness, commitment and integrity.

In his autobiography, Zig offers a candid and inspiring account of his transformation from a “too small, poor boy from Yazoo City, Mississippi,” to one of the world’s most highly regarded motivational experts. At the heart of his story are his many heroes who modeled solid values such as faith in God, commitment to hard work, compassion for others, common sense, integrity, and a sense of humor.

“Wow! What an amazing experience. What did he teach you that was new?” This is the first reaction I would typically hear from people when first telling them I had spent an afternoon with Zig and time at his headquarters. So, what impact did Zig leave on me that I have taken to heart? What profound, new and valuable message was I able to walk away with from my meeting with this highly acclaimed guru and though leader?

Before I answer that, (no, I won’t make you wait until my next blog post) here are just a few of the things that Zig and I casually chatted about. (Our conversation was videoed and I will be posting the video to share with you in the very near future.)

• How the selling profession and the profile of a salesperson changed and evolved since the time he authored, The Secrets of Closing the Sale, 25 years ago.
• What salespeople need to do today to ensure their success in this new marketplace.
• What leaders need to be more mindful of if they want to ensure the success of their organization.
• The people who have impacted his life the most.
• Zig’s definition of integrity.
• A message for the younger generation out there, who are working hard at trying to build a successful career and a family.
• His legacy.
• What parents need to do to be more accountable around raising children with stronger, more meaningful values.
• How people actually go about developing or upgrading their attitude.

I was fortunate to gain the perspective of such a worldly man grounded in the values that matter. You would even think that it would be a bit of a challenge to retain all of the gems Zig shared with me. Conversely it wasn’t. It was surprisingly, yet reassuringly very simple. You see, the ultimate epiphany I had, the priceless message that Zig delivered, was grounded in the core principles that are and have always been right in front of us.

Zig reinforced what really mattered most; the basics. Yes, that’s right. The basics that we so often gloss over, neglect, take for granted and assume we already have in place. The very basics that are paradoxically, still the undeniable and timeless secret to success and designing a life worth living.

The basics of truth, being your word, living a life of integrity, honoring your core values and your commitments, honesty, family, faith in yourself and helping your fellow man and woman selflessly and graciously. Yes, the basics that our society seems to have an unyielding tendency to put aside and dismiss in search of the latest and greatest, the next “Big Thing” or the flavor of the month. We have fooled ourselves into thinking there is some other secret out there that would help us get what we want most and propel us to where we want to be, both in our home life and at our work life.

We are hiding behind the guise of “What’s next” without honoring the core, fundamental beliefs and values that make us all worthwhile human beings. As we immerse ourselves in our own thinking, as we get distracted and challenged by the upsets and problems at work, as we continue to allow the media to erode our thinking and our heart-centered priorities as well as sensationalize our deepest fears and insecurities, we move farther and farther away from the person we truly want to be, and then with a shock, we turn around and notice that the person we have become, is not the person we want to model, especially for our children.

Our integrity has now been compromised, and we wonder why we continually feel, “off,” out of sorts, or out of balance with ourselves, regardless of how much more money we make or what other possessions or successes we amass. We can’t understand why personal satisfaction, our self worth, sense of fulfillment and our peace of mind continually escapes us and our grasp, and becomes more and more elusive.

To reinforce Zig’s message, I’m reminded of a conversation I had with his son. When talking with Tom Ziglar, the CEO of Ziglar, Inc., he shared with me so many wonderful stories about his dad. During one of our conversations, he shared with me one of his dad’s quotes which was, “How much better would world be if people cared as much about their responsibilities as they do their rights.” With the level of greed and American Entitlement that has plagued our society, which has only come into our direct line of vision due to our challenging marketplace and the media continually reporting on the failure of so many large institutions and organizations, this message is so timely today, more than ever before.

Zig’s message touches the heart, soul and spirit of everyone he interacts with, especially those who work with him. It was during my video shoot later that day, as I was filming some new training and coaching insights, when someone else in Zig’s office shared another story that is yet another testament to Zig’s character and being a man who lives by his word and walks his talk. I was told that, throughout all of the years Zig has traveled the word, before every seminar or presentation he ever delivered, even as they’re introducing him and calling him on to the stage, he would always make it a point to pick up the phone and call his wife, just to tell her he loves her.

What a better place our world would be if every man and woman would call their spouse or significant other on their way to work, just to say, “I love you.” To this day, Zig cherishes his wife and the relationship he has with her (the Redhead, as he lovingly refers to her in his books). He keeps her on the pedestal that she so rightfully deserves to be on. Again, what would our world be like if we followed in Zig’s footprints, doing the things that really matter most.

When it was time to conclude our conversation, one of the final questions I asked Zig was, “I’m not sure if you’ve been following the numbers on your book sales and where they rank in terms of popularity. So I took the liberty of seeing how The Secrets of Closing the Sale has been doing on Amazon. Currently, your book holds the following rankings regarding how popular they are in specific categories. In the category of sales and selling, your book is rated number 15. Now, here’s what I found interesting. Under the category of spirituality, your book is holding strong at number 3. Now, I know you’re a very spiritual man. And regardless of your faith, how do you explain this? What’s the connection between success at selling and spirituality?”

To that question, Zig smiled and responded with a resonating message that reinforced why the holistic approach to professional development will always be the most effective and long lasting. That was, while skill, talent and what you do is important, it is the essence of a person, your character and who you are that matters most.

At 82 years of age, he still has that spark, that twinkle in his eye, that presence he naturally exudes from a man who we can all use as a model of what it means to be not just remarkable, but to be human; that’s the Zig we know and love.

I don’t know if there are too many authentic heroes like Zig left in the world, and I know he’s still one of mine. And as I look on my desk at the gift that my children had given me just the other day (an early Fathers Day present), I’m reminded why I do what I do and what gets me out of bed each day. My five year olds (twins) came back from school and in their youthful exuberance, handed me a picture frame they had made with the cutest picture of each of them wearing a suit and tie that their teaches had dressed them in. On the top of the frame it said, “When I grow Up I want To Be Just Like My Daddy.” How important our role is as parents, our most significant role we will ever have. That message was a happy reminder of how important it is for me to follow in the footprints of success that my hero has left behind for all of us to travel on.

I am profoundly and deeply appreciative of my time with Zig and of the gifts that he has shared with the world.

And to Mr. Zig Ziglar I say, I am grateful for the contribution you have made to me, as well as the impact that you have had on all of us throughout the years. Keep shining.

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I want to share a conversation I had recently with a CEO of a fairly large company. He was telling me how they’ve done as much fat cutting, expense reduction, budget freezing and overhead trimming as they can.

They’re on their second rounds of layoffs and it’s still not looking good, as another layoff is lurking. With sales down and their pipeline drying up rapidly, I asked him what he’s doing to better market and sell his core product line, as well as what the company is doing to better train and develop their people, especially their salespeople. As I surmised, he responded, “Well, regarding advertising and training, those were two of the first things we cut out of our budget.”

He then continued by saying, “We’re doing everything we can to cut costs wherever possible, just doing the absolute minimum in spending to ride this storm out. We’re running pretty lean right now and really, the only things we’re spending money on today are the bare necessities to keep this ship afloat and to keep the lights on.” The tone in his voice almost suggested that he was proud of the way he’s handled this.

My response to him was simple. And it’s the same message I’d deliver to every CEO and business owner out there who thinks this is what they need to do to navigate through these challenging times and come out on top. I said, “You can continue to cut costs and do what you can to keep the lights on but keep this in mind. In the end, you’re still selling and managing in the dark.”

In today’s marketplace, you can’t incentivize a company through a recession, freeze enough spending or cut enough overhead to survive, let alone thrive. There are enough companies out there that have proven this already who are no longer here today and more that adhere to this philosophy as a survival strategy (Circuit City, Steve & Barry’s, Linens ‘n Things, Macy’s, Citibank, Sharper Image, Washington Mutual, Home Expo, Ebay, AT&T, KB Toys, Panasonic, IBM, Microsoft and the list goes on and on. Here’s one scorecard on CNET that lists the companies that fall victim to this line of thinking and how many people they’ve laid off to date).

There are dozens of case studies and statistics out there demonstrating that those companies who continually market, advertise and invest in the growth of their people during tougher times are the ones who eventually rise to the top and thrive, positioning themselves to win more business when things turn around. Those companies who are thriving today are the ones who have the most important question in focus and in their line of sight. What is top of mind for them is, “How can I make my salespeople even more valuable and effective?” These are the companies who are investing in advertising and more so in sales coaching, sales training and in further developing their core asset, the one that can make the greatest impact in their bottom line; their people.

CEO’s and leaders of these top corporations are more transparent than ever, and most of us don’t like what we see. In fact, the words “clueless,” “disconnected” and the phrase, “out of touch with reality” come to mind. Maybe it’s because they’ve been sitting in their ivory tower far too long or maybe it’s because they’re spending far too much time traveling in their private jets.

Sure, we can’t control many of the things going on in the economy. However, what these CEO’s and companies can do is realign their thinking around the things they can control and the importance of continually developing their people, which begins with how these executives develop themselves into the leaders they can be in this new age.

It’s evident that many organizations have lost sight of the primary objective of management and leadership, which is simply this: To make your people more valuable.

So until my next rant, learn something new, hone your skills and have a great selling week!

It’s evident that today more than ever, we can all benefit from a little introspection and realignment in our thinking, in our approach to sales management as well as in our selling strategy. And while more people today are open to changing their ways than ever before which as been fueled by the current market conditions, as a manager, what about those salespeople who might decline your offer of additional sales coaching and don’t want to participate in coaching?

How do you handle those who don’t want to be coached? While there are several ways to handle a situation like this, here are some points to keep in mind:

1. It’s quite possible the person has a limiting misconception of coaching and what coaching is. This can be a result of a prior bad experience. Maybe they look at coaching as something that’s offered to those people who are “Broken and need “fixing.” Maybe it’s how the manager explained coaching to them. Coaching must be positioned as a perk, as a way of rewarding your employees because they’re worth it.




2. Is this another sign that you might have a person on your team who shouldn’t be there in the first place? Are they truly uncoachable? (Refer back to the Coachability Index I shared with you in my prior blog here.) Are they poisoning others within the organization with their gossip and toxic ways?




3. Is this someone who’s a star producer who simply enjoys their autonomy and isn’t looking for additional coaching? Would they simply rather be on the phone or out in the field selling?

Here’s what I suggest. If They Don’t Want To Be Coached, Coach Them Anyway

Is it possible you can still coach them during normal conversation without labeling it coaching? The truth is, this person just may not want to enter into what they might perceive as an “official” coaching relationship. Said another way, if you’re a sales manager who gets the value and the importance of delivering effective coaching, ask better questions about each sales call without explicitly declaring it coaching. For example, stay away from, “Okay, we’re getting into a coaching session now.”

Rather than implementing a structured coaching program with them, what if you simply communicated with them like a sales coach would do from a coaching perspective? Rather than come across in an accusatory, curt or negative tone (i.e. “Why didn’t you close that sale?” “Are you going to reach your numbers?” “Here’s where you messed up and missed the mark.”) Simply start a conversation by asking better questions instead:

(You can find list of 400 of the most powerful coaching questions in Volume 1 of The Coaching Playbook.)

Sure there are those things we want for ourselves and then there are the things we want for other people as well; our friends, our children, family and of course our co-workers and salespeople. We want them to be happy, fulfilled, successful and satisfied in their career.

The “Wanting for” statement is an independent, self containing strategy you can use at any time during normal conversation. A wanting for statement can be used in a variety of situations.

Once you start using the wanting for statement more consistently in your communication, you will notice how much more open people will be to hearing and digesting your message, especially the ones they may have a natural inclination to resist. They are the perfect precursor to softening a difficult message by fist opening up the person’s listening; which starts with the authentic commitment you have to supporting them by articulating specially what it is you want most for them. Wanting for statements are a powerful tool to reinforce the stand you have chosen to take for your salespeople, while doing so in a quick and efficient way and simultaneously challenging them to bring out their best, as well as yours.

I’ve listed several different examples below where it would be appropriate to use this coaching tool.

1. You need to deliver a strong message to an underperforming salesperson about their need for a turnaround. “Kelly, what I want for you is to be able to turn your performance around to where it used to be so that you can start enjoying your job the same way you did when you first started here, along with the financial rewards that follow.”




2. You need to prepare someone or your entire sales team for some imminent changes; whether they are changes in your sales procedures, product or service, HR or administrative. “What I want for each person on my sales team is to be able to walk into the office each day feeling confident they have all the tools and resources needed to reach your goals here, both personally and professionally. And sometimes, ensuring these resources are readily available for you requires making some changes in our approach and how we do things.”




3. You want to reinforce your stand and commitment to the success of each person on your sales team. “At this point, we have all been working together for some time now. And I truly hope that each of you are fully aware of my commitment to your continued success here. What I want for all of you is to be able to come to work feeling fulfilled in your career, motivated by the value you deliver to your customers and supported by your management team. That’s why I wanted to take a few minutes going around the room to identify some other areas we can improve upon, things we can be doing better, or what I can be doing for you which would further support this ultimate objective.”




4. You want to provide some well needed motivation by acknowledging and reigniting the personal power someone may have forgotten they have. “Nicole, I know you’ve been in sales for a while now. And I know this isn’t the first time you’ve felt a bit deflated when you saw your month end numbers, especially with your work ethic and all of the effort you’ve put forth. And sometimes with all of the things we have control over, there still exists those other market conditions which we can’t control. That’s why what I continually want for you is to be able to manage and honor the process you’ve put in place, which has always been proven to work well for you, but do so without the additional stress and pressure you seem to be piling on yourself lately. In other words, it looks like there’s an opportunity for you to shift back to being more process driven without pushing so hard for the result which, as you’ve seen, will come naturally by honoring your process.”




5. You would like to open up the possibility to have a conversation about coaching someone around an area they have been struggling with. “This may come as a friendly reminder to you but felt it important enough to mention. Due to the type of product we sell and the market we go after, you’re going to find that it may take a little longer for prospects to open up to you and want to foster a relationship, especially when these prospects have been working with the same vender for as long as they have been. What I want for you is to feel confident that you have the artillery and the resources you need the next time you are confronted with a hostile prospect, so that you can turn around a potentially explosive situation into a new selling opportunity; similar to the situation you found yourself in last week.”

Motivating through fear and intimidation or pushing someone to avoid a loss, a cost or a consequence results in the other person pushing to avoid something they don’t want rather than gravitating towards something they really do want. One example of the push structure would be to motivate someone by pushing them into action through threats, such as the loss of their job or a punishment associated with a measurable cost to them if they are not performing up to your expectations.

If people are governed by a fear of being punished or losing their job if they don’t perform, how do you think this affects them, their attitude and their performance? How about the morale of your team? And ultimately, how does this affect your clients? I think it’s safe to say that there’s clearly a measurable cost associated when using these motivational tactics.

Now more than ever our society is consumed with fear and the threats from others. We are living in a period of intense fear and leadership in many organizations is fear based. Here’s a key point. You cannot inspire others when you are afraid and you can’t be inspired when your mind and your soul are full of fear and worry.

Now, imagine what it would be like if you and your staff came to work every day feeling happy, fulfilled, committed and supported? How much would your bottom line increase? I promise substantially.

The good news is that you have the power to create this environment by taking full responsibility for the moral and for the culture that you have bred within your team. After all, if we are all responsible for our communication, which also includes the message being received, then we can conclude that we are then responsible for the barriers, breakdowns and problems that are a result of faulty communication. And if we are responsible for these problems that stem from poor communication, then we must also be responsible for the culture or moral within our company because ultimately, a corporate culture is manifested through communication.

The threat of a consequence is a very effective push structure, given that we humans have been taught to fight or flee when threatened. So, consequence works, unfortunately at a great expense to our bodies, minds and hearts.

Other than using or being used by potential negative consequences to get the job done, the more effective and less costly fuel to drive performance is called pleasure.

Imagine what would your day be like if it was motivated by pleasures instead of avoiding or attempting to stay one step ahead of a consequence? We’re pulled by pleasures; we’re pushed by consequences. Pushing requires effort to continue the momentum. Being pulled towards something happens as a byproduct of natural attraction and magnetism. As I had alluded to earlier, an example of a pull structure would be to motivate employees by offering to support them in creating work they were proud of which centered around their personal vision, natural talents and goals.

In order to shift from consequence to pleasure it not only requires a change in your beliefs around how to motivate people but also in your communication strategy and the language you are using.

This is what I’m going to cover in my next blog. So tune in over the next few days!

Are you toxic? Take the toxic leadership assessment here.

Are you leading your team or slowly and unknowingly eroding it from the inside out? Do you still navigate your ship using old school motivational tactics? Do you have your people living in fear? Are complaints rampant, as well as turnover? Are you spending most of your days putting out fires? Are you oblivious to the role you’re playing in any of this?

Do you ever stop to think that some of the challenges you’re faced with now might have something to do with how you might be managing your people and your business? The rules of business have changed overnight and the areas most impacted – sales and leadership.

How good of a leader are you? Maybe it’s time for you to abandon your role as Chief Problem Solver. Here’s your chance to get real about the behaviors and strategies you need to abandon today in order to get yourself out of your own way of producing the results you need. Then, you’ll be able to experience what my clients do: A 30% gain in sales.

In this assessment, you will find a list of 27 toxic management strategies that need to be abandoned. And for those managers, executives and business owners who take this assessment and react with, “Wait, this isn’t me.” I applaud you. Either you’re really that good – or really that blind (clueless and disconnected also come into mind- well, then there are those egomaniacal megalomaniacs, but need I digress). And make sure you take the coaching assessment to ensure you’re most effectively leading and coaching your people.) However, just to make sure you don’t have your blinders on, feel free to share this assessment with your team and have them fill this assessment out this assessment on you, anonymously, of course. Can you handle the truth?

Finally, for those people who are reading this blog and feeling as if they’re being managed by this type of manager, I give you this warning. If you have any desire to share this assessment with your manager or boss, make sure you know how they’ll receive it – as a subtle gesture of good will and compassion or a threat and an insult? If the latter, consider doing it anonymously.

take the toxic leadership assessment here.

For those managers and executives out there with a struggling sales force, here’s something you can do about it. Tap into this rich opportunity to get immediate solutions to your most pressing sales and leadership challenges from the experts.

Next Monday, October 6, 2008 I’ll be speaking at the Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference at the Four Seasons, Chicago. Below is the agenda. Click here for more information.

Agenda
7:30 AM REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

8:30 AM WELCOME KEYNOTE

9:15 AM TOTAL LEADERSHIP: BE A BETTER LEADER, HAVE A RICHER LIFE

Total Leadership is a proven method for producing sustainable change in all parts of life that can be learned and practiced by individuals, groups, or organizations. It is informed by decades of research and practical application by Stew Friedman, a veteran Wharton School faculty member.

Speaker: Stewart Friedman, Founding Director, Wharton Leadership Program

10:25 AM MORNING BREAK

10:45 AM HOW TO BUILD AN EXECUTION-ORIENTED SALES CULTURE

A sales-driven organization is one where the activities of the sales force are aligned with a company’s mission, vision and values and where salespeople deliver value every day with every customer. Each of the panelists has excelled in managing a sales-driven organization. Learn the winning strategies and tactics from these experts so you can get your entire executive team to support your guiding vision.

Moderator: Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and Publisher, Selling Power
Panelists: Sanford Brown, CSO, Heartland Payment Systems

12:15 PM LUNCHEON

1:15 PM HOW TO SKYROCKET YOUR SALES TEAMS’ PERFORMANCE - CASE STUDY: DHL

Sales force success is driven by a continuous management system that links business objectives, benchmarking, focused planning, individual assessment, and hands-on coaching. In this in-depth case study, you will learn exactly how DHL uses a scientific Sales Improvement Process to maintain peak levels of sales performance. This approach was pioneered with DHL’s 1,500-person sales force in the Asia-Pacific region; however, it can be easily tailored to sales forces in any industry, of any size, and with missions ranging from making small ticket, transactional sales to much larger, relationship-based sales. At DHL, this Sales Improvement Process was employed with a 150-person sales force in China, as well as the 15-person sales force in the Philippines.

Speaker: Malcolm Rees, Global Head of Sales, DHL Express Global Management

2:30 PM BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Breakout A: Coaching Salespeople into Champions
Technology has not only changed the way companies sell but the way managers build and advance their team. There’s less face to face time between your customers and your salespeople. To maintain your competitive edge, sales leaders must know how to quickly and efficiently coach, develop, motivate and retain their top performers in order to drive positive, measurable change. You can create a world class team by developing your own coaching skills; the missing discipline among today’s leaders. Learn how a tactical coaching system can empower your sales force to realize their fullest potential.

Moderator: Mary Delaney, CSO, CareerBuilder.com
Panelists: Dave DiStefano, CEO, RIchardson

Breakout B: Reviving Sales with Creative Incentives During a Slow Economy
Many industries are suffering from a slowdown. To stimulate sales, sales leaders often resort to price-cutting, or offer special incentives to their customers and their sales force. What strategies work best when it comes to planning, promoting and executing a successful incentive program? What incentives motivate customers to buy and what incentives motivate salespeople to deploy the extra effort needed to drive up sales? Learn how industry leaders deploy Incentives to achieve a strategic competitive advantage.

Moderator: Matt Harris, Vice President, Marketing, American Express Incentive Services
Panelists: Richard Blabolil, President, Marketing Innovators

3:30 PM AFTERNOON BREAK

3:50 PM THE FUTURE OF THE SALES PROFESSION

With many baby boomers retiring, US companies are beginning to suffer from a shortage of sales talent. Every year over 1.5 million College graduates enter the field of sales, starting their careers with inadequate training, burdening their employers with a high business ramp up investment. There is a silver lining on the horizon with 35 visionary Colleges that offer a complete sales curriculum. Every year, these colleges graduate 1,600 sales professionals who know how to cold call, write a sales letter, handle objections, close a sale and ask for referrals. Engage in this session to help advance your profession. Together we can transform selling into a respectable and predictable science.

Speaker: Howard P. Stevens, Chairman and CEO, The HR Chally Group
Panelists: Pete Peterson, Director, Program for Sales Excellence, University of Connecticut

4:50 PM CONCLUDING REMARKS

Speaker: Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and Publisher, Selling Power

5:00 PM NETWORKING COCKTAIL RECEPTION

Post-Conference Workshop – Tuesday, October 7, 2008
This optional workshop will run from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in Ballroom A (8th floor) of the Four Seasons Chicago Hotel.

8:00 AM MANAGING THROUGH CURIOSITY

Click here for more information.

Earlier this summer, I was interviewed by Inc. magazine on the how to keep salespeople motivated, especially when they miss their numbers. Business owners and sales managers need to focus on specific parts of their sales process rather than just hammering on the overall sales goals.

In this Inc. story, entitled, Fighting the Sales Force Blues, read about two of my clients (Joe and Michele) who have taken a proactive stance to adjust to the current market conditions, rather than playing the victim or taking the ‘wait and see’ attitude.

Read about what they have done in response to the changes in their marketplace which has resulted in keeping them on top of their game and on top of their sales. Here’s what CEO’s, managers and business owners need do to stay on track and, most importantly, keep salespeople motivated in an uncertain economy.

Here’s the link to the full article on Inc.

The Top Ten Self-Sabotaging Behaviors Managers Engage In that Prevent Positive Change

Every manager wants to develop a team of champions. Yet, only a select few have been able to truly realize this goal and enjoy the benefits that follow. Not that sales quotas aren’t being achieved; they’re just being done so at a greater expense; the managers’ time, resources, peace of mind and energy. However, the truly great managers realize they first need to learn how to coach their people to the top and develop that missing discipline of leadership.

If your marketplace has changed, then you need to change with it. Einstein said it best. “The level of thinking that got us here is no longer enough.” Managers and executives need to embrace the new rules for engagement when it comes to communicating with their people as well as attracting, retaining, motivating and building a world class team. The majority of managers are simply doing it all wrong, creating the very problems they are desperately looking to avoid.

Especially within a tough marketplace, business owners and managers who want to shift from surviving to thriving need to develop an entirely new skill set and mindset, which is counterintuitive to how they currently do things. Here, I’ve exposed ten of the most popular self-sabotaging behaviors managers engage in that prevent positive change and some strategic solutions to them.

1. Get Out Of The Fear Based, Survival Driven Mentality
   Many of our decisions are governed by fear. Lets face it; we’re all pretty good at articulating what we don’t want to happen in our lives yet fall short when trying to come up with a vivid picture of what we do want or our goals and dreams. If you know what you don’t want and don’t know what you do want then where do you think you are going to continually wind up directing your thoughts and energy? Your goals and dreams don’t even stand a chance! Instead, empower your dreams and goals rather than your fears to be the driving force that moves you forward. Otherwise, you’re breeding a culture based on fear.




2. Become Process Driven vs. Result Driven
   Like many professionals, there’s often pressure to reach quota or a certain level of acceptable performance. While having a monthly goal keeps your eye on the prize and your focus on the end result, it may actually do more harm than good. The irony is, this constant push to reach sales numbers keeps you hooked on the goal, diverting your efforts away from refining the selling process needed to generate more business. The quandary then becomes, “I’m too busy to work on my process. I have numbers to meet!” Consider this paradox; the result is the process. Shift most of your attention away from your goal or the end result and onto the process. After all, you don’t do the result; you execute the process, which produces the result as a natural byproduct of your efforts. By honoring the process, you can enjoy the benefit of knowing that you will attain your goals.




3. Get Off The Adrenaline Train
   Many people today are hooked on a commonly abused, yet elusive drug whose widespread use seems to be flying under our radar. That drug of choice is adrenaline. The classic symptoms? Saying “Yes” when you mean “No.” Overcommiting or overbooking your schedule, then finding it difficult to deliver on deadlines or complete tasks. Procrastinating until the last moment. Believing you, “Work best under pressure.” Being easily distracted. Tolerating stress, chaos, disorganization, poor planning, lackluster team performance or undesirable customers create situations that provide the adrenaline rush associated when working on overdrive.




4. Develop and Implement a Tactical Turnaround Strategy for Underperformers
   Without having the awareness and discipline to develop and execute a turnaround strategy when needed, the costs to every company are great. There are a myriad of reasons why a salesperson fails and why a turnaround strategy is a vital component needed to ensure their long term success. Managers need to be acutely aware and sensitive to the fact that some turnaround situations will result in termination or the salesperson deciding to leave on his own accord. Regardless of the underlying reason why a salesperson isn’t performing up to desired expectations, a four week turnaround program will help you identify what’s really going on and provide you with the framework to quickly determine how you can turn around an underperformer in less than thirty days or whether you and your company are better off without them.




5. Take Full Responsibility For Your People
   If you want to become powerful, hire a powerful coach. It’s a simple, yet highly effective strategy. If you want your salespeople to be powerful, you need to be a good role model for them. As you evolve, so does your team. Consider this truth: Your team is a reflection of you. After all, avalanches roll down hill. If you’re not prepared to be 100 percent accountable for the success and failure of your team, if you skirt accountability in any way, if you lack professionalism or proficiencies in certain areas, your team will reflect these weaknesses.




6. Don’t Be Seduced by Potential
   The greatest seduction managers fall victim of is the seduction of potential. Are you keeping someone aboard who isn’t serving the best interests of the company? The “Lets just wait and see” approach is a surefire strategy for failure. Are you trying to be the “good guy?” Are you worried about having to refill the position? Are you attached to making this person work out? Every day you keep a bad hire aboard costs the company money, time, leads and many selling opportunities. Don’t let your staff keep you prisoner. Look at the numbers. Make your decision based on their activity and productivity, not on your emotions. Remember, “hope” isn’t a strategy.




7. Develop a 30 Day New Hire Strong Start Orientation Program
   Regardless of your product or sales cycle, every manager needs to be able to confidently assess whether or not someone is going to ‘make it’ within their first thirty days on the job. What do you expect from a new hire within the first thirty days?




8. Make Confidence A Choice
   What if we don’t allow external situations to dictate our internal condition? What if your confidence is, simply just a choice you make about yourself? A belief in yourself? What if you could choose to be confident, choose to have faith in yourself and adopt an unwavering belief in your abilities, regardless of the outcomes of each day? Consider for a moment that you have already proven yourself and all of your future accomplishments are achieved as an expression of what you value or the value you want to deliver to others. If you can believe in this, your confidence now becomes unconditional as it is now based on who you are and the quality of the person you are, not simply what you do or what you produce. It’s trusting in yourself without any proof to back up your conviction.




9. Relinquish Your Role as The Chief Problem Solver
   Stop giving the answers to your staff. All this does is create more dependency on you. Instead, learn to ask the right questions in order to get your employees to develop their own problem solving skills and come up with the solutions on their own. If they create the solution, they own it and if they own it they’re more apt to act on it rather than being told what to do.




10. Stop Oiling the Squeaker – Start Enrolling (Not Selling) Your Team
    Investing your time in the wrong person is an exercise in futility. Strop rewarding the underperformers with your time and support and focus on the ones who are truly committed to generating the expected results. And that’s achieve through the Art of Enrollment, the new language of leadership.