The Danger of Doing Too Much as a Sales Leader Alright – so maybe they don’t need to go 90. In true servant leadership mode, you would go way more than 10% of the way to your team. But you have to be careful, as a sales leader. The inclination might be to do it all for them. To help them close their sales. To make excuses for them to your leadership as to why they aren’t closing more sales. Especially considering the very high likelihood that you are a sales manager because you were a great salesperson in the role that you are now managing. And there is a slight chance that you are a player-coach…so you are leading and selling. This can make it really tough not to want to run out on the field to win the game each time. But that doesn’t scale. That doesn’t lead to increased results. You can only sell so much as one person. Creating a Culture of Ownership So, you need to have people on your team that are coming to you. What does that look like? The pinnacle is a salesperson who doesn’t close a deal, comes to you right away and asks for feedback. They want some critiques as to where they could have done things better, different that would have led to the desired result – a closed sale. That takes a healthy level of ego by a professional who has the ultimate growth mindset. They know there are always ways to improve. They want to improve. And they are willing to risk their ego (and the internal, protective, primal part of our brain that doesn’t want to risk our place in the tribe) by asking for feedback that could be negative. Whenever you can, encourage that type of response. Ensure that the team knows that the team itself, and you as their leader, is a safe space – where the goal is to improve, grow, win and that everything done to support each other is done in that mode. They truly have to feel safe to share their mistakes and to get support in learning how to do more, better. Feedback That Drives Growth Part of this takes team and individual meetings that are actually filled with positive support. That doesn’t mean it’s always positive, motivational fluff. It’s not even about the shallow strategy of the feedback sandwich. Its about being real, honest, and empathetic – meaning “I see you are here, I know you want to be there, I will help you get there – even if its hard and it means saying hard things.” It should never feel mean or abusive or like an attack. But you can give some really direct feedback that will sting that ego I mentioned, but the person will know the intent behind it. The second part is hiring this type of person. Hiring people for the team that wants to win, grow, succeed. And they know that you don’t get better by being coddled, sheltered, or protected. You want people who don’t like the thought of perpetually living safely in their comfort zone. And they are excited about the opportunity to be a part of a team that pushes everyone, empathetically, outside of their comfort zone. Are You Leading or Just Managing? If you find yourself as a leader having to push your team, or going to them most of the time, or most of the way mentally – then they see you as a manager not a leader. They see you as someone who manages them, pushes them, and wants them to do things they don’t want to do. I have written some blogs here that go into what your role should be – as a leader, not a manager. Pulling people along with you, inspiring people, and supporting yourself with a team of people who want to win. Not just those that want to show up, do as little as they can and hopefully go unnoticed (yet – complain about not making enough money and how the comp plan isn’t fair, or the leads are bad, or their schedule means they can’t be successful.) Make sure your team knows that they need to come to you – at least 51/49. They should be asking for help, guidance, training, feedback, and support more than you are having to push it down onto them.

If you have seen the movie Hitch, then you know the scene. Will Smith’s character (Hitch) is trying to coach Kevin James’ character (Albert) on how to finish out his upcoming first date. He is giving him pointers, one being that if his date fumbles with her keys at the door, it could mean she wants a kiss. So Hitch wants to see if Albert knows what to do – for a good night kiss. Hitch gives him the advice “you go 90 percent, and then wait for her to go 10%” which Albert then asks “wait for how long?” Hitch: “as long as it takes.” Albert leads in, Hitch is holding back to see if Albert will wait, and then Albert goes all the way and gives him a kiss. Hitch gets upset, and says “You go 90, I go 10 – you don’t go the whole 100%.” The Sales Analogy Kissing our prospective customers is not acceptable (just ask HR!). But the concept is the same. You don’t want to ever make 100% of the effort for your prospective customers. You don’t want to be the one who is doing all the work. Fundamentally, it is not good practice to want the deal more than the other person. When you go your 90, you need to wait – as long as it takes – for the prospect to go to their 10. And I would say that you want to go somewhere between 10-49, in reality. How Successful Sales Professionals Balance Effort Successful sales professionals know how far they have to go to meet the prospect where they are, while also knowing how much effort the prospect needs to put in to show they are committed. Where most salespeople get in trouble is they get desperate. They want the sale (kiss) more than the other person and they go the full 100%. Of course, persistence is important. And you won’t get what you don’t ask for (although…if you have followed me for any length of time, you will know I am very against having to ask for the sale). But you also have to ensure that your prospects actually want what you are selling. And they want it for their reasons and their motivations. They are driven to pursue your production option(s). They must go 10, 40, 60% of the way to you. The Pitfall of Chasing Your Prospect Just like courtship and relationships – if you find yourself chasing and one-sided-pursing the other person then it means you want it more than they do. It also means they own you. You are essentially begging them for the relationship – convincing, manipulating, begging, bribing, persuading your way forward. Which means they consciously and/or subconsciously know that they are in control. Because if they say no, you will keep pursuing and offering solutions. In sales – that looks like a salesperson who is calling, emailing, stalking a prospect – making offers, offering discounts and trials, and trying to find any way to make deal work. They are going 90-100% of the way for the prospect, not requiring them to go anywhere towards the agreement. This will end terribly. If they do decide to buy – taking the discount, free trial, taking the sale bait – they will not be happy (since they weren’t bought in for their reasons), they will look for reasons confirming why they didn’t really want to buy anyway, and they will know that they own you. Your company will have to convince them on a regular basis to stay in the relationship. The Right Balance for Customer Ownership You fundamentally need that prospective customer to come to you. Not 100% where you are just an Order Taker. But potentially 51% of the way – so they want it more than you. The more you can get them across that 50/50 threshold, the more they will be a satisfied customer. But remember – at 51/49 – they still need persuading, they still need to understand the value of your product for where they ultimately want to be in their life/business, and they still need your support. They lean in the right amount, you lean in the right amount = sales magic!

How can you build trust with a process? How can making your team follow a script, or rolling out a new CRM, a new compensation plan, or any changes to what the team is currently used to doing build trust? It definitely won’t build loyalty. But it can build trust. Keep in mind though, as I discussed in the Leadership blog last week [ https://www.sellingeffectiveness.com/giving-and-earning-trust ] – it doesn’t start with trust. Even when you hire someone new, they don’t trust you – especially for sales. Think of it from their perspective…someone in a position of power, maybe in a suit, is telling them about all the opportunities available, how great the job is, how satisfying it is to sell people, and how much money they can make. Sounds great. In theory. Until they make their own sales – starting with their first one – they won’t fully believe it. It’s just a story that someone in a suit told them. They accept the job offer and it becomes a “I will believe it when I see it and do it for myself” mode in their mind. (Side note – this is why it is so critical to help your new salespeople close their first sale as quickly as possible…the longer it takes to make a sale…the more they think they were ‘sold a story’ during the recruiting process.) Remember – you can’t ask anyone to trust you. You must show them that they can. You earn their trust. And what we want is trust that will lead to loyalty. The way your sales operation’s processes and systems build trust is by their effectiveness. Does your sales script work? Did someone who knows what they are doing build it around the best practices of selling effectiveness? Has that script been proven to help new or mediocre salespeople get bigger, better, quicker results? Does the marketing processes and funnels lead to more and better-quality leads? Does the CRM help those who want to use it stay organized and on top of their sales pipeline, ultimately leading to closing more deals and making more money? Are the right people (you know…the ones that are in line with your mission, vision, and core values…and follow the sales process you have outlines, and get the results that you desire) making money, and in a way that looks effortless? What do your current systems and processes relay to the team? Do they communicate that the business leadership knows how to run a successful business where the systems and processes are there to support everyone (customers, salespeople, other teams) success? This doesn’t mean things won’t change. Or that some of the team aren’t winning. But the key is that your team should understand the WHY for any change, every process, and every system in place. What doesn’t build trust? “This is how we have always done it.” “I don’t know…not sure why we do it that way.” “I have never seen anyone use that/follow that/log into that.” “The person who wrote/built/rolled that out had no idea about sales.” “I bet I could do it better.” “If I was in charge…” That means you have a low trust vibe in the team. And if they don’t trust you and what you build and roll out – they won’t want to use it, perform, or stay. You definitely won’t get their loyalty if they don’t trust you. Conclusion High trust teams are a combination of mission, vision, core values and transparency.  This will build trust. Remember – you don’t always have to be perfect. Mistakes, misjudgments happen. Admit to them, regroup, realign, and be transparent with the team.

As leaders, we all want loyalty. The tough part is that to get loyalty you have to give loyalty. I can’t (or…shouldn’t) ask you for something that I am not willing to give you. In the same way I can’t (or…shouldn’t) ask you to do something I am not willing to do myself. Here is the issue with giving loyalty and conveying loyalty to your team – things change. If you have been reading any of the blogs over the past month, then there is a common theme – change. Whether it is evolution or revolution, change is necessary – especially for a business. [You can read the previous blogs about why it’s necessary.] Here is the scenario that happens: “Team – we value all of you. You mean so much to us. We can’t succeed unless you succeed. So we are here to help and support you, so that you can help more customers win, which means you win, which means we as a business win.” Everyone – hopefully – is on board, all heading the same direction…on the path of your mission/vision, embodying your core values. Then the business leadership realizes something(s) must change for that successful trajectory to continue. It might not lead to the bottom performers being happy. Hopefully the right people will keep on winning. But it’s not always a change people will like. One part of you has been making the statements to the team of “we are loyal to you” – in some version of the words and actions you have historically taken. Then a change needs to be made. That change to the team will feel like “they only care about themselves (leadership/owners) and bottom-line profit – they don’t care about us.” And with that they feel like the company is not loyal to them, only themselves. This is where my concept of Marry The Vision, Date The Strategy is so critical. The loyalty and trust that the team has in you, and you have in them is about the vision/mission. It’s about the destination that everyone is trying to reach. It’s not about the strategies and tactics that occur on the short-term basis. Loyalty is a great thing to have, but what is more important – and critical to focus on first (and then Loyalty will come) is trust. Your team should trust the business and leadership. That trust should be focused on the success of the business, the success of the team, and the transparency of leadership to the team as to how things are going with the business, any challenges that are pending/forecasted or currently happening, and what necessary changes are coming up. If the team trusts leadership to always have everyone’s best interest in mind – again, at least the team members who are onboard mentally and with their actions – then the loyalty will come. First, they must understand the mission, vision and values. Then you can earn their trust, by showing them that they can trust you with their livelihood – as long as they are putting in the work on their end. Then they will be loyal. At that point they will follow you, your leadership, and the company into and through whatever challenges come their way. The repeated battle scenes in Braveheart (and the opening scene in the original Gladiator movie) didn’t just happen one day, where everyone decided to show up on the battlefield and fight to the death. No…it was a progression of vision, trust, and loyalty. Where is your team at in that progression?

My friend Steve Bederman [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevebederman/ ], CEO of NobelBiz [ https://nobelbiz.com/ ], said on a video recently that you can’t demand loyalty. You have to build trust. He was saying this relative to a call center team, and what it takes to succeed. In the leadership blogs this week, I will talk about it from that perspective. But the same principle holds true for you – the sales professional. The reason why is that sales = leadership, and leadership = sales. Leading people is about setting a vision (destination) and finding people who want to be a part of it and persuading them as to why it’s right for them. Sales is about setting a vision (destination) with that prospective customer as to where they would rather be in life/business, where your product could potentially help, and persuading them as to why it’s right for them. But here is the key with persuasion – it’s not manipulation. They are quite different when it comes to intent. Manipulation is about getting what you want without regard to the other person’s wellbeing, future state, etc. “I want what I want…not really concerned with what you want or even what’s best for you.” Persuasion is hopefully about helping someone get what they want for their reasons. And of course, in sales – we want that to be at the intersection of what we are offering. The key with sales, persuasion, and leadership is the same – you cannot demand loyalty. You cannot require your prospective customers, or even your customers once they have purchased, to be loyal. You can’t demand anything from anyone. Just because they filled out your webform doesn’t mean you can demand and require them to show up for a call or meeting or move the process forward on their end. They don’t work for you – you can’t demand things from your prospects. (By the way…we will cover it in the leadership side of things, but you can’t demand your employees to do much for you either – maybe short term, a few things, but they don’t have to stay with the company.) Just because they walked into your store doesn’t mean you can demand loyalty and attention to stay through whatever presentation you have. Instead of trying to demand loyalty – thinking that since they came to you, you ‘got them’ and they will want to buy from you – build trust. Build trust such that loyalty follows. Trust is defined as “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” With reliability, truth, and/or strength – trust follows. And you cannot ask for trust. Never trust someone who says “it’s okay, you can trust me.” Trust has to be proven and earned. In sales, through the use of the Authentic Persuasion Pathway, to achieve the Trust stage, it takes a combination of Rapport followed by a Discovery phase that mixes Empathy and Active Listening. As Bob Berg says – people will do business with people they know, like and trust. First, they must know you. Then they must like you. And then…here is the missing part in Bob’s formula – you must convey to your prospect how much you care about them and their desired future state. You cannot pretend to care about them as a ‘tactic’. It must be genuine, if you want to develop genuine trust that will lead to a higher level of loyalty. Don’t just do Discovery – asking some questions, looking for things you can use for/against them, and just checking the box in your sales process. Come from a place of Empathy – I see you are “here”…I want to help you get to where you would rather be, because I care about you. You cannot demand your prospects and customers to be loyal. But you can develop a relationship based on Trust that will earn their loyalty.