The Nature of Business Challenges

Challenging situations and scenarios will always come up in business. (And in life!)

It’s a part of business. Sometimes it’s the market that has changed, or the customer’s desires and/or expectations from companies like yours, or the economy, or marketing.

Sometimes it’s just an evolution that must occur in business to always keep moving forward.

When challenging times occur, what is your response as a leader?

Well, if you are a salesperson turned manager, you might struggle with managing through challenges. Your primary focus is probably on sales (as it should be, of course) but also on salespeople. How do you ensure that they are always successful and potentially operating in the most comfortable environment with the easiest chance for salespeople to earn the highest amount of commission?

That formula and outlook is not always in line with what the company needs and wants as a business. That formula is focused on salespeople’s success, which then leads to your success as a manager. Both financially as well as the ease of your role (it’s much easier to manage a team that is winning and making money).

But what happens when a challenge arises, and changes must occur? Whose side are you on?

Facing Resistance to Change

I have written about that before – about remembering who you work for.

And I still see sales managers and leaders struggle with dealing with challenges that they don’t like, or think are fair. Changes that don’t make sense to them and cause them to deal with questions and complaints from their team. Situations where the right people on the team will still do well, but it will cause the middle and bottom to question if this is the right role for them.

Important note – if a change occurs, and the bottom percentage of your team is not happy with the change – then there is a good chance the company made the right changes. You don’t want that bottom group of salespeople taking up payroll and quailed leads that others could have closed.

The Role of Mindset in Overcoming Challenges

Here is the thing with change and challenges: it will show you who wants to be a part of the company and team. If they have the right mindset that matches your organization’s mission, vision, and core values, they will accept the challenges and changes.

If they aren’t a good fit for the company and potentially just there to make money (like a mercenary that happens to work for your company…for now…because they needed a job), then they will push back on the changes in negative ways. They will complain, talk about being confused and frustrated. They will want the old thing back – whatever it was.

They will push back on the change that must occur to overcome the challenge.

Understanding the 'Why' Behind Challenges and Change

If you want to succeed at leading through challenges, the first thing you must know is the why behind the challenge. Why did it happen, and why is it important for the organization to make a change to address that challenge?

Not all challenges need some significant change. Sometimes it’s a deal-specific challenge, then everyone can put their problem-solving minds together and move the deal forward.

But if a change is needed to facilitate successfully navigating that challenge, then you must also understand the why behind that specific change playbook. Why that change to resolve the challenge? Why not other changes that could have been made instead?

If you don’t understand either of those whys, then you will struggle with leading yourself and the team through the challenge and changes needed. You won’t be able to explain it to your team, and you won’t understand why everyone needs to stand together at this time.

The Importance of Personal Support in Leadership

Another note: I talk a lot about leadership, sales teams, sales managers…there is one part that’s almost more important than helping your sales team understand the why – it’s your significant other and/or family.

I have seen many sales leaders buckle under change, and fail to move forward through challenges, because they have a significant other at home that is putting doubt in their head about the changes that are happening. The manager goes home, tries to explain to their partner (or family) why the comp plan changed, or the schedule, or the marketing, or the pricing, or the sales process – and if the manager isn’t convinced, they won’t convince (sell) their partner/family on the why.

That partner/family gets in the ear of the manager and starts eroding their confidence with the company and direction.
This also occurs at the salesperson level – if they have anyone at home who will stress about changes…especially if the salesperson isn’t confident in the changes or themselves.

Conclusion

To lead through challenges and changes, you must know the two whys. Then you must help everyone else around you understand them. And for your team – the right people who see you as a leader they can trust will follow you through this period. The wrong ones will want to leave.

Let them.

And please don’t blame the challenge or the change for why they left.