Written by Andrew Trim

By nature, salespeople want to do well. They may need some management to ensure they do the right actions, but they all want to do well.

You may be surprised that poor performing salespeople KNOW they are performing poorly. They do not need their leader telling them their results are low. As a leader, you should tell them something they don’t know – how to improve their results.

And there is no need to shout.

Very rarely should a leader resort to shouts and threats. “You’ve got until the end of the month – perform or you’re done!” This is not leadership.

Everyone has seen leaders whose entire repertoire of leadership tools is threats and shouting. These bullies have small teams, high staff turnover and poor results.

If you want to find good people, you must first be a good leader. This means having more leadership tools than threats and shouting.

In our four-day Smartre Management System seminar, we counsel leaders to spend one-on-one time with their team members. This time should be used to constructively workshop with the salesperson areas where his or her activity is deficient, with a clear discussion of ways to improve. Leaders must provide solutions.

Note that the salesperson’s ACTIVITY is discussed, not their Results. As mentioned, salespeople know when their results are poor. What they need is a discussion on their activity and ways to improve it. Provide solutions rather than accentuating a problem that everybody already knows about.

One-on-one time is how you win loyalty. Earn the loyalty of your team members and you will seldom need to shout at them. Instead of fearing your wrath, they will fear letting down someone they admire and respect, someone who has spent hours with them, doing his or her best to turn them into champions. Fear of letting you down is a far stronger motivator for the right team members, but you have to earn their respect and admiration first.

You earn this by having one-on-one time with every team member. The Smartre Management System suggests a minimum amount of one-on-one time with each salesperson:

• Twice a day for their first twenty-one days.

• Once a day for the next twenty-one days.

Thereafter:

• Once a week FOREVER.

Some leaders like to do this in their office, which I recommend in the early stages of their career. Other leaders prefer to take their salesperson out for a coffee. This is also acceptable. It doesn’t matter where you spend time with your team members, as long as it’s quality time and it’s regular.

Earn the loyalty and respect of your team and you will seldom have to shout. Remember though, don’t be too soft. A salesperson will never exceed the expectations placed upon them, so keep your standards high. This is the opposite to what many leaders do – expecting mediocrity and allowing it.

No-one respects wimps, and no-one respects bullies. You are better than that.