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Walter, a printing company sales person, just returned from a performance review. He is still seething. It went something like this: First his manager reminded him of the objectives presented at the last meeting. Then he blasted Walter for losing an account to a competitor. He insisted Walter had to do more prospecting.
His manager then announced he was taking over an account Walter was developing because, as he explained it, "I foresee some problems, and I want to make sure we put this one away." Finally, he told Walter, he was pleased with his progress. Despite some recent setbacks, he said, Walter was generally doing well. Now, if he would just get out there and open some new accounts... Walter's manager concluded with a warm, enthusiastic talk on how difficult it was to prospect, and how much disappointment was involved, but how sure he was that Walter would eventually become successful.
Sound farfetched? It's not. For thousands of printing sales professionals, scenes like this are common. Although Walter must think he has the most demanding and erratic sales manager in the world, his situation is typical.
To improve this situation, Walter's manager—or any other sales manager—must first learn the kind of managing his salespeople need. As a first step in training and development, we often ask sales professionals to evaluate their managers. Over the years we have found four major complaints: Managers don't spend enough time with their salespeople; they don't listen to their sales team's concerns; they don't take their salespeople's concerns seriously; and they don't follow up. Here are some comments offered by salespeople.
"Help me solve problems!"—Entirely too many managers believe they have to solve problems personally. As a result, they don't teach their salespeople problem-solving skills. Salespeople don't need to have their managers take on their problems, but they do need a manager who will give them guidance.
"Let's talk about goals."—Salespeople know what they're supposed to do every week, but never discuss where they're headed. All the manager wants to know is whether quotas are being met and how many prospecting calls are made. People are more likely to meet objectives when they have a role in helping to formulate them, yet many salespeople complain that managers hand down directives without any discussion.
"When I'm not doing well, be straight with me!"—In a sales office where there is indirect communication, everyone knows when a manager is displeased. He has discussions with other reps asking questions like, "What's the matter with Jack? Why did he lose that big sale?" But her never comes to Jack and says, "I'm concerned about your performance—let's talk about it."
Indirect communication is one of the most frequent sales management problems, and it can have all kinds of effects. Knowing that his performance is off, and knowing that other people know about it, Jack may become angry and resentful, and his performance becomes worse than ever. When the atmosphere becomes intolerable, he may decide to leave.
It is usually up to the manager to initiate direct communication. It could begin with an open discussion: "I know you've had a problem with that account-—let's talk about it." Or it could begin with a re-evaluation of objectives: "Our goals for this quarter may have been unrealistic. Let's take another look." The manager who can initiate and sustain direct communication has mastered an important element of effective management.
While a formal system isn't necessary for salespeople to evaluate managers, managers should seek out and make use of feedback on their performance. There is also a benefit in teaching salespeople to share responsibility for how they are managed. This is performance counseling, rather than performance appraisal.
The first step is to make a positive statement of purpose about why there's a need to talk, something like, "Jack, I want to sit down with you to see how we can team up to reach the potential possible for both of us." What a manager should not say is, "Be in my office at 2:00. We have some heavy talking to do about why you're not performing."
Next, the salesperson should provide a self-evaluation. For instance: How are things going? Where do you think you're making your most significant contribution?" Then the sales manager might ask, " If you could improve your performance in one particular area, what would it be?"
The manager needs to confirm the salesperson's contribution, and offer praise for areas in which he has done well. He also needs to acknowledge shortcomings. In addition, the manager needs to provide a diagnosis of the performance, and then be ready to provide the concrete data to support it.
The last step is for the manager and the salesperson to develop a performance improvement plan to correct any deficiencies. And that's it for this meeting. In closing, let me remind you that nothing happens until somebody sells something. Good Hunting.
George's company, ProTrain, provides sales training and marketing advice. He can be reached at georgemreinfeld@juno.com.
author: By George Reinfeld