Do you treat your sales team like children?

If not, maybe you should start! No, I don’t mean giving them a bunch of toys and puppies. I mean motivating them the same way you would if you were encouraging a child.

Remember how around 2 years of age, just as they mastered walking the stairs without falling on their tush – suddenly everything became “I will do it! Me! Myself!”?  From simple things like eating with a fork, peeling a banana (yes, even in the car!) to tying shoelaces. The progress is fast and enormous.

Sure, you can do it for them much faster and more efficiently.

But will your child ever feel the same sense of pride overcoming the obstacle and accomplishing the task? Would they learn?

They say, "show, don’t tell".

I say, "Ask, and let them solve it."

During my earlier days in wine sales, every once in a while, sales managers came up with a genius idea to boost sales. (When I say genius, imagine Bill Murray saying it with a smirk). They called it Fridays BLISS. The irony of that name choice!

It was never announced ahead of time. I wonder why.

You see, Friday was the only day the entire sales team comes to the headquarters. After the whole week on the road, seeing about 15 clients a day, selling wine, dealing with complaints, and taking care of business. Our clients saw us during the week on their scheduled day, counted on it, planned their budgets around it, and already purchased what they needed when we came in.

Friday was our Sales Meeting day. To get updates, get “beaten over our heads” with the numbers we did or didn’t achieve, and to take care of the necessary agenda. We were also meeting the vendors, tasting the new releases, getting samples for the following week's sales strategy, and often fixing delivery issues or other complaints. It was the only day of the week there was a chance to get home at a decent hour. Some of us volunteered our afternoon time for wine tastings at our client’s wine stores to help move the new merchandise.

The dreaded BLISS days were different

Management received us in the morning only to send us back on the road (yay, surprise!!!). We had to go back to see those same people who already spent money for that week – on the only day they didn’t have a line of salespeople waiting for an order.

“You don’t get off that road until you call in xx amount of cases you sold. Make it happen!”

Did it deliver results?  Well, sure. Did we hate it? With a passion! We moved some extra product but also pissed our regular clients off by showing up on Friday unannounced and basically begging for a favor. Some of us “paid for it” with smaller orders the following week, or it just became a return later.

From the management's perspective, it seemed like a fantastic, simple, short-term solution to bring additional revenue.

But BLISS hardly motivated anybody to be competitive, better, or feel good about it. The more you’re pushed, the more resistance it creates. That same awful energy leaves the building with each salesperson, and it’s being passed on to your clientele. It stinks of desperation. Not a recipe for long term successful relationships.

Are you dealing with a bored, uninspired sales team tired of being constantly pressured, told what to do, how, and whom they should do it to? It’s hard to turn that energy around. Hard, but not impossible.

Turn it on its head

What if - instead of coming in front of your team with your idea, you came to them with a ”Guys, we have a problem” strategy?

And ask them to solve it?

Chances are that their solution, working in the market and knowing their clients the best could be better, more creative, and far more effective than anything you come up with from the safety of your corner office.

Let them brainstorm ideas

But, but!!! Resist the urge to step in as a leader and correct the course right away if they come up with something you disapprove of. Appreciate every idea, but consider them with an open mind, not criticism. Don’t turn them off like you're just playing with them.

Let your sales team resolve it and come up with the best idea. A leader’s mastery is to let your ego sit this one out - even if your original solution still seems better to you. Now they’re personally invested.

Let them have the satisfaction of coming up with THEIR OWN solution

Now your team doesn’t just have a plan, they turned into competitive children, eager and excited to see it work out. Because it’s THEIR OWN plan! As a bonus, they also feel you value their opinion and expertise. They feel heard and respected. They feel involved in the process and they now believe in the cause. Instead of being told what to do, THEY came up with an out of the box solution to the problem.

You agree on the plan and the steps they need to take to execute it. 90% of the time there is no need for additional motivation. The team will follow up on their own idea making sure it yields the best results. Track down their progress and don’t forget to praise them for their great teamwork!

Which is more powerful?

”Didn’t you agree YOU would do this?” or “You still didn’t do what I told you?”