“The Power of Leadership”

More from Dave Lakhani and his recent book How to Sell When Nobody’s Buying (and How to Sell Even More When They Are).  Dave’s advice…

REFOCUS

The key to success in managing through a slump is keeping the salespeople’s eye on the ball.  This involves getting them to focus on the core skills that have made them successful up to now.  It is getting them to constantly take the high payoff actions required to succeed, even when nothing seems to be working.  Tracking and accountability are keys to this process.  Keep refocusing and adjusting until the salesperson is back on track.

MENTOR

This downturn and your increased attention are likely to bring core deficiencies out into the open.  Your sales team may not have the skills necessary for success in a tough market.  Don’t let them struggle too long, that could create a downward spiral.  At those times, you must step in and mentor the salesperson to facilitate success.  This environment may uncover that your whole team is missing skills or deficient in certain areas, so take massive action and train them all at once.  You should do this as soon as feasible even if you must bring in a professional trainer.

MONITOR PROGRESS

This is where many sales managers fail.  They do every step, but they fail to follow through and monitor progress.  You must schedule regular review of progress with your sales person or team to get through a slump.  This is especially important if there are actual economic or industry factors impacting your business and you’ve initiated new strategies in response.  Success or failure of your team is up to you, don’t let your lack of follow through cause you to fail too.

THINK DIFFERENTLY

Start today asking yourself: What else is there that we could be doing that no one else is doing?  What does no one else in the marketplace want to do that we can?  How can we combine resources to create new opportunities?  Begin to create sales where everyone else is finding failure.  It is that level of diverse thinking that will allow you to succeed in any economy.

 “Do successful people accomplish the impossible?  No!  All they do is achieve what many critics thought was impossible.” – Paul J. Meyer

Have a great day!

Shawn

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman & CEO
Performance Institute (Human Capital Development)
Global CEO Academy (Management Training)
Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China
Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers, please post your comments in the Reply box…