Sweating It
When results are less than optimal, organizations typically go in one of two directions, and it's often not the right one.
We're into Q3 and for a lot of reps (probably half or more), the prospects of covering their number for the year are looking bleak. Oh, I'm sure there are really good reasons... The industry is down as a whole, your customers are in a drought themselves, people are planning for projects in Q4 and next year, and everyone's on vacation right now, right?
All of those issues could (should?) have been foreseen and worked around, but that's a topic for a different piece. Right now I'd like to compare what you're likely doing now with what you should be doing instead.
What happens a lot
What I typically see in organizations in this situation is a lot of scrambling and other ass-covering behavior. "What can we do to make it look like we're doing everything we can?" Additional meetings, increased scrutiny over call reports, CRM data being scoured over...
It's as if shining a light on what you haven't been doing all year to this point is magically going to make your results better. This is akin to cleaning your house by stuffing every closet until it's full and sweeping all of the dirt under the rug. It's not results you're after at this point, all you're looking for right now is plausible deniability. Make it look like you've done enough to keep your job, and maybe something magical will happen and a customer might decide to buy something.
The biggest problem with the focus on optics and window dressing is that there is still little if any, ownership taken for the outcomes that are not being delivered. So what about your window dressing is going to help you deliver that number next quarter?
People running around like buffoons trying to make it look like they're doing something is not the way to drive results, and lack of results is driving this behavior. It's a truly vicious cycle.
What should happen instead
if you're not trending in the right direction, and it's the third quarter, it's time to take a look at why. What does your process look like? Where are things getting jammed? What do you need to get unstuck? Who needs to pitch in and help?
You can only deduce proper solutions when people are willing to be honest and vulnerable enough to admit where they're falling short and why. This is the complete opposite response to what I mentioned above. Don't try to cover up your shortcomings, call them what they are and commit to addressing them.
Fix your process and commit to it. Set reasonable boundaries and time frames around measurables and commit to reanalysis. Focus only on the most important KPI's that will move the needle, leave the vanity metrics alone, and trust that things will play out the way they should.
Few positive results, if any, come out of chaos. One way or another, there needs to be a commitment. Either commit to the idea that it's just not going to happen this year because you don't want to take the proper actions, or commit to the right actions and give them the space to work. You have a choice, but when you look at it this way, there really isn't much of a decision to be made is there?
You don't win competitions by playing not to lose. When you do more of the things that have time and again proven to lead to successful outcomes, you tend to come out on top (see: Patriots, New England). Ultimately, leadership has to be confident that the right pieces are in place, and that teams with the proper freedoms (and constraints) will do their jobs. If they don't, then they're not the right pieces. If the leaders just can't trust the pieces they've put in place, then they may not be the right leaders.
Ask yourself- what can you do to improve your results? Have you taken a hard look at your activities? Are you doing what it takes to move the needle? Can you do more? If you do work for an organization that feels it needs to micromanage while in panic mode, can you compartmentalize it, tolerate it, and still get your job done? If not, then what's really getting in the way? The type of brutal honesty and vulnerability that leads to success has to start somewhere, it might as well start in your mirror.
What do you think? Join the conversation in the Rethink The Way You Sell Community.
Jeff Bajorek
Real. Authentic. Experience.
There’s a big difference between knowing how to sell and being able to. Jeff Bajorek spent over a decade in the field as a top performer. He’s been in your shoes. He knows what it will take. He can help you succeed.
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