Taking on a New Team Part 2

Welcome back to part two of our series on mistakes to avoid when taking on a new team. In the last post, we talked about the excitement and apprehension of being appointed a new sales manager. And we addressed the first two key mistakes you’ll want to avoid to get off to a great start, and what to do instead. If you missed part one, you can read it here (INSERT LINK).?

Now let’s get to mistakes 3 and 4.?

Mistake 3 – Badmouthing and blaming your predecessor or others on the team – people may want to draw you into this activity, or you might be tempted to let off some steam, but don’t do it! You’ll be digging a hole that you’ll find difficult to climb out of. The other person will worry you’re saying things behind her back too.?

Instead, if another person tries to draw you into a “complaint” session about someone else, listen briefly and understand the issue. Then determine what you’ll do by saying something like, “I’ll take this under consideration. Thanks for your help,” or something that fits the situation. If it’s substantive, you’ll need to take some action; if not, move on.?

Mistake 4 – Selling for your people, or worse yet, sitting behind your desk, burying yourself in statistics and charts, not working directly with your people as they sell.?

Instead, be the kind of sales manager that is “sales first.” Give your team all the time you can to develop them. Attend or listen in on their sales calls, but don’t jump in to try and save the sale. Spend time learning about their strengths and weaknesses by looking through the input lenses of Attitude, Competence, and Execution, and then solve problems accordingly, i.e. you can’t solve an Attitude problem with Competence or Execution, and so on. Apply the appropriate solution to a correctly diagnosed problem. Continuously train your team to a high-performance standard.??

Fear Is the Culprit

Once again, we can see the one common factor that underpins these mistakes made by too many new managers. It’s fear. These mistakes are driven by fear of being blamed, and fear of failing. Whether it’s obvious to the new manager or not, make no mistake, fear causes smart people to do stupid things.?

Focus on where you want to go and why you want to get there instead of trying to avoid falling short.?Avoid these common mistakes and build a strong, cohesive and successful sales team.