What To Do When You Go From Colleague To Boss
As a sales manager, transitioning from being a peer to a leader can be challenging. Previously, if a salesperson was underperforming, it may not have had much impact on you personally. But as a manager, the performance of every member of your team now directly affects your own success.
So, what should you do when a salesperson comes to you seeking sympathy over their struggles with job performance? You understand that if they don’t improve, they may need to rethink their future with the company. Yet, having that tough conversation can be uncomfortable, making it tempting to simply commiserate with them instead.
Be careful of what message this may send to your salespeople; however.
Consider this story: Ariana looked up to see who was coming into the office so early and was surprised to see that it was Ray. Not that Ariana disliked Ray, but since Ariana had been promoted to sales manager, what Ray did or didn’t do took on a completely different meaning. Maybe that’s what I need to do, thought Ariana. Ray needs to start closing more business real soon or I’m going to wind up asking him to reconsider his future with the company. Why can’t I just say, “Start selling or you’re fired?” And I used to think sales managers had the easy job. “Hey, Ariana,” called Ray from across the room, “bet you didn’t expect to find me walking through the door this early.” Ariana smiled back. “Not true.” “Bull,” laughed Ray, “now tell me the truth; it was the first thing that ran through your mind.” “Well, suppose it was,” responded Ariana, “What brings you in?” “Thought I’d stop by before you got real buried and just talk a bit . . . you know, like we used to do before. Hey, the last time we ducked across the street to the donut place. You want to go now?” Ray stood holding the door with one hand and beckoning with the other. “I don’t know, Ray. I’ve got a ton of stuff to do before the sales meeting,” Ariana glanced at his watch for a second, “in two hours.”
“You don’t have 15 minutes to spend with a pal who is still in the trenches?” Ray frowned. “I suppose 15 minutes won’t matter all that much . . . why don’t you tell me about where you are with those hot accounts you mentioned yesterday?” “That’s the spirit. That’s the Ariana I knew from the old days. Let’s go. Right on over to the honey-glazed.” Thirty minutes later, Ariana came back to the office wondering how she had been talked into letting Ray skip the sales meeting. Oh, that’s right, he said that one account wanted him to drop by this morning. I’ve just got to do something about him. Yeah, being a salesperson was a lot easier.
The RESULT:
Ray got to feel good, believing that Ariana thinks he’s an OK salesperson. Ariana, thinking of the possibility of firing Ray, gave Ray the impression he has a future with the company. Lies and more lies.
DISCUSSION:
It’s very easy for a sales manager to commiserate with salespeople. Everyone loves to swap war stories or retell that special story that happened back when. The one where the older woman wanted that white computer over there because it went with the rest of the furniture in the office.
One problem with commiserating is that it does not accomplish anything. So you swap stories. Other than maybe having a new story to tell someone else, what did you gain for the time spent?
Some sales managers may want to commiserate to get along with the salespeople. If I listen to his problems, stories, whatever, then he will listen to me when the time comes. Won’t happen. Here’s why.
Ray now figures that all he has to do to do a good job is commiserate with Ariana. After all, Ariana even let him skip the sales meeting on the flimsy excuse that some prospect wanted somebody to drop by that morning.
The message that Ariana got is that Ray doesn’t consider the sales meetings important. The message that Ray got is that Ariana doesn’t think her own time is valuable since Ray easily talked her into spending double the amount of time than planned on at the donut shop.
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Why should Ray take anything Ariana says seriously? Did Ariana do herself any favors by commiserating with Ray? When the other salespeople find out from Ray how he got out of the sales meeting, what do you think their attitude will be?
APPROACH:
Don’t commiserate.
Instead of Ariana responding with “Not true,” if she had responded with “You’re here early for a reason . . .” and then waited, the conversation would have taken a different path.
When Ray offered to talk at the donut place, Ariana should have responded, “Am I right thinking what you want to talk about is important, since you wanted to talk before I ‘got buried?’ Come on in,” then she should have turned and walked back into her office. Who’s in charge then?
Ariana would then be managing her own behavior. She would control her responses to Ray, and not allow herself to be swept along.
THOUGHT:
You are there to manage your own behavior and help your salespeople manage their behavior. Commiseration only leads to misery.
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