Close your eyes for a moment and
visualize, if you will, a scene from a movie or television show: a hand grenade
is thrown into a group and the reaction is to scramble and get the hell out of
the way. Everyone in the scene knows it will explode. They don’t want to be in
the way, so they get a burst of energy and move, no matter how exhausted they
might be.
It is the latter part of the description
that you should hang on to for this post. I’m not insinuating that you, as a
sales manager, should blow up your team. Instead, metaphorically speaking, you
may need to give them a jolt from time-to-time. I’ve been there before, it’s
not always pleasant, but it does work. Here’s what I mean.
Complacency in sales is terrible and can
be detrimental to your entire company if not addressed swiftly. Sometimes
complacency sets in when the sales team feels like everything is going just fine.
Complacency can also set in with one person and become contagious whereas the
other sales team members begin to make excuses based on the actions of one person.
Complacency tends to never come into play with ‘A’ level sales people, but then
again it is rare to find an entire sales team made up of 100% ‘A’ level sales
folks. So, what is a sales manager to do when complacency creeps into his or
her team? Throw a hand grenade into their circle.
They need to be jolted alive. They need
a wakeup call. They need to realize they are being complacent and that complacency
is not normal in sales. And, to give them this awareness or awakening, they
need a shock to the system. I reached out to a few friends in sales management
for ideas on how they throw hand grenades at complacency.
Jim has been in enterprise-level
software sales for 27 years. He’s been in sales management for the past 10
while also being the lead sales person (individually) each year. He noticed,
not too long ago, that 8 of his 12 sales reps appeared to be going through the
motions. Sales were neither slower than normal or better than normal, but their
activity was decreasing. Meetings were not being scheduled with prospective
clients or existing clients. Client entertainment was minimal. When he asked
his reps how things were going the standard answer was status quo. Yet, he and
the other 4 reps were increasing sales. They were getting prospective and
existing clients to meet where discussions on upgrades were taking place. Jim
became very tired very quickly of the obvious complacency with the rest of his team,
so he threw a hand grenade into their daily routine. Jim contacted the top client
for each of the 8 complacent reps and scheduled 8 face-to-face meetings. He was
able to do this all in one day. When scheduling the meetings he also made sure
his reps would be available to attend. The next morning was their mid-week
sales meeting. Jim announced to his team the meetings that were scheduled with
their clients, he set an agenda for each meeting, and he explained that these
meetings were not difficult to schedule. In fact, the clients were anxious. He
then sent the entire sales team home for the day with one question to ponder: “if
you want to be in sales, if you want to return tomorrow and keep this job, come
back in the morning prepared to discuss the ways in which we’ll never be
complacent again”.
Maria manages a small sales team of 3
people for her family owned manufacturing company. Although the organization
may seem small, the components they make are used in high definition radiology
scanners. Her team had a tremendous year in 2016 adding several new clients and
increasing sales from existing clients. However, the first quarter of 2017 did
not keep pace. In her words, “my reps were still hungover from the success of
2016”. But, she wasn’t. She knew there were more opportunities with prospects
and existing clients. And, of the 3 sales people, one really didn’t seem too
concerned about slowing down. Complacency was okay by him because he was
basking in the success from months ago. His commissions were still rolling in
and he felt he could turn on his sales jets whenever he wanted. So, as both the
sales manager and an owner in the business, Maria threw a grenade at the sales
team. Becoming frustrated with the lackadaisical attitude of the one complacent sales
rep more than the others, she went on her own mission to meet with and sell to
his top three prospects. Without announcing her plans, she spent one week
traveling to Indiana and Michigan, met with all three prospects, secured sales
(PO’s) from all three, and quietly traveled back to her home office in
Columbus, Ohio. The grenade was thrown the following Monday morning when she announced
to the sales team her success from the week before. The complacent sales rep
was visibly upset by what he called “back door tactics”. He felt she stole
these prospects from him. He called her a lousy sales manager and demanded to
meet with her brother, the president of the company, unaware that he was on the
conference phone the entire time. Maria simply asked one question…”why did I
close these deals and you didn’t?” He couldn’t answer the question and was subsequently
terminated for lack of performance. He went from being the star of the show in
2016 to being a lazy bum in 2017. He didn’t feel motivated to continue his
successes. He let complacency take over. And, with one week of visits, Maria
showed her organization and the remaining 2 sales people that complacency has
no place in a growth oriented company.
Maria’s case may be a drastic example.
However, it happens every day in sales. Good sales managers, like ‘A’ level
sales people, can recognize when someone (or a team) is becoming complacent.
Stop it before it sets in otherwise you’ll need to throw a grenade at them.