I’ve used my own personal stories of
coaching sports in sales training for years. I am fortunate to be able to coach
lacrosse, a sport I played in school, and one that my children enjoy. Coaching
offers me an opportunity to teach, encourage, and build what may become a
foundation for someone to grow upon. The game of lacrosse, like many sports, is
based on a team concept, that one person cannot win a game and one person cannot
lose a game. What does this remind you of? To me, I draw a direct analogy to
sales, from the team play to the coaching.
As with any team sport, you cannot have
more coaches than players, otherwise you become top heavy and do not have the
stamina players to make it all the way through the game. What do I mean by this
statement? If you have too many sales managers, all wanting to be decision
makers and drivers of ideas, and not enough sales reps on the street closing
deals, you will quickly end up being top heavy. You’ll be full of great idea
people and no one implementing the ideas.
On a recent sales call of my own I came
across a company that had 9 VP’s of sales and 4 outside sales reps. The VP’s
still went out and sold, but much less so than the outside reps. When I asked
about the role(s) of the VP, I clearly touched a nerve. A few became defensive.
They (tried to) explained what their role was and what they did every day. They
had this idea and that idea. They managed this concept or that concept. They
talked about this stat or that stat. And, when they were all done with their
explanations and sitting proudly with their chests pumped out, that’s when I
hit everyone in the room right between the eyes. I asked one simple follow-up
question: So, who here is revenue king? Who in the room is responsible, on a
day-to-day basis, for ensuring the company is producing revenue? The room fell
silent.
You would have thought I’d just ask them
for their blood type. Better yet, you would have thought I just asked them to
strip naked, run out into the middle of Main Street, and to start doing jumping
jacks. The utter shock that I would ask such a questions caused an immediate
disruption in the meeting. I was asked to leave the room for a moment, and when
I returned, I was informed that my firm (moreover me) was not going to be a fit
for them to do business. I thanked them in a very professional manner and
walked out.
I didn’t even make it to my car before I
cracked up laughing. I was laughing by myself so hard that I caught the
attention of a gentleman 100 yards away. Maybe he could not tell I was laughing
and thought I was injured or something, but he approached. As he drew closer I
realized it was the CEO of the company I had just met with and he too knew who
I was. He wondered by I was laughing so hard and remembering the honesty rule
(Out of the mouths of babes!) I shared the story of the meeting that just
abruptly ended. He apologized, wished me a good day, and told me he would call
me. I dismissed his final remark as being polite.
Four hours later the CEO called me,
again apologized, and asked me to return at my first possible schedule opening.
He wants to meet with me one-on-one and promised he was leaving all of his
“coaches” in the locker room. Stay tuned…