It’s been said that people will run really fast for two reasons: to win a gold medal and to get away from a German Shepherd. Only one of these reasons, however, generates sustained success.
Can you guess which one?
German Shepherd Sales Managers
German Shepherd sales managers, sales managers who lead from the outside in through enforcement and intimidation, will get results.
People will run – and run fast – but only for a short time. Ultimately, they ignore the barking and do what they’ve always done, or leave this manager completely and sell for another company.
Here are the telltale signs of a German Shepherd sales manager:
- Tense, aggressive team meetings
- High pressure, unrealistic forecasting demands
- Strongly worded, threatening email when sales are down
- Constant sales rep turnover
- Ultimate leadership burnout
Gold Medal Sales Managers
Gold medal sales managers, however, lead from the inside out, not through fear and intimidation but through inspiration and motivation.
These kinds of leaders get the best out of their salespeople because they treat them with dignity and respect and appeal to a deeper sense of meaning and purpose, lighting a fire in their souls that burns brighter every year.
It’s a common misunderstanding that sales managers must be strong and aggressive to get the best out of their salespeople. That’s like believing that the only kind of coach that’s successful in sports is one that screams at their team. Actual results from both the world of athletics and the world of business debunk this myth.
Not that Gold medal sales managers don’t lean in when correction is needed. In fact, quite the opposite. But they do so in a way that believes the best in the person they’re correcting and speaks to them with care and candor, humility and honesty. And, most importantly, they correct in private not in public.
Gold medal sales managers also motivate their salespeople differently. They understand that world-class performance comes from a deep sense of purpose. They know their sellers are human beings, not robots, and need real reasons for doing the things they do, “why’s” for their “what’s.”
“When employees believe their work has a deeper meaning, their results will vastly exceed those who only use their minds and their bodies,” Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic, advises in his bestselling leadership book True North.
Vastly exceed … That’s’ what you want. Right?
Two Gold Medals that Motivate Salespeople
There are two gold medals you can use to motivate your salespeople: organizational purpose and individual purpose. That is, the purpose of your company and the purpose of each salesperson who works at your company.
Organizational purpose is found by answering these three questions:
- How do your products and services improve the lives of your customers?
- How does your work culture enrich the lives of your employees?
- How does your company improve the community it serves?
In short: your customers, your culture and your community.
Individual purpose is found by answering these three questions:
- Why do each of the salespeople on your team sell? Fortune, fame, freedom, or family?
- What’s a big tangible dream each salesperson has that’s aligned with why they sell?
- What’s the clear line of sight from daily sales activity to their big tangible dream?
These two dynamics, organizational purpose and individual purpose, work in synergy together, each fueling the other to inspire great performance.
What About You?
How do you lead your salespeople? From the outside in or from the inside out?
It’s extremely tempting right now, especially given the pressure we’re all under to increase top line revenue, to be a German Shepherd sales manager. And although that approach works for a short time, ultimately it doesn’t produce sustained success and turns you into a barking dog.
Choose a better way: gold medals. And in the choosing, you’ll become a better leader and a better person, a gold medal sales manager.
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