Many high-performing salespeople have strong personalities. They’re positive in their attitude, powerful and authoritative. The same traits that make them great at sales can present difficulties for managers. They can be impulsive, demanding and unrealistic in their expectations, says Katherine Graham-Leviss, author of “The Perfect Hire: A Tactical Guide to Hiring, Developing and Retaining Top Talent.” They may lack attention to detail and are often disorganized.
She offers these four tips for effectively reaching and motivating this type of personality:
› Avoid making rules. Compliance doesn’t work for these people. The better you’re able to remove the obstacles and set them up to produce those results, the more successful they will be (and hence, you will be).
› Become a coach. That means asking, not telling your high performers what to do. Ask them to put themselves in your shoes over a particular issue, and discuss a variety of possible options. Let them own the solution to whatever obstacle is at hand.
› Let them do what they do best. You want to think about what’s important to them and what drives them. If you have employees who are not great at details and writing proposals but they’re great at selling, then let them sell. Find someone else to compensate in some way to support them on the detail.
› Give them pats on the back. You need to recognize them. Money isn’t often their main driver. It’s really about being respected. It’s achieving and getting those results.
