A great skill of leadership in sales: Paying attention

While discussing difficult situations with a sales manager, he mentioned a salesperson in his team missing targets several months in a row. While explaining how he approached the problem, at some point, he said, “I paid more attention to him.” I asked him to explain how.

Here is how he responded:

“I just paid more attention to what he was doing. It was not negative attention or positive attention. I did not call him more than usual. I simply reviewed his projects with him carefully and kept asking him about his next steps until he came up with a meaningful answer. Then I worked on supporting him in the best way I could so that he could execute those steps.”

Then I wanted to know how he could keep his attention so neutral. He explained that the salesperson had more selling experience than himself, with a good track record. Therefore, he knew it was in him, and as the manager, he had nothing new to teach him. 

I loved his answer for three reasons. 

First of all, as the sales manager, he did not go for a shortcut solution just by looking at the numbers and KPIs of the day. He wanted to understand better. Therefore, he put in more effort (not necessarily more time) and attention. 

Secondly, he did not come up with a negative or positive approach. A negative approach would be, “Your numbers are not there; you should work harder. We cannot miss the budget again.” 

A positive approach, on the other hand, would be, “You have been doing a great job. I know numbers are not there yet, but you can do it.”

Both approaches would put additional pressure on the salesperson. 

By staying nonjudgmental, he showed respect and trust. He also demonstrated that he is purely interested in helping the salesperson to maximize the ability to perform.

Finally, I loved this story because it demonstrates the importance of humility in sales leadership. As the leader, he did not have to have all the answers. He did not pretend, either. That is why he asked about the next steps rather than telling. Therefore, he respected the person’s experience and potential and worked together to bring this potential out. 

Ultimately, despite missing three months in a row, this salesperson could catch up with the results and overachieved his annual plan. 

And I left the call with three leadership lessons for myself: 

1-     Numbers in sales are almost everything. But they are not everything. Put particular attention to understanding what is behind

2-     Remain nonjudgemental as possible

3-     The best way to exercise humility is to trust in people’s potential