"Can you tell me why they don't sell?" Part II

Now, the other side of the coin.

Some time ago, I had several conversations with a sales manager from the financial industry in Canada.  My purpose in this post is, while in my previous post I wrote about a sales manager that was willing to find out why her sales team wasn't able to meet their goals and do whatever was required to solve the situation, to describe the opposite situation: a sales manager that wasn't and didn't.

When we first met, his question was, in essence the same: "Why they don't sell?" but articulated in a different way:

"-I still can't believe why they don't sell! Look, I have four sales reps. From these four, only two sell something, the other two don't sell anything. In fact, both have been without production the last 6 months. I don't know how they are paying their bills, how they live. Maybe they have a different activity, I don't know."

The last sentence was the one, that again, revealed what's happening with him and his 'team'.

When a sales rep is promoted to sales manager, is because he is an excellent producer but, sometimes, the company doesn't verify if he has the right and very basic communication skills. They don't know if a sales manager is able to articulate a question, to find out what's happening with the ones that are not selling, to do something with his blindness and the sales reps'. You know, an excellent producer doesn't mean an excellent sales manager. On the other side this sales manager lacks power. What do I mean? He doesn't have the ability to produce action in himself or in others. But lets go to the main dialog.

I'm the coach (C) and he is the sales manager (SM).

SM -"Really, I don't know how they pay their bills. Really. Two of them haven't closed anything in the last 6 months. Could you believe that?"
C - "Do you know why they haven't?"
SM - "No, not really." (I notice that my question surprises him a little.)
C -"Why haven't you asked them?"
SM - "I don't feel OK. The last months have been rough for me. My mood isn't the appropriate one and besides, the company doesn't like us to fire anyone."
C -"I'm not asking you to fire anyone, not even suggesting it. Just asking why you haven't asked them yet."
SM - "Well, I don't know, now that you ask, I don't have an answer for that. Well, maybe because I haven't felt well in the last months and for fear that, if I talk to them, they're going to quit. The company doesn't like that."
C - "What do you think could happen if you ask them?"
SM -"Well, the company doesn't like losing people. It's a very painful and long process to hire one financial advisor so if I talk to them, it could be interpreted that I'm going to fire them."
C - "What do you know about coaching?"
SM -"The company sent us to Palm Beach, California for a coaching training but, we didn't take it seriously, I must confess."
C - "And what do you remember from that training?
SM -" That I need to talk to them. Honestly, I don't know what exactly I'm going to find."
C - "Really? What do you think you're going to find?"
SM - "Why don't you coach them? I see that you like doing it. Do you want to coach them? Maybe we can do something. Let me talk to them and see if they're open to receive coaching from you. How much per session?"
C - "Before we consider that possibility let me explain you something. Experts and experience confirm that one of the most important things that a sales manager can do to mobilize his sales organization is to 'talk' to them. Why? Just to persuade them to do the things that are required to be done. What I have found is that if a sales manager doesn't talk to them, their little voice is. What voice? You know it don't you? Well, if you don't talk to them, this voice is going to and you are seeing now the results. Now, about me coaching them, is better if we design for you this 1st conversation with them instead of me having it. You are their sales manager.
SM - "I know but sometimes it helps if it's somebody from outside..."

...and finally, we agreed that if I was going to coach them, or at least to have an initial conversation, he was going to be present and then I was going to coach him to coach them. But, he was going to call me when he had the OK with his sales reps.

Nothing happened. I called him to follow up and he say that they didn't want to pay and that one of them, the girl, finally quit. He promised to call me in the future.

He didn't.

He's no more a sales manager.

If you think that you or your company experiences this type of situation and want to solve it, write to: ramon.ruizg@gmail.com