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Rule 12: Manage individuals; lead a team.
There's no substitute for personal attention. Listen, every human wants to be paid attention to. Everyone wants this one-on-one connection. They want eye contact, they want one-on-one time, they want you to pay attention. This is true at home. Kids want your attention. They want you to ask questions. They want you to understand the deal.
The Same thing holds true as a sales leader. We tend to manage a team. Why? Maybe we just don't have enough time. We're pushed. We've got a million things to do. But you can't manage a team. You can only manage individuals who make up a team. The purpose of this rule is for you to take a deep breath, step back, and say, "Am I focusing in on team members? Am I doing that?" If you are, congratulations. If you're not, here's what we need to think about.
Identify what the DISC style of my individual is. What are their goals? What's their cookbook? What motivates them? What's their why? What are their personal goals? What are their gaps and skills and experiences that I can help them with? Once you've identified that, and once I spend one-on-one time with people, which some of us may say, "It's going to take a lot of time, and I don't have that time." I get that part, but you're really spending twice that amount of time cleaning up messes because you sent out a memo expecting everybody to read it and they're going to act appropriately. You know that's not true. It's not true anywhere. Has never been true and it never will be true. People need to hear from you. If you do send out a memo that you want things changed in your group, then how does it apply to them and what's going on here?
I've got to tell you. I've heard so many times, people come back to me and say, "David, it's really demotivating. You sent that memo out because it was really for just Fred. It's not for all of us." You know what? They were right. Shame on me because I should have just gone to Fred and said, "Hey Fred. Here's the deal." I didn't do that because I was pressed for time. Well, that's not good. You can't manage a team. They have different issues, different skills, and different experiences. I owe it to the company. I owe it to my family. I owe it to them to speak to each person as if they were the only person on my team. Once you do that, you'll realize each team member will start producing more and more. Your team will blow the quota through the roof. Good luck.
THE SANDLER RULES FOR SALES LEADERS details a sales management process that works. It offers 49 timeless, proven principles for effective sales leadership, based on the Sandler Selling System. The book is the sequel to the Wall Street Journal bestseller THE SANDLER RULES, also authored by David Mattson.
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David is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestsellers, The Sandler Rules: 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How to Apply Them and Sandler Success Principles: 11 Insights that will change the way you think and sell. He regularly authors articles for business publications and continues to be involved in the ongoing creation and development of new Sandler training products and programs.
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