Posts Tagged ‘Education and Training’

Do your sales managers struggle with motivating their sales teams?

It’s easier to do than you might think. Sometimes motivating a sales rep is even easier than motivating a five-year

This sneaky little tip is one that I copped off a behavioral modification book I was reading to learn how to discipline my two kids a bit better. So of course, after I used it on them – I tried it on my sales reps…and even though I shouldn’t have been surprised…it worked like a charm.

This sales training tip is called: “Give ‘em a LOFTY reputation to live up to…(even if they’ve done nothing to deserve it)”.

Terrible title…but effective technique.

Anyway, here’s how it works: Say a sales rep is trying to desperately to figure out some kind of relatively complex issue. So the extremely helpful sales manager really want to help them figure it out. They may know the answer and see them struggling…wanting desperately to tell them exactly what to do.

The real “pro” sales managers don’t do it though.

Instead of actually doing the work for them and telling them what to do, the excellent sales managers says this instead: “You know, (name) you’re the expert here, I KNOW you can figure this out on your own”…she then walks away.

Yes, walks away.

Let the rep figure it out. That’ right, let them figure it out. Your sales managers will be shocked at what will happen without them being there.

Now, of course, they’ll need to follow up with the salesperson the next day or within a period of time that they feel is appropriate to make sure it was done…

The point is this: the sales manager is training them to use THEIR brain…not THE SALES MANAGER’S brain.

Here’s why this is a highly effective motivational technique: when people are empowered to control their own destiny, they are far more motivated to control that destiny.

Because a sales manager cannot be around his reps every second of every day, micro managing their salespeople…or worse yet, baby-sitting them, the sales rep has got to learn to do it on their own!

When a sales manager does this, it empowers the salesperson…and motivates them BIG TIME.

The great thing is by using this technique the sales managers both motivates…AND lets themselves off the hook…less work for the sales manager!

To learn even more about sales manager training, get our free ebook.

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