Sales Leaders Stop Selling
It’s not your job.
I’m sure you’ve never done this before. You’re on a sales call with one of your team and they reach a point in the call where they appear to be struggling. You jump in and with your “magical sales powers” you save the day! Been there, done that, ….. unfortunately.
One of the best things a sales leader can do for their team members is let them learn through failure. By jumping in you do a couple of things that aren’t so helpful:
1. You discount their expertise in front of the customer. It’s a subtle thing, but as soon as you take over the call you say to the customer, “I don’t trust them so why should you?” Strike #1
2. You eliminate the coaching moment by changing the path. I know, you saved the sale, but you lost the opportunity to teach your team member how to save all the other opportunities when you aren’t there. Strike #2
3. You eliminate the opportunity to fairly evaluate their skillset. By jumping in you will never know if they were able to recover or not. Thus, you will never really know their full capability in that moment. Strike #3
4. You just might irritate the customer. They’ve been dealing with your team member and you pop in, no relationship, no history. You haven’t earned the right to engage them in the sale. You’re OUT!!!
Next time you’re with your sales team member do your best to stop selling, it’s not your job. Coaching and developing is the job. Getting results through others is the job. You’re no longer the firefighter, you’re the captain of the firehouse!
One way to help yourself stop this behavior is to set expectations with your team member prior to going into the sales interaction.
Let them know that you will do your best to not jump in, that you respect them enough that you will let them decide if they need help. They can signal this by simply asking you, “Do you have anything you would like to add?” This small gesture preserves the sales team member’s position of leadership in the customer’s mind and gives you a critical piece of information for coaching. Afterwards, you can explore this moment and provide guidance as needed.
