Feedback…

My Daughter-in-Law has a plaque hanging on their patio that reads: 

If a man talks in the forest and no woman is around to hear him, is he still wrong? 

                   Unknown Sage 

Here’s one of my wife’s: 

Man is woman’s best friend.  He will reassure when she feels insecure and comfort her after a bad day.  He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do; to live without fear and forget regret.  He will enable her to express her deepest emotions and give in to her most intimate desires.  He will make sure she always feels that she’s the most beautiful woman in the room and will enable her to be confident, sexy, seductive, and invincible.  No wait… sorry… I’m thinking of wine.  It’s the wine that does all that.  Sorry. 

                   Unknown Sage  

It’s all good; our significant others mean well LoL!  But maybe I should stick to coaching salespeople. 

Are trends changing when it comes to giving feedback to salespeople?  “Feedback”; constructive criticism; critique; coaching; managing; inspecting; editing; testing…  how do you feel about receiving feedback at work? 

I’ve seen a lot of thought leadership online and in print these days suggesting that salespeople can only concentrate for mere minutes.  There is a lot being said and even more being written about how we must adjust to the varying learning styles of salespeople.  Four or five minute training boosters; just-in-time eLearning content; and who can leave out artificial intelligence?  My profession is surrounded with feedback about giving feedback. 

I have often said that sales is what we do when we can’t do anything else.  It is known as the unchosen profession.  Yet sales is still a profession and I believe we should be just as professional as any other profession, don’t you?  And I believe sales professionals get better by practicing their trade.  The best of the best leverage coaching. 

I like to make the comparison to Tiger Woods.  Many consider Tiger Woods the greatest golfer of all time.  Regardless of how you rank him, his commitment to his profession is world renown.  He is the first golf champion credited with treating his body like a world class athlete.  His workout regimen is certainly more grueling than sales training boosters of 4 or 5 minutes. 

What about “feedback”?  Well, when on the PGA Tour Tiger had three professionals coaching him.  One worked on his swing; one worked on his putting; and one was a sports psychologist who worked with him on his mind.  What do you think?  Was Tiger able to concentrate for more than mere minutes? Oh and by the way, he paid for these coaches out of his own pocket. 

Maybe it’s me; maybe I’m just a hard ass…  I try to coach salespeople very particularly: 

• Feedback starts with observation of their work.
• Then they self-assess.  They know what they were trying to do. 
• Next I ask how I can help.  They will set the blunt-gentle dial to their tolerance.
• Finally if they are open to it, I provide feedback.  Specific; objective; actionable; I try to show them their reflection in a mirror so they can “see” what they are doing. 

What if a salesperson is not open to feedback?  Well that’s OK, I suppose.  I’m not in the business of convincing the unwilling.  The marketplace is as brutal as the PGA Tour. IMHO, in the sales profession as in pro golf, only the skilled and well-coached survive. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.