Tough times?

I understand.  Your team missed their number; your company did too.  As a manager, you had to "lay off" a sales rep; maybe two; maybe more.  Now what? 

It's the new fiscal year; quotas are bigger; territories are smaller; and compensation plans were changed... your people have to sell more just to make the same.  You too.  Now what? 

Companies want employees to return to the office (at least a few days each week). Employees have become accustomed to working from home aka remote, aka online, aka virtually, aka in their PJs. Your sales people are resisting.  They think it’s a waste of time to show up just to show their face.  Now what? 

Are we working, managing, and living in tough times?  Yes.  Managing people remotely is tough. Maintaining a sense of camaraderie and culture is tough. Staying up beat in the face of adversity is tough. And people are realizing that "working from home" has morphed into "living at work".  Now what???

Well, if you are leading a team, "now what" is why you were selected to lead a team: 

Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition, such as lifting weights, we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity. 

Stephen R. Covey 

Recently, enjoyably, I’ve chatted with several sales people, sales managers, and sales VPs on the topic of leading during tough times.  Each of them responded to the question, “Now what?” by phoning a friend.  IMHO, that was an excellent, first step.  Why?  Because sales is a team sport.  More on that in a minute…  Back to your today.  Difficult day?  Yes: 

Life is difficult.  This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.  It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.  Once we know that life is difficult – then life is no longer difficult.  Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. 

M. Scott Peck  

OK Captain Obvious… easy to pontificate but what do we do about it?  Here are a few ideas I shared in my recent conversations.  I thought you might find value in them, too. 

As I stated first and foremost, sales is a team sport.  Foster your team; conduct team meetings… but… don’t focus on the “usual” stuff aka forecasts; month end deadlines; tough times; misery!  Instead:

• Invite a client to address your team and share their experiences with your company’s products/services.
• Read a business book and discuss how to apply tips & tricks to your team’s daily routine.  (I recommend Inside the Magic Kingdom by Tom Connellan.)
• Watch a Ted Talk or a LinkedIn Learning module and have a team discussion about ways to apply lessons learned to their routine. 

Why that book and why the daily routine?  Well, successful selling (and the “secret” to Disney) is executing all of those little things each day with excellence: 

Focus on having a good day; every day; and the year will take care of itself. 

Gary Givan 

The third piece of advice I offered in our conversations was the importance of maintaining a positive, can-do, mental attitude.  James Reston put it best this way: 

Stick with the optimists.  It’s going to be tough enough even if they’re right. 

If today’s tough times are getting you down, don’t try to go it alone.  Phone a friend.  Not sure who to call?  Give me a call.  I’ll fly with ya. 

GAP 

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