Manager's Minute

Stop Answering Rep Questions!

I was recently having a socially distanced beer with a friend and fellow sales manager. He had asked what a few of my most impactful coaching strategies were and I realized I have yet to share my number one with all of you. 

It has to do with rep confidence, coaching, and your time management. The greatest time and productivity suck is when a seller feels compelled to bring every decision to you before moving forward. It could be big, it could be small, but they feel the need to get your guidance first. This isn’t a bad thing and especially for a new or ramping rep can be very productive. The issues begin when they continuously bring you questions and you can never get your work done. 

To fix this problem I began requiring 2 options for any question they would bring to me. If a seller wanted my opinion on what direction to take they needed to have 2 options of their own and the reasoning behind it. 9 times out of 10 I would recommend they take an action they brought to the table. The other 10% was normally just a tweak to an existing idea. What this did was two things: First, it forced them to think through the options and build the confidence needed to begin making these decisions on their own. Second, by building this confidence it began to decrease the number of questions I received. Each member of the team began to strategize on their own and pick the best option available. 

When you take the training wheels off and force them to make decisions, while backing it up with their own thought out “why”, you empower them to be self sufficient and propel you and the team forward. Allowing you to focus on the highest priority and greatest impact tasks. Rather than quarterbacking every deal. 

– The Frontline