Stop Giving Advice
David complained to us about his team. ‘All I do is tell them what to do. I’ve turned into the ‘answer man.’ When my advice doesn’t work, they blame me instead of themselves. It’s a complete waste of time,’ he said.
You’re the sales manager and you want to get sales to move! You ask about the deals in the pipeline and the storytelling begins. ‘Our prices are too high,’ ‘Our competitor has better products,’ ‘They keep putting me off,’ ‘I don’t know what else to do but wait…’ The air thickens with despair.
Eager to get things moving, you jump in and begin advising: ‘All right, here’s what you do…’
However, only one of two things can happen: your advice works and you become the man with the answers, or it doesn’t work and you become the one who gets blamed.
Either way, you lose.
If you’re the person with the answers that work, you lose because your team will keep coming to you to figure things out for them rather than do it themselves. They become timid and rely completely on you before they act because they fear making a mistake.
On the other hand, if your advice doesn’t work, you lose because the responsibility for the lost sale gets shifted to you.
And advice-giving is a terribly ineffective use of your time. You spend loads of time handing out advice and your team isn’t developing into people who can think for themselves.
Really, aren’t you a bit tired of people asking you what they should do? Don’t you want them to be more competent and independent? You managed to do it, why can’t they?
Think back to how you got good at selling. Did you keep counting on your sales manager to tell you what to do or did you become self-sufficient?
Great sales managers help people think deeply rather than doing their thinking for them.
You know the impact of this. People engage their brains, invent new ways forward, and then go execute what they thought of doing. Whether their ideas work or not, they are in charge of what they are doing.
Your job is to lead your people to find their answer to each challenge they face. After all, it’s their job, not yours. You can’t make them successful salespeople, but you can encourage them to be bold and be willing to make mistakes.
By daring to win they will fail, but they will also land plenty of sales. Either way, their confidence and skill will grow because they were the ones who made the call.
One caveat. When people lack competence, they need direct instruction - advice helps, at least in the beginning. As they become competent, they need less advice and more freedom to think for themselves.
There’s a simple way to find out what each of your people need from you at this point in their development. Spend time with them. Observe them in action and listen carefully to what they say and do. Get into the trenches with them and learn how you can add value. For each person:
List the attitude, skills and habits needed for him to succeed in his job.
Rate him on each item: E (excellent), G (good, but can improve), or N (needs development).
Before you share your opinions, ask him to make a similar list and rate his own abilities.
Meet one-to-one, compare ratings, and collaboratively create a development plan that he is enthusiastic about.
Start immediately and monitor progress.
Developing your people in this way requires time, patience, and a real commitment to building their competence. Do this so they can operate confidently, skillfully, and independently.