The Three Conversations
Many conversations between sales managers and their team members fall into automatic exchanges of information, complaints, or the telling of stories.
Effective sales managers treat each team member as an individual and keep their one-on-one engagements fresh, varied, and to the point. To do that, it helps to plan and execute with precision three distinctly different conversations with each of your sales team members.
Each conversation follows the CLEAR outline (see Chapter 8 of the book) and applies the format in a slightly different way.
Check-ins – several times a week, short, tactical in orientation – to keep salespeople on track with their plan for the week. Check-ins keep deals moving along. Use this Check-ins Guide to effectively apply the CLEAR conversation format.
Personal Conferences – weekly, reviewing deal progress and the past week's successes and misses, learning from whatever happened, developing the salesperson's Aim Plan for the coming week. Personal conferences develop your team's skills and raise their attitude. Use this Personal Conferences Guide to most effectively apply CLEAR in these conversations.
Professional Reflections – monthly, oriented not toward tactics and deal progression, but to professional development, job satisfaction, and career planning when appropriate. Professional reflections generate trust, loyalty, and ‘no surprises’ annual reviews. Use this Professional Reflections Guide to make these engagements really work.