The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Recently I went to my daughter’s last soccer game of the season and it was thrilling to see how much the girls have grown in the past year. They are a talented group with a couple of great coaches who have helped them develop their talent. 

The day of the game, their moves on the field were impressive. They were superstars, but I noticed during halftime that despite incredible talent on the field, one of the girls needed help tying her shoes. Without hesitation, her coach bent down and tied them. This same child dribbled the ball around everyone and scored twice against a great defense, but she still needed some very basic help from her coach before she could get back in the game.   

Sometimes you have to tie shoelaces to be a good coach!  

It immediately made me think about coaching a talented sales team. 

Their strengths are impressive. The more you coach them, the more they grow, but each one of them may need very specific support and coaching in order to perform at their best.

How do you get even more out of your top performers?

I’m sure those of you who are parents can relate to my recent struggle to get my 8-year-old to clean her room. A messy bedroom is often a bone of contention between parents and children. I tried numerous tactics to get my daughter to clean her room, and I heard every excuse for why she couldn’t clean up including, “I can’t because my hands are tired.”

Then, it dawned on me! Why am I threatening her with unpleasant consequences like timeout or no TV time, when I know a little encouragement works like a charm?

Do you ever tell horror stories about the worst hire you ever made? These bad experiences tend to stand out, don’t they?

High turnover is a big problem for many sales organizations and hiring the wrong people for the job can be a big contributor to that turnover. It’s extremely important that you hire people with the right talents for the position.

Do your due diligence before you hire someone so you are not surprised by mediocre performance later. Perfecting your interview process will help you to put the right people in the right positions.

Here are some tips on how to get the most from a candidate interview:

A new school year is right around the corner – time for back-to-school shopping and wrapping up summer reading. In preparing for the new year, I came across a poster that my son’s class completed at the end of last year. Each student took home a poster full of compliments from classmates and teachers. In reading through my son’s, I realized that many of the “compliments” were about his talents. For example his teacher wrote, “You are my little leader. You set the mood for the class. If you say ‘yes,’ everyone will follow.” 

I am already noticing that leader talent in my 11-year-old, and others are picking up on it as well. That’s because our strengths are hard-wired in us from a very early age, and when they are strong, people notice and appreciate them. 

I had the opportunity to sit on the number 6 tee box at The Masters Golf Tournament recently, and as golfers and caddies made their way to the tee box, I noticed that the interactions between each one were different. One caddie simply reported the distance to the green, another caddie discussed wind direction and pin placement, and another caddie talked the golfer through the entire shot.

When you pay attention, a holiday party can tell you a lot about your team’s talents. And what you learn about each person could change the way you coach them, and make them more successful.

Recently, I talked with a sales manager who took his team on a bowling outing to celebrate the holiday season. It was a fun team building activity, and it also taught him a lot about each person’s strengths.

The organized, fun salesperson on his team planned the entire outing down to the bowling teams and the gift exchange. Everything was perfect, and everyone had a great time.  

The relationship seller got everyone to participate in a hilarious game where you eat disgusting flavored jelly beans. Everyone did what she asked and completely trusted her when she said, “it’s really not that bad.”

I passed by a drink display at the grocery store the other day and one of the Coke cans caught my eye. In big bold letters it screamed out to shoppers the word, “Superstar.” You have probably seen the Coca-Cola can labels with the descriptions on them. The “Superstar” can was sitting between a can that said, “Friend” and one that said, “Dreamer.”

At first glance, all the cans looked exactly alike, but when you looked closer, they all had a different label.

It made me think about helping managers identify sales talent. Resumes today are often built using templates or professional assistance and they can make anyone look like a superstar. And, when you meet candidates in person, they look pretty similar on the outside, but when you look closer and ask the right questions, you can get a glimpse of how the person is wired, and whether or not he or she has a natural ability for sales. 

Do you have salespeople on your team who are too hard working? Sounds like a great problem to have, doesn’t it? I’m sure you know someone who has boundless energy. They never slow down, they’re constantly on the go, and even though you consider yourself energetic, it’s tough to keep up with them.

Does it feel productive or does it sometimes just feel hectic?

I have a friend like that and even though she is a lot of fun, sometimes she moves too quickly for people and lets things slip through the cracks. She has a natural tendency to take on too much. Busy feels really good, but sometimes her life is more hectic than productive.

It’s great when you have energy and the ability to work at a fast pace, but it is not good if you are running full steam ahead without a plan.

So is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

In a recent post, I observed how easy it can be for parents to see talents that are obvious (or conspicuous by their absence) in their kids. The article was inspired by a conversation with the proud father of three grown sons, two of whom were natural arguers as kids and became successful lawyers and the other of whom was the reserved, studious, analytical kid who became—you guessed it—an engineer.

Lawyers aren’t the only people who need to convince others and bring them around to their point of view. And engineers aren’t the only ones who need to find problems, pick them apart, and develop solutions. B2B salespeople need both those talents to perform at a high level. And they need half a dozen more talents as well (as we know from our research and our continuing success with our Sales Talent Interview assessment system). Let’s talk about these other six.

1. Work Intensity

One measures how hard someone likes to work, and the pace at which they work. That is the talent we call Work Intensity. To spot this talent, watch for people who are always busy, who have a lot going on, and who fill every waking hour with activity. They often walk fast, check their watch a lot, tap their pen, or seem impatient. They want things to happen now, and they have very clear short-term and long-term goals.