As a sales manager, your time is valuable, and managing your sales team tops the list of priorities. How much time and with whom you spend your time is critical to achieving sales goals.
But where to start? Most of us spend time with those we think need the most attention, those not meeting goals. Our instincts are to “fix” people. But take a minute to consider if this is a good use of your time.
What if you spent time with your top performers instead? Focusing on people development is a key to employee engagement and retention, which leads to bottom-line growth.
3 Reasons to Invest in Your Top Performers
Here are three reasons to invest your time with top performers and make them your top priority.
1. Show the Love
Your top salespeople need to feel important and may crave your attention. Although they don't want to be micromanaged by you, they don't want to be ignored either. Investing time in them to improve their natural strengths shows you care.
Studies have shown that when a natural talent is evident and nurtured, performance can develop by as much as 10x. Think about it —Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, and Serena Williams each have coaches to bring out their natural gifts. These elite athletes do not just show up the day of an event but have put in countless hours with their coaches to make their work look easy.
Their coaches do not ignore them, coach them once a week, or believe they can accomplish greatness alone, but instead put more time and energy into helping highlight what they do well.
If you invest in your top-performing people in the same way, imagine the returns you will see.
It's important to prioritize their growth and create a plan for their development.
2. Highlighting Talent
Consider creating a list of what each person on your team naturally does well. You may have someone who instinctively connects with people, someone else who enjoys working with tough clients, or someone who enjoys getting in the weeds of data to find a story for their client. Whatever their gift, make it known.
If you keep this list handy and assign accounts or responsibilities based on this list, empowerment begins. Remember to share why you are asking someone to take on a task. The more you highlight their talents, the more they will want to prove you right.
When someone knows you see their strengths, their confidence grows. They also see evidence that you understand and value their contributions to the team.
3. Achieving Goals
The quickest way to achieve your goals is to spend time with those that will get you there quicker.
To put this into context, would you want your salesperson spending the majority of their time with a client that spends $1000 or $100,000? You obviously want them to spend more time with that $100,000 client. It just makes sense. The ROI is greater and is the best use of their time and energy.
The same applies to your team. Invest your time with those that can produce more because they will deliver your goals. Consider the time spent with each person as your ROI!
Conclusion
Although you do not want to ignore bottom performers, the amount of time you invest with them should not overshadow your investment in top performers. Use the 80/20 rule. Carve out 80% of your time for your top talent and 20% for the bottom.
Spend your time wisely. You will feel more fulfilled and so will your team.
