I was driving around downtown Tampa recently during a convention and found many roads blocked off as I was trying to get to my destination. I know downtown Tampa pretty well, and knew exactly where I wanted to get, which made it even more frustrating that I couldn't get to where I wanted to go. I was tempted to get out of my car and remove the roadblocks. I didn't, and ended up going in circles, not making the best use of my time.
I see this happen all the time with sales organizations. There are roadblocks to performance that don't get moved out of the way. Sometimes it's clear to sales leadership what the roadblocks are and how to navigate those, and other times it's not. In either case, sales will improve if you can find a way around the roadblocks, without going around in circles.
When we encounter this happening, we follow the following three steps:
Step 1: Discovering Roadblocks
Spend time observing, read proposals, check sellers calendars, ask the team what slows them down, ask others outside the sales team what they see.
Step 2: Detailing Observations
Summarize your observations and share them with other leaders to get their input and perspective on what you observed. Add to your observations as you do this.
Step 3: Developing Recommendations
