It Doesn’t Have to Taste Good to Do Good

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(By James Bahm) One of my favorite teachers in high school would often tell us that medicine doesn’t have to taste good to do good. I now tell my daughter that when giving her cough medicine.  I hope one day her child rolls their eyes and says, “Mommy, you always say that!”

Taking medicine when you have the flu is a challenge when you have no energy.  As is taking a drink of water or getting up to use the restroom, for that matter.  Sounds a lot like a job in sales management, doesn’t it?  You made 20 calls: you’re reading three presentations for the tenth time.  It’s raining and cold.  There’s a webinar this afternoon, and the last thing you want to do is drive ten miles across town to meet someone.

Develop the discipline to make your approach the same regardless of how you feel, what the previous results may have been, or whatever other obstacles may be in your way. Discipline, like medicine, doesn’t have to taste good to do good.  This isn’t something that you can learn overnight or perfect after a two-day seminar.  Rather, it takes a long time to develop, and a tremendous amount of strength and a stick-to-it desire that overrides distractions.

Let me be clear: when I say discipline, I do not mean micromanaging your staff.  If micromanaging is your idea of discipline, please leave and go manage the drive through at your nearest fast-food place.   You need to have the discipline for teaching and mentoring your team.  You also need to have the discipline to stick with your new hires.

Sales is about results, you say, and I get that.  Now, let me ask you some questions you’re not going to like:

  1. Do you trust your ability to recruit and hire talented individuals?
  2. Do you believe in the training materials and those teaching it?
  3. When the results aren’t there, is your first thought to place the seller on a performance improvement program, or dismiss them?

If so, why?

If you have all the belief and trust in what you’re doing, why not have the discipline to look in the mirror and examine the data to see where you broke the process?

Everyone has a budget, you reply.  You set the budgets.  Every AE is remiss to not set realistic expectations when a client begins any schedule.  Why on earth, then, do you have pie-in-the-sky expectations for the new person to close $12,000 in new business by the end of next week?  When you bring on new talent, you need to have realistic expectations regardless of the experience they bring to the table.  Here’s a few ideas:

  1. Give them one year to get to the level of the senior AEs on staff – doubly so if they are relocating to a new city or coming from a different industry.

You just hired someone away from another position.  Is it your plan to dismiss them in a few months if they don’t sell enough?

  1. Don’t expect any results for the first two months.  

They need time to learn the market, learn your stations, learn the competition, and understand your offerings.  They won’t learn it all in a few days sitting in the conference room being introduced to Bob, Carol, Ted, and Alice every 30 minutes and being shown something one time.

  1. Ramp up their budget over the course of six months. 

The second six months is always better than the first six.  Help them blow their budgets away by selling a minimum quarterly schedule that must include digital components.

  1. Give them a list of accounts, both terrestrial and digital (preferably most of your local-direct clients are running a campaign that blends both), to work while developing new business.  If their budget is $8,000, give them a list that’s billing $6,000 – $7,000.  Help someone succeed and their success will be so much greater than you could imagine.  Set someone up for failure and you’ll do little more than using the revolving door you installed to destroy morale.

Evaluate the process you have in place.  Not just until you get it right but do it as frequently as possible so you can’t get it wrong.  Remember: Amateurs practice until they get it right.  Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.

The results of your team are always a direct reflection on the culture you created.  If you constantly say your “door is always open” but you’re too busy to hear and understand what’s being asked of you, or you’re too preoccupied to ask someone what’s causing them to struggle – or what challenges they’re facing, your door isn’t open enough.

Examining the process you put in place is hard.  The medicine of harsh evaluations never tastes good, though it always will do good and bring realistic results that promote growth.  You only need the discipline to put yourself and your processes on the chopping block before asking anyone else to do so.

Bottom Line: If you’re teaching amateurs to get right, have the discipline to swallow your pride so you can develop professionals who can’t get it wrong.

 James Bahm  is the author of Don’t Yuck My Yum – a Professional Development and Sales & Marketing book – which is available on amazon.com.  He can be reached at [email protected].

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