I can’t count the amount of times I’ve heard or seen a sales manager say to their salespeople…

“If you don’t hit your sales target I can’t guarantee you’ll keep your job”

In what world is this a successful way to lead your team to success??!!

Where in the “Effective Leadership” book does it tell you to put an immense amount of pressure and fear into your team to get them to be successful in their role? That’s right, it doesn’t. Why is it then that so many sales managers, sales directors and other leads feel it’s acceptable and productive to do it?

Here is a CRUCIAL reality…

That pressure that you put on your sales team when you threaten them…

It will get passed straight on to your CUSTOMERS!

When your salespeople feel the pressure they put that pressure right onto your prospects and customers. Is that really what you want?

Putting pressure on prospects isn’t a successful way to increase sales or win deals. Most of the time it will just scare them off, sometimes forever or worse yet, create a bad reputation that will spread.

Here is my advice…

Try a different approach. If a salesperson or your team is struggling to hit target, don’t put pressure on them, SUPPORT them.

Work WITH them and not against them.

Don’t make them fear for their job, make them feel safe.

Simon Sinek puts it perfectly in this video, it’s all about showing empathy.

Here’s the funny thing though…

That’s EXACTLY what we tell our salespeople to do with their prospects and customers!!

We tell them to show empathy, to have a strong EQ and utilise Emotional Intelligence yet as a leader they do the opposite.

I have seen so many amazing salespeople managed out by terrible managers. All they needed was a bit of support.

Here are my top tips:

• TALK to your salespeople and sales team and LISTEN to them. Again this is what we expect them to do with prospects and customers so it is important you treat them the same way. Actually listen to them, understand why they may be struggling and then work with them to find some solutions.

• Don’t just tell them what to do, in fact don’t just show them what to do, do it with them. If they need to make more calls, make more calls with them. If they need to send more emails, send emails with them. If they need to book more meetings, book more meetings with them.

• Make them feel SAFE. Make sure they don’t fear for their job or feel pressure, make them feel safe, appreciated and supported. You’ll get a significantly better response and performance from them this way.

Have you ever had your job, or seen someone in your team have their job threatened because of missing target before? Equally have you had managers that have been supportive when someone has struggled?

Let me know in the comments!

Do you or your team want to start using LinkedIn to its FULL POTENTIAL?

Well on the 6th October I am running a 2-hour LIVE virtual LinkedIn Masterclass for salespeople, sales teams and businesses all over the world.

On Tuesday 6th October I will be running the first-ever LIVE online LinkedIn Masterclass!!

This 2-hour webinar will cover everything you need to know to start generating more from LinkedIn from as little as just 15-minutes per day.

• How to build the ultimate lead-generating LinkedIn profile
• How to find any prospect you want (and connect with them)
• How to send effective LinkedIn messages that get replies
• How to create engaging content that generates leads and sales
• Which tools and tactics are delivering HUGE results in 2020
• How to leverage video for content and messaging
• and LOTS more

For more details and to secure your place, head to the event page right here.

Have you checked out my best-selling book on Amazon?

If you’re interested in generating better results from LinkedIn messaging please also take a few minutes to check out my book, “The Million-Pound LinkedIn Message” which is available on Amazon on paperback and Kindle.

The book shares the story of how one well-written LinkedIn message opened the door to what became a sale worth over £1,000,000. The book also includes 25 tried, tested, and proven LinkedIn messages and InMail sales templates to help you and your sales team send better messages and achieve far better results.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this blog! If you enjoyed this post please click LIKE and click SHARE to share it with your network. If you enjoyed it please do take time to read some of my other recent posts:

Just Pick Up The Phone and Call!
The ABC Of Social Selling
The Modern-Day Sales Prospecting Stack
The 10 Things That Will NEVER Change In Sales

About the author:
Daniel Disney is one of the world’s leading Sales, Social Selling, and LinkedIn experts and is the author of the #1 Amazon Best Selling book, “The Million-Pound LinkedIn Message“.

Daniel is currently delivering LIVE LinkedIn Social Selling virtual training sessions for businesses and salespeople around the world. For more information please email contact@thedailysales.net