Colleen’s Blog

Did you know closing ratios on deals that employ traditional selling methods (e.g., cold calls and direct mail) have not changed since the 1980s? Seriously. They’ve not budged at all since “Eye of the Tiger” was a hit song on the radio. And yet there are still salespeople and team leaders today—four decades later—who remain stubbornly fixated on this entirely outdated way of looking at sales.

I recently worked with a client on a new program and got the opportunity to interview a few of their sales managers. I wanted to identify what differentiated top performing managers from poor performing managers. There was one aspect, in particular, that stood out.

It’s important to keep finding things to remain positive about while in a crisis. To that end, I’ve talked about why it’s important to keep moving during tough times. It is equally important, however, to safeguard the way you think. Never lose your ability to be objective, anticipate, and adapt to change.

Helicoptering behaviour: it isn't just limited to parenting. It's a real problem in the workplace today. And it's especially damaging in sales organizations.