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there are still salespeople and team leaders today—four decades later—who remain stubbornly fixated on this entirely outdated way of looking at sales.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.

Good help is hard to find? Not necessarily. A potentially untapped talent source may be right under your nose.

Often, the obvious pick for a sales manager is also the wrong one.

What's the biggest sales mistake?

I’ve recently been involved in a pilot coaching project with a large organization where we are teaching their sales managers how to coach. These sales managers have been incredibly effective with their coaching and getting their teams to accelerate results. 

I've always been a fan of coaching sales reps on a given day. I love it when you have a consistent date and time where you coach your entire team one-on-one. However, managers often come up to me and say, "Colleen, it's exhausting." While it can be exhausting, it can also be exhilarating.