Do your reps leave their dead plants in their garden?

Last night I removed a few dead plants from my front garden. They’d been dead for a month, but for some reason (too lazy) I kept putting off pulling them out. It took me 10 minutes to do this. Immediately the garden looks better and I have one less annoying thing in my life to worry about.

I still have plenty of annoying things in my life, however I’ve found when I remove one thing from my list I get an amazing NRG boost.

As a sales leader I’m sure you know that your sales team have lots of things that are annoying them. These things, often little by themselves might not seem to you to have such a big impact on their sales results. Over time I think they do. You see these little annoying things become NRG drainers.

It’s almost like by having these issues bubbling along on the inside of their head, there is less NRG to devote to spending time with the right prospects and key customers.

Sales professionals need boundless amounts of NRG every day.

I have noticed over the years that any success I have is closely linked to how fit and fresh I feel. I’m sure you feel freshest when you are removing the NRG drainers from your life.

Here is a list of 12 of my favourite NRG drainers for sales reps:

1. Stuck in traffic
2. Technology issues - "My lap top keeps crashing"
3. Vehicle issues
4. Back office issues
5. Lack of ownership – “I’m waiting to hear if we can get that approved”
6. Time wasting customers and prospects – “I’m waiting to hear back from them”
7. Unfinished tasks
8. Expense claims / reimbursements
9. Broken promises from head office
10. Reading junk emails or spending too much time on Facebook / Twitter
11. Spending time with idiots
12. Unresolved personal issues

Could you work with your better reps to help them remove 1 of these NRG drainers each month?

Those of you that know me are probably clear on my views about working with your best performers and potential stars. Limit your time with the rest or get rid of them.

Great sales managers keep the balance right between relationships and results. By creating an environment where there are fewer obstacles in your reps way you’ll be creating wonderful opportunities for sales growth.

Take a minute to think about all the little things that annoy you in your personal life. If need be write down 7 now. I know I’ve got plenty. (Old unmatching socks, crap in the boot of my car, the kids untidy study area, bills on the kitchen bench). I’m well aware that if these are swiftly dealt with I’ll have more NRG. I’ll also develop a new list of annoying things quite quickly! Don’t let perfection get in the way of doing it better.

What do you do about your NRG drainers?

Do you allow them to fester like an untreated wound or do you deal with them? My bet is, because you are a strong leader, you are comfortable about making lots of decisions every day. These enable you to feel fresh and focused. Your reps may not have the confidence, experience or skill to do this yet.

I suggest help them. Try this.

Ask them to send you a list of the 5 most annoying things they have to deal with at work. Give them a 3 day deadline. Thank those that send it in. Those that don’t are already showing you through their actions how much they don’t want to improve. Actions speak louder than words.

Then make the time to speak with your reps about which things on that list could be removed, quickly.

Can you use your skills and experience to make things happen quickly for them? Little things can make a big difference. You will find their NRG lifts the moment you remove one of their NRG drainers.

Wealthy people spend money to save time. Poorer people spend time to save money. Think of the person sitting in traffic for 25 minutes to save $3 on petrol.

This morning when I walked through my front garden I felt an immediate NRG boost. OK, it wasn’t huge, but it was a good feeling. It came from something as simple as 10 minutes of gardening to pull out a few dead plants.

Are your reps leaving their dead plants in their garden?

Posted in Sales; Tagged Sales, Sales Management; Posted 10 March 2011 by Steve Herzberg