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Don’t Scare the Chickens

Posted by Mike Stankus on Thu, Jul 17, 2008 @ 03:58 PM
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When his executive team wanted to make drastic changes to the sales organization, a wise old CEO replied, "Don't scare the chickens. If you scare the chickens, they stop laying eggs."

Translation - Be careful not to distract the sales team. If you do, they might stop selling.

This particular sales team was having a banner year in a difficult market. What the CEO artfully communicated was not to mess with momentum. He was a guy who understood the psyche of front line sales people and how easily they can be distracted or de-motivated.

Every day sales executives are faced with circumstances that may warrant change. Typically, it is a negative sales forecast that starts the change engines rolling.

Company executives and Sales leaders are constantly thinking about ways to build sales momentum. Unfortunately, many initiatives they introduce have a negative impact. Ideas that look good on paper (and spreadsheets) fall apart when implemented.

Over the past few years, I have observed companies make many chicken scaring mistakes such as:

  • Fire the TOP 10% of their sales team and tell the remaining sales people that the group that was let go was making too much money.
  • Cancel their annual sales conference because "they didn't want to take the people out of the field"
  • Buy a competitor and not merge the two sales teams. The teams were pitted against each other, often competing for the same deals.
  • Eliminate support resources forcing sales people to spend an inordinate amount of time performing administrative duties.

So, what can a sales leader do to positively impact momentum? Here are a few ideas:

  • Get the chickens involved in the planning process. Top performing sales people will have insights on what would help the team be more successful. If they are part of the solution, they will influence other team members to buy in.
  • Make sure your objective is perfectly clear - "We need to take sales from X to Y."
  • Show HOW the objective can be achieved. Make sure it is achievable for the average sales person. Shoot for incremental improvement, not home runs.
  • Provide tools that will immediately impact the sales people such as training, coaching and lead generation.
  • Identify what activities, if executed properly, will lead to the desired result. Measure those activities and show how they are contributing to results.
  • Make sure there is a clear "What's in it for me" for all involved. This could be a compensation spiff, a reduction of pressure, or even the ability to keep your job.

Anyone have any good examples of bone headed moves that scared the chickens?

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COMMENTS

Good article. One of the biggest mistakes I've seen sales managers make is over managing top performers. Top performers who consistently perform only need to know "what" the bulls-eye is...they don't need to be told "how" to hit it.

posted @ Thursday, July 17, 2008 10:21 PM by Alan Rosenbaum

Most of the time when I see management get in the way of sales it is to justify their job by wielding power. To make a law or policy just to show they are in charge and maybe out of professional jealousy due to the earnings of the top producers. There is a fear that "sales is running the company and needs to be controlled" especially in a banking environment for example. Normally that occurs because they dont have the confidence that they have hired the right people and they arent aligned with executive leadership. Also the incentive plan may be incenting the wrong behavior creating friction as management continually has to push them back in to line. The reverse pyramid approach to sales support as opposed to sales management always works better.

posted @ Tuesday, July 29, 2008 7:31 AM by brian koss

You present an interesting scenario. My 40+ years of experience in sales and sales management tells me that change for its own sake, rarely is truly effective. Firing the top 10% or the bottom 10% has the same ultimate impact, that is, you have to hire and train a new group. That process will always cost you time, money and even worse, business interruption. Customers generally don't like the changing their account rep. Its a long learning curve from their side as well. It may be the ideal moment for that competitor who has been "waiting in the wings" to abscond with your business.
Better to look at individual performance and work closely with those who are not meeting expectations or potential.

posted @ Wednesday, August 06, 2008 11:09 AM by Paul Caramagna

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