Sales Leadership: It's More Than Just Showing Up

Reactivity with a Positive Outlook (part 3)

Stephanie is a good sales representative who's been with the company for close to 12 years and has made quota all but one year. She's steady, easy going, peaceful and always willing to help out other people. Her clients would describe Stephanie as optimistic, calm, a great listener and a joy to be around. Her primary style of selling is by understanding her clients’ needs and providing excellent solutions without pushing the client into making decisions. Clients buy from Stephanie because they like and trust her. One of Stephanie’s challenges is managing her commitments, as she often finds herself having trouble saying “no.” Stephanie has missed deadlines in the past, as she seems to wait until the last minute to complete projects. Consequently, when conflict or difficulty occurs, the first thing Stephanie will look at is both what others need and also what she needs while keeping a pleasant and Positive Outlook.

We’ll use an example where Stephanie is being asked to take on greater responsibility by mentoring “junior reps,” even though this will create added responsibility with no additional pay. Stephanie is opposed to doing so but has trouble saying “no”.

Stephanie is the last of the three types we have reviewed who react to conflict and difficulty by taking a Positive Outlook.

1. They may downplay the problem and decide they’ll deal with it later or even deny there’s a problem all the while trying to balance taking care of both their needs and their clients (Todays Post). Their focus is both internal and external.

2. They may take a “positive outlook” and help other people feel good because they want to feel good themselves by being valued for helping others. Their focus is external, on other people.

3. They reframe the problem and look for a fun way to deal with it as they have lots of options. Their focus is internal, on their own concerns.

As a sales manager this can present a series of problems as Stephanie’s Positive Outlook can:

A. Overlook the seriousness of the problem, challenge or difficulty by avoiding an uncomfortable situation

B. Become overwhelmed as she deals with the needs of others and her own needs

C. React to slowly or not at all by becoming distracted with other thoughts or activities that keep her from addressing the real problem

As Stephanie’s sales manager, you could focus on the following three areas so she may begin to develop and recognize these patterns. The goal is to create a greater capacity to manage the “shadow side” of remaining positive during conflict or difficulty.

1. Ask Stephanie to develop a process for handling problems that includes:

    • A mutually agreed upon timeframe in which Stephanie can complete the tasks 

2. Ask Stephanie to spend more time identifying what she wants, and give her plenty of room to explore. Stephanie often finds it difficult to consider her own feelings and especially saying “no” to others, while appearing calm and peaceful. One of the best things you can ask Stephanie to do is take time to consider her own feelings and whether she says yes or no, probe further, so you can gauge for yourself what you think might be best for her.

3. Make sure you understand Stephanie’s challenge of being indirect. By keeping a Positive Outlook what is Stephanie possibly avoiding? Remember that her strength of being calm and peaceful has a “shadow side” and this shows up as not “saying” what needs to be “said.” Instead, these challenges may come up and may not be apparent to you or others as Stephanie will project a strong outward appearance of a Positive Outlook.

As you have seen, even though Stephanie remains positive, the patterns of her behavior may not be so positive for you or your company. Our next our section will look at REACTIVITY and how our Competent Group handles conflict and difficulty by remaining calm and logical.

John Brambert is the President of Trinity Performance Group, a team of seasoned Executive Coaches trained in the leading worldwide coaching programs. Trinity Performance Group’s goal is to provide a wide range of executive coaching, leadership and team development, and related services to our clients.  See More in John>