Sales Leadership

The Power of Questions

One of the most important things I can do with my clients in my role as an Executive Coach is to ask powerful questions that stimulate thoughts and help them find new possibilities. Prior to becoming an Executive Coach and Enneagram Teacher, I spent twenty years working in sales, management and leadership positions within the healthcare industry. As many of our clients continue to prepare for healthcare reform and its potential impact on their business and our U.S. economy, I find my questions provoke more reflection than ever before. 

Today I would like to share with you 10 of my favorite questions that are designed for sales leaders and managers, and could apply to any leader or manager. My request is you pick one or two of these questions and take time over the next day or two to reflect and see what you discover. If time becomes your number one enemy (it so often does for most of us), then see how you can re-prioritize your schedule to add five to ten minutes during the day to reflect on one or two of the questions below.

After you read each question, ask yourself two more questions that might help provide new insight. First, “What helps support me?” and second, “What barriers get in my way?”

·       How well am I prepared for change?

·       Can I describe in detail the strengths of each person on my team? 

·       What is the most effective way for me to communicate and motivate each person on my team?

·       Have I set clear expectations for each member of my team? Have I asked them to re-state these to me for clarity?

·       What one improvement in my own professional development would help me the most this year?

·       What one improvement by me would help my team the most during this year?

·       What do I resist the most about my current job, and how does this impact my performance?

·       How do I initially react when faced with conflict, difficulty and stress? (Emotionally Reactive, Positive, Competent)

·       What is my development plan for each member on my team?

·       What is the single biggest improvement I can afford to bring to my team?

I hope that at least one of these questions allows you the time to reflect and discover potentially new insights that aid in your development. I’m looking forward to hearing and reading what you’re learning.

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>

Sales Leadership: Knowing the Shadow Side of your Strengths

In recent blogs I wrote about how sales people react to conflict, difficulty and not getting what they want, and divided the groups into three triads,
http://trinityperformancegroup.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-post.html. We also reviewed how sales people meet their social and primary needs and again separated the groups into three triads, http://trinityperformancegroup.blogspot.com/2011/06/sales-leadership-how-we-approach-others.html. 

Today I would like you to examine how these tendencies aid and potentially create blind spots in the sales process. Take a moment and review the two links above. Which one of the triads describes best how you meet your social and primary needs? Which one describes best how you react under conflict or difficulty? After you determine your choices, review the chart below and see how your strengths are aligned to the sales process. Is it easy to see where your strengths fall? How about your potential areas of improvement (blind spots or areas to work on)?

	A / ER	A / PO	A / C	EYW / C	EYW / PO	EYW / ER	W / PO	W / ER	W / C
Sales Process
Prospect	S	S	S	B	S	S	B	B	B
Qualify	B	B	B	S	B	S	S	S	S
Needs Analysis	B	B	B	S	B	S	S	S	S
Propose	S	S	S	B	B	S	B	S	B
Negotiate	S	S	S	S	B	B	S	B	S
Close	S	S	S	B	B	B	B	B	B
Service	B	B	B	S	S	S	B	B	B

Social & Primary Needs:  A = Assertive, EYW = Earn Your Way, W= Withdrawn

Conflict, Difficulty:  ER = Emotional Reaction, C = Competent, PO = Positive Outlook

S = Strength, B = Blind Spot or Area to Work On

Notice the common areas between triads? Today let’s examine just the Assertive Triad and see where they share strengths in our sales model: Prospect, Propose, Negotiate, and Close. Ironically, they also share the same three areas in our sales model for development: Qualify, Needs Analysis and Service.

If we use the SHL OPQ 32 (http://www.previsor.com/) we see the assertive triad share common talents (or competencies) highlighted in green.

SHL OPQ 32 (Assess Critical Work Behaviors)

Relationships with People	Thinking Style	Feelings and Emotions
Persuasive	Data Rational	Relaxed
Controlling	Evaluative	Worrying
Outspoken	Behavioral	Tough Minded
Independent Minded	Conventional	Optimistic
Outgoing	Conceptual	Trusting
Affiliative	Innovative	Emotionally Controlled
Socially Confident	Variety Seeking	Vigorous
Modest	Adaptable	Competitive
Democratic	Forward Thinking	Achieving
Caring	Detail Conscious	Decisive
	Conscientious
	Rule Following

We know that the three types of sales people in our Assertive Triad also share the following traits based on their Enneagram type.

• Push Forward, demand or insist that they get what they want
• Strive to make things happen
• Task Oriented: Think and Do “energy”
• Feel everything important is in relationship to them
• High Energy

So what company would not want a persuasive, outgoing, socially confident, innovative, tough minded, optimistic, competitive, achieving, decisive, energetic, strive to make things happen and willing to push forward sales person? Not too many, in my experience. The trick is to not only identify what talents and strengths you’re looking for, but also how well the sales person manages these along with the potential shadow side or blind spots in the sales process. 

I often see the following development plans associated with sales people / sales manager in the Assertive Triad when I provide executive coaching.

·       Moves too quickly	·       Does not listen well	·       Pushes too hard
·       Attention to detail needs to improve	·       Trouble connecting with others (multi-tasking)	·       Does not follow the rules
·       Does not consult others prior to decisions	·       Moves too quickly to the next “deal” vs. following up on commitments	·       Advocates own agenda vs. asking and listening

While I believe it’s important for any sales person to play to their “strengths” I believe it’s just as important to identify with the shadow side of your strength and how this shows up in the sales process. For the Assertive Triad, it’s about slowing down (when needed), pausing, listening and probing, prior to moving into action. It’s identifying when they feel themselves “pushing” to make the sale versus inviting someone to purchase their products and services or letting the process unfold naturally. It’s about staying focused and “present” with their client, creating a deeper connection and managing their tendency to “Think and Do.”  These are just a few areas we end up working on in the executive coaching process. The results foster a sales representative or leader who has a deeper level of awareness, a broader perspective that calls upon what is most appropriate in the moment, and the ability to manage themselves through the ENTIRE sales process.

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>