Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives

CHAPTER 6

Ignition On! Now They’re Inspired

THE PITCHFORK MANAGER

During one of my seminars, I recall one manager calling out, “Just reading down the list of the seven types of managers in the order you wrote them, I don’t think any of us manage using a pitchfork, even if it is a metaphor for using force or coercion to manage.”

She was correct. It is a metaphor for that, and more. People who manage by a pitchfork are doing so with a heavy hand: demanding progress, forcing accountability, prodding and pushing for results through the use of consequence, threats, scarcity, and fear tactics. This style of management is painful for salespeople who are put in a position where they are pushed to avoid consequences rather than pulled toward a desired goal.

Given the shocking statistic I shared with you in the last chapter, the question now becomes, Why are companies incurring such a high cost from a failure to leverage each person’s full talents and potential, especially since this cost could be avoided if the manager were better trained to become an effective leader and coach? Because all too often, management doesn’t see the problem. They don’t accurately diagnose the source of the problem—themselves. Too often, management is quick to blame the failure to achieve their strategic goals on the inability to attract new and better talent, a tough labor pool, a downturn in the economy, ...