Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 66. Mismanaging Expectations: Are You Preparing Your Sales Team for Change?

Keith Rosen

Profit Builders

Maria was a new sales manager hired by Media Pros, Inc., a sports management consulting firm. She was recently introduced to the coaching model at a seminar for senior managers in her company.

Maria went back to her team pumped up and ready to begin implementing some of the coaching methods. However, it seems that Maria missed the section of the seminar on how critical it is to prepare your team for coaching by managing their expectations.

Compound this with the fact that Maria has only been in her position for less than five weeks. It's difficult enough for a sales team to adjust to a new boss, but further changes without proper preparation and communication will cause a rebellion.

Maria's boss set up a meeting with her and an outside executive coach to discuss the resistance Maria was running up against when attempting to manage and coach her team. Maria told the executive coach that she felt she had assimilated herself into her team and prepared them for any changes she was making. Since Maria's sales team worked remotely, she introduced herself to the team via a conference call and let them all know she was there to support them and help them become even more successful in their careers. Sounds pretty good so far, right? However, after further exploration, the executive coach uncovered the breakdown in Maria's new manager orientation process.

The executive coach asked Maria ...