Do you often:
- Spend too much time in your day and week working on your sales teams problems and not yours?
- Find you are the go-to person for solving other people’s problems?
- Are others dependent on you to be their Chief Problem Solver?
- Do it yourself, as it seems like the quickest way to get the problem solved?
“Being Chief Sales Problem Solver is a problem”.
Sales leadership is about solving problems. It’s about making decisions. It’s about achieving forward momentum. And it can consume your day and week. In practice, many sales leaders are busy solving other people’s problems, and the consequence to themselves can be considerable in lost time and energy.
Is this sales coaching?
You are a sales leader because of your experience and knowledge. You are a sales leader because you are decisive. And naturally, you are called upon by others who wish to tap that knowledge and expertise. There are definite advantages to this leadership approach when you have inexperienced team members. But, with experienced salespeople, it can be a real problem for both salesperson and sales coach.
As a sales leader, you can create a co-dependency. By doing others heavy lifting, they may learn the habit of using you as their cushion. The result is that you spend so much time reacting to others challenges, that you have no time to spend in the areas where you deliver real value.
It is a common trap and one that I too I succumbed to. The number one challenge I hear daily from sales leaders is a lack of time. Often that challenge is directly linked to their own “superhero” mentality. In the desire to save the day you take on the superhero role. It feels good initially. You are the Chief Sales Problem Solver, and you do just that. You solve problems.
But, wait a minute, “am I not just spending all of my time on other people’s problems”?
As a salesperson, you will suffer too because if you become dependent on your sales leader to “dig you out of that hole”. Or save that deal for you. You will not develop and learn. Getting better is about taking risks, failing, learning, tweaking and practising. Of course, if you have little or no experience, get support and direction. But you must wean yourself off over-reliance on others and become self-reliant.
Key Takeaways
Chief Sales Problem solver can become a role you had not intended to play, but it has developed almost by osmosis. Be wary of overstepping the line between “they are inexperienced, so they need my direct interventions” and “they have the experience, but I’m still heavily involved in doing their work for them.
Remember in sport the coach isn’t the one playing the game. In sales, the sales coach shouldn’t be the one selling.
Take a step back and instead of answering the question, ask “how would you solve it. What are your options?”
Regards Ronan
Ronan is the “Sales Infrastructure Guy”. Helping high growth tech companies build world-class sales systems and processes that scale.
Call me on +353(86) 7732201
Ronan Kilroy | Insthinktive Sales Leadership Ltd. | Blanchardstown, | Dublin 15, | Office 01 8220523
More Sales, More Consistently, In Less Time
