Micromanaging is a Surefire Way to Undermine the Efforts of High-Performance Sales Teams
Here’s a riddle for you: What sound does micromanaging make? Footsteps. As in, the footsteps of a high-performing salesperson walking away from your team.
If you are familiar with Tyson Group’s clientele, you know we do a ton of work with pro-sports teams—sales team training, coaching, optimizing. One of the unique things about the culture of pro-sports, even those departments off the field, is that they are highly competitive and value hard work. Sometimes they even value effort over innovation.
So what do you think happens when an innovative salesperson joins that kind of environment? There’s a collision.
Let’s say that Mary is an outstanding salesperson, someone I would hire in a heartbeat because she’d make a great addition to our team. Now imagine she lands a sales job with a pro-sports team and in the first few weeks she’s totally crushing her sales goals. However, she’s one of those high-performance salespeople who is innovative—she knows how to get stuff done with less activity. Nothing wrong with that in my sales playbook. If the outcome is the same, what does it matter how any salesperson arrives there, as long as it’s ethical?
But her sales manager disagrees. Instead of celebrating Mary’s successes, he over-coaches her on her process, not because she wasn't hitting her numbers, but because Mary wasn't hitting his hustle metrics. So in turn, Mary walks. This manager confused outcomes with process and lost an A-Player.
Salespeople aren’t hats. One size does NOT fit most. Always give your salespeople the space to fit their personality into the process. Otherwise, you’ll be hearing the sounds of micromanaging.
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