company CRM. The “low bar” you’re setting: The CRM doesn’t look all that important to you. The problem is “garbage in, garbage out” or “lack of informa- tion in means lack of information out.” You’ve greatly reduced the effectiveness of CRM. How to fix it: If it’s not in the CRM, it didn’t happen. No ifs, ands, or buts.


5. If you allow: salespeople to go long stretches without engaging in a two-way conversation with their accounts.


The “low bar” you’re setting: Salespeople think it’s OK to take long-time accounts for granted and put them on auto-pilot. There are no consequences for not doing your job.


How to fix it: Set a policy where, if a rep goes more than X weeks/ months without a telephone or in-person conversation with an account, they lose it – and the com- missions that go along with it.


6. If you allow: salespeople to disregard the valuable tools and research you’ve provided them. The “low bar” you’re setting: They will feel free to just ignore any new tools, because you’ll just make those tools go away if enough salespeople don’t use it. How to fix it: Make using the tools regularly an item on their perfor- mance evaluation – it’s part of their job, after all.


7. If you allow: salespeople to text, check email, or otherwise fiddle with their mobile phones during your sales meetings. The “low bar” you’re setting: You imply the content of the sales meet- ing isn’t important enough for full attention. Heck, YOU aren’t impor- tant enough for their full attention. How to fix it: Apply movie theater rules: no texting, message check- ing, or anything else during meet- ings. Allow for checking of content or for Web searching that directly


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relates to the topic of the meeting. If they have to take a call, make them leave the room. 8. If you allow: salespeople to blame the customer, the competi- tion, or other people in your com- pany for their lack of success. The “low bar” you’re setting: Salespeople don’t feel personally responsible for anything – it’s OK as long as you tried. Problem is, you now have a culture of finger- pointing and backbiting instead of positivity and teamwork. How to fix it: Always bring the conversation back around to what YOU could have done better. Did you provide value to the customer before trying to make a sale? Did you make a recommendation that makes sense (or did you just take their order)? Did you reduce their risk? Were you proactive? Were you persistent? Were you resilient? You might think the worst person


at returning calls sets the low bar for the rest of the staff. Or that the worst performer in terms of revenue, closing rates, proposals, account satisfaction, professionalism, etc., sets the low bar for the rest of the staff. And you’d be 100 percent wrong.


The fact is YOU set the low bar for the minimum level of performance needed to keep their jobs.


You’re not a passenger; you’re the driver of the sales team. So no whin- ing about “I just can’t get the sales- people to use it/show up on time/ stop doing what they shouldn’t be do- ing/start doing what they should be doing.” When you do that, you’re just admitting to the world that you suck as their manager. There’s nothing wrong with being demanding or having high standards, so long as those demands are realistic – and you’re ready, willing, and able to help them meet those standards whenever they need it. You also need to be ready to “walk the talk” and do what you’re asking them to do. One solution? Start adaptive sales coaching immediately – not only for you but your entire team. The Harvard Business Review has deter- mined that top-quality coaching will improve the results of the middle 60 percent of a workforce by up to 19 percent. And, even with less-than- optimal coaching, the results can be as much as a 6-8 percent increase per sales professional.


Not everything is in your control, but coaching is – if you are willing to step up and change your approach. 


C. Lee Smith is CEO and founder of SalesFuel. Connect with him @cleesmith on Twitter, and on LinkedIn.


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