My first days as a sales manager were tough. Well let’s be clear, the first year was tough. If you have read my prior blogs, there are additional references for that. When a very dear VP told me that the first six months as a new manager felt like a few years, he lied. He later came clean and told me it felt more like five years and it did. For reasons not entirely the fault of the team, I inherited an account base that was hemorrhaging—and several of them were top assets for the company. I was younger than many of my employees, my sales team wasn’t selling, our customers perceived little to no value in our services and I had one “legend in his own mind” who didn’t want to work for a woman—who proved to be a difficult employee and not because I am a woman. Did I mention it was my first management gig, so I had to earn the team’s trust and respect?

So where do you start with all of this? Therapy? Well I gotta say, the wine rack in my home filled up. Oh and lots of chocolate. Chocolate was actually a better soothing mechanism than the wine. When you use the words “soothing mechanism” you know it was not an easy year. When you come into a situation and you need to improve performance and results, you’re not going to be liked. In fact, for anyone considering management, just know this: you’re not there to be liked. And to some degree, I wasn’t and I’m a likable girl (just ask my Mom).

As a starting point, I talked with the team, one on one. I met with the customers. I talked with my peers. I looked at the results. I looked at the historical data. I looked at the corresponding sales activity. I looked at the sales support team and talked with them as well. I asked questions. I listened. Etc, etc. I silently screamed every day. And in the first 30 days or so, I found the key obstacles to sales effectiveness and growth.

In a nutshell (and in no particular order here), I needed to :

• Build the pipeline by redirecting the sales efforts and strategy
• Address performance issues, coach, develop
• Invite, engage and revitalize the sales support team
• Adjust the expectations of the customer while finding ways to overcome commoditization
• Actively support the sales process and establish executive level relationships in our accounts

Redirecting the sales team and building a sales strategy required dialogue. In reality, I was a new manager in an industry I was just learning and I didn’t have all the answers, but I felt the team did.

My launching point was to bring the team together for a meeting. As we discussed sales opportunities, “the legend” actually said “we have nothing more to sell”. As I have mentioned before, it’s a great time in a manager’s career when your SALES team tells you they have nothing more to sell. I wanted to move into the fetal position under the conference table, particularly since I didn’t have a plausible excuse for a jury and well, there were witnesses. Sooooo, there were lots and LOTS of silent screams in that brief moment between hearing his words and responding.

Interestingly, it was a key moment for our team—all because of that single, less-than-stellar comment. Perhaps I actually owe “the legend” a debt of gratitude, you say? Uhhhh…no. He was a still a difficult employee…I needed this team to see opportunity where they saw none, I needed them to rethink their role in their accounts and own it, I needed them to get excited about the future, I needed them to elevate their game. And to that question, I simply asked “what would you sell, if you could”? You might think, ok, this is where the angels flew down, the orchestra started up and a choir began to sing. Nope. Because someone else said “we have nothing else to sell, because there are too many obstacles.” In essence, there was a gaping hole between what the customer needed and what we could offer.

So rephrasing my question, I asked: “If you didn’t have the obstacles, what would you sell?” “Nothing. Becauuussee we can’t remove those obbbbstacles…” was the response. Kinda stated like I either had a hearing loss or failed to understand them. I could have called for a break, or changed the topic but I persisted. I simply told them that my job was to remove the obstacles, so I again asked “what business you would go after if you could”? And that’s when the angels descended, the orchestra started up and the choir sang. An AHA! moment and a small glimmer of hope and motivation appeared. A moment that feels good for a manager.

And the story goes, that we found the key sales opportunities, we rallied the organization around removing sales obstacles (lots of work, but we were able to minimize our risk or work around it) and we sold new business and we grew. The team performance was still rocky but improved over time, the customers adjusted to representatives who now sold, not managed their accounts, we added value and we all lived happily ever after. Well, not quite. I still had to work with “the legend”, who continued to be a royal pain but in the end, he moved to another team and THEN we all lived happily ever after!

The point of the story is that I never dropped “the legend” on the side of the road, with no food or a means back to civilization. For those of you with difficult employees, that might just be our greatest accomplishment, right? Just kidding…!???

When all was said and done, I was lucky enough to have a team who was candid, perhaps not eloquent on that day, but nonetheless candid. I was lucky enough to find the motivators in most of the team and lucky enough to have a boss who fully and actively supported me. I was lucky enough to have a VP who openly acknowledged that the first year is tough—and tougher when you inherit a difficult situation. I was lucky enough to have a team who helped me learn, grow and get better. And for that, I will always be grateful.

Contrary to popular opinion sometimes the most effective person in a sales call is not the sales rep. They are engineers, IT specialists, operations personnel, customer service representatives, etc. who directly support selling and retention activities. Great sales people augment their selling by matching subject matter experts to client expertise and needs.

In complex sales initiatives, vendor capabilities are scrutinized as much as the general product or service offerings.  Clients look at how well an organization will respond to their implementation and execution needs; customization, customer support, organizational responsiveness, IT integration, legal issues, etc. They expect complex answers to complex questions and tend to relate better to the subject matter expert, not the sales rep.

An ineffective implementation can risk a sale. When developing client solutions, I encourage my employees to bring the appropriate staff to client meetings—increasing collaboration with their respective counterparts. Obstacles that once seemed impossible become viable opportunities with the right people in the room.  I always say that the hard part of the sale is at its conclusion, the work that occurs after the sale. By engaging the right resources, you will improve the success of the implementation and execution.

With the right internal sales support, you create greater value at higher profits, building custom solutions that your competitors didn’t anticipate and can’t easily duplicate.

Creating an environment of teamwork does not have to be complicated. One of the best examples of teambuilding came from one of my employees (Beth).  We had synergy in an office of approximately 20 people, from five (or so) different teams but it was often specific to alignment and job function.

What began as an informal Friday lunch with a few co-workers evolved into a regularly scheduled lunch. Beth made a concerted effort to encourage everyone to join in. Every Friday, we picked up lunch (everyone paid for their own meal) and we ate lunch together in the conference room. Attendance was not mandatory, but we all looked forward to it. We talked about life, children, family, work and we laughed and joked. Thanks to Beth, levels of engagement, productivity, collaboration, and personal investment deepened. As a leader, the bright ideas are not always yours, it is what you do with them that counts.

Sustainable teamwork may start from a common cause. One of my most cherished experiences came from my peers coming together to drive specific initiatives for our employees. As we worked together, we learned the key strengths of each person and we leveraged those strengths to benefit our group and individual goals. We became each other’s trusted advisors, coaches, resources and champions. We wanted each team member to succeed.  People are happiest and more energetic when their “best self” is appreciated, acknowledged and utilized.

Teamwork also happens outside of the office, and doesn’t require scaling mountains or group therapy. It can happen in increments, depending upon the environment you create. I had the pleasure of managing a team that was newly formed, didn’t know each other well and their internal  network was thin. For our first meeting, we met in the hometown of one of my employees. One of my goals was to meet a relaxed setting to increase the camaraderie and teamwork.

In our scheduled agenda, I included a partial day of R&R. Our host took us boating in a nearby lake and we had the chance to get away and have some fun. Between the business agenda and the R&R, the team  learned more about each other, professionally and personally. Our team pulled together, leveraging their strengths to benefit the group and each other.

Sustainable teamwork starts by removing the notion that reliance on others is a weakness.  It also means that the “I” interjected into the team may be you—so know when to defer. Know your team, leverage their strengths and create an environment that encourages collaboration, respect and mutual trust.  And dare I say it? Work can be fun. So find time to have fun and laugh—those moments create bonds that can be more useful than a company weekend in the wilderness.