THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND SUCCESSFUL SALES MANAGEMENT By Bill Zipp, President Leadership Link, Inc.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 2 2012 Bill Zipp. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, faxing, emailing, posting online or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For more information contact: Bill Zipp Leadership Link, Inc. 4897 SW Aster Street Corvallis, Oregon 541-752-5323 bill@billzipp.com
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 3 Introduction I know, I know. You re tired of the gimmicks that get passed off as serious sales solutions. Like the sales personality test that said you were some kind of goofy animal. Or the prospecting system that promised you d never have to make another cold call again. How s that going? So when you read about Situational Leadership, you roll your eyes and file it the same place you file all the garbage you get that you know won t work. In the trash can. Except you d be wrong. Completely wrong. The shocking truth about Situational Leadership is this: it s simply the best approach on the planet for helping frontline sales managers improve the performance of their people. Here are five reasons why:
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 4 1. Situational Leadership is centered on sales process clarity The very first question that Situational Leadership asks is this, What is the goal or task? All ensuing actions flow from that critical question. Situational Leadership does not assess a person s personality, potential, or industry knowledge, but simply their demonstrated competence related to the execution of a specific goal or task and their commitment to complete it. For a sales organization, then, this means that before Situational Leadership can be implemented in any intelligent way, its sales process must be clear. And that clarity alone increases performance. In my work as a sales consultant I ve found that organizations fall into two camps when it comes to defining their sales process. Instead of having a systematic approach to the marketplace, the first kind of organization I work with views sales as some voodoo magic and top performers as rainmakers.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 5 Sales process? What sales process? I also find the exact opposite in other sales organizations with sales processes that are overly defined, documented with dozens of steps and a mind-boggling myriad of details (right down to what to say when). Neither extreme works. The great gift of Situational Leadership is establishing a clear, focused, sequential approach to sales that can be consistently followed by every member of the organization, not just the superstars. This process, then, is what you manage from using the principles of Situational Leadership.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 6 2. Situational Leadership increases the performance of A Players Because Situational Leadership is task specific in its assessment of salespeople, it provides the very best way to increase the performance of A Players. We ve all been told, and it s absolutely true, that the greatest gains in sales revenue come from our top performers. Success in sales management depends on our being able to help them get better at what they do. But how do you actually accomplish that? Return to your sales process and the specific steps of action needed to execute it. Now assess your top performers in each of those steps. Helping them get better in the ones that are the most challenging is where potential for improvement lies. In other words, Situational Leadership does not assign a general development level to a salesperson but asks managers to assess that person s development related to the
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 7 specific tasks they re being asked to complete. An individual salesperson may be in fact, usually is at various development levels at the same time. The key to improving performance, then, is identifying these gaps and providing the help A Players need so they can grow.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 8 3. Situational Leadership helps new salespeople get on quota faster Getting new salespeople on quota faster is one of the biggest economic challenges in any sales organization. Each day spent off quota is a day that a salesperson costs their company money. Here, again, is where Situational Leadership excels. By diagnosing exactly where a salesperson s development stands related to the tasks being asked of them, a sales manager is able to adapt their style to meet the needs of the individual salesperson. And when that salesperson is new to the organization, a sales manager can be much more directive, rapidly accelerating growth. But I don t want to be a micromanager! I can hear you saying already. Ah yes, the dreaded micromanager label. Who wants to be called that? Note this well, micromanagement is not providing direction when direction is needed, but continuing to be directive after a person already knows how to complete a task. Simply stated, micromanagement is a failure to adjust leadership style to development level.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 9 When task development is low, which is true for most salespeople who are new to your organization regarding most of the tasks they are being asked to do, the very thing they crave is input, feedback, and instruction. Give it to them freely and then back off once they ve mastered a task. This is the very essence of Situational Leadership. The result is rapid ramp up and faster quota attainment because new salespeople are getting the leadership they need when they need it.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 10 4. Situational Leadership deals with performance issues before they become an expensive problem The very best aspect of Situational Leadership is that it s an ongoing performance management system. Using its principles, leaders don t wait for a far off review to talk about development. Development is always on the table as a constant topic of conversation. I grew up on 7th Avenue in Westwood, New Jersey. At the end of 7th Avenue was a big Catholic church that stood atop a steep hill. A buddy and I once drug our go-cart to the Catholic church and the top of that hill and began riding down it. Within a few feet the right front wheel of our go-cart started to wobble. It got worse and worse until the go-cart was shaking uncontrollably. Sensing imminent danger, both of us jumped off, tearing our jeans to pieces and cutting up our knees and elbows. To our horror, however, the go-cart kept going down the hill, smashing into to the side of a car parked at the bottom. Being red blooded American males, we ran for our lives.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 11 Here s what Situational Leaders does for sales performance issues. Because a salesperson s development is always a topic of conversation, it gets leaders and their people talking about the wobbly wheel as soon as it presents itself, not halfway down the hill. It addresses issues before there s a crash at the bottom and quota is missed, customers are burned, and turnover is inevitable. In fact, in the companies I ve worked with we ve taught salespeople how to diagnose themselves related to their task development and embed within the organization a common, value-neutral language for the discussion of development. Equipped with this ability, salespeople often self-correct when a wheel becomes wobbly, or at least let a sales manager know where they re at in a timely fashion to avoid a painful crash.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 12 5. Situational Leadership gives your sales organization a competitive advantage The final benefit of Situational Leadership is simply this: mastery of it can become your sales organization s competitive advantage. Ken Blanchard, one of the original thought leaders and developer of some of the best material on the practice of Situational Leadership, reports this: 54% of leaders use only one style with the people they lead 35% of leaders use two styles 10% of leaders use three styles 1% of leaders use all four styles with the people they lead What does this mean? By learning how to use the principles of Situational Leadership with your salespeople, your sales managers will step into the top 10% of leaders in the country, and, ultimately, the top 1%.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 13 When they provide the leadership your salespeople need when they need it, your A Players will grow, new salespeople will get on quota faster than ever before, and performance problems will be addressed immediately before they become an expensive disaster. This all adds up to increased sales revenue. Significantly increased sales revenue. And that s the shocking truth.
The Shocking Truth about Situational Leadership 14 About the Author I'm Bill Zipp and I help busy leaders do three things: grow their people, build their business, and enjoy their life. Since 2002, I've spent thousands of hours speaking, coaching, and consulting hundreds of business leaders worldwide, from Fortune 500 companies like Automatic Data Processing, Cisco Systems, and Agrium, Inc. to smaller firms like Concur Technologies, Extra Mile Media, and Tunnel Radio of America. My blog, Bill Zipp on Business, is devoted to providing the best resources available on leadership, strategy, productivity, and sales. EMAIL: bill@billzipp.com LINKEDIN: http://www.linkedin.com/in/billzipp TWITTER: http://twitter.com/billzipp