Bad behavior is always bad behavior

There are no exceptions to this rule

Big and Small Breed Dogs

I went for a run this week and about a half mile into the worksout I encountered a couple walking their dog on the sidewalk. When I passed by, on the road, the dog lunged at me. No warning, no growl or bark, just a lunge. I jumped away reactively and was not bitten. At this point the lady owner, tugging at the leash, gently said “no, no”. The dog did not listen and continued to struggle to get within striking distance of me. This is not the first, nor will it be the last time I will encounter a dog on a run. But if you are imagining this encounter, you may picture a medium size dog or a large breed dog. You may also experience the actual small size offender in this scene.

Silence is Acceptance

The real sticking point in this story is the behavior, it should not be tolerated. Instead, it should be managed, course corrected, and the new behavior subsequently reinforced. If it was a huge dog mauling a small person, then = bad behavior. If it was a small dog attacking a large person (me), then = bad behavior. In both cases the owner is at fault for not managing the behavior of the pet. This post is not about leash laws and pet management. It’s about the sales organizations being built and a theme I see in growing organizations is the inattention to correcting bad behaviors.

Whether you are the Sales Star or the Sales Trainee - It’s the Leader’s Job to root out bad behavior, and correct it. There, I said it; it’s the leader’s job and no other.

When leaders do not address these ills in the organization, the ills become cultural standards. Look at any sales team where there are things as bad as commission stealing or as seemingly minor as putting in minimal notes in the CRM for clients or prospects. In both cases, leadership is deficient in setting the expectation of sales excellence in the organization.

The Turnaround

Odds are, your organization has some areas that can be improved and some other areas that are ahead of the curve. For the areas of excellence, document and celebrate those first. It will do 2 things: alert everyone you are paying attention to the details and set the standard for behavior in that area. The byproduct of that exercise is opening a dialogue around what is and is not excellent, by definition, for your sales organization.
The next action is more difficult and will likely be met with resistance because it involves change and accountability within the team. A leader’s job is to root out and correct the behavior regardless of seniority, quota production, title, or history. A leader must lead. Whatever your team is experiencing, good or bad, this year is the byproduct of the behaviors. Low sales or minimal pipeline? You have an issue in prospecting or marketing. Low close rates? Likely an issue in your qualification stage. High customer churn rate? Your qualification or compensation plan may be misaligned.

Nugget for Change Management:

Where you are making a heroic effort for a bad process in your sales operations?

Too often we only look at how to reduce friction in the buying process for prospects or clients. As leaders, we stop short of asking ourselves how and where we can reduce friction for our employee teams in executing the sales process. Fix these areas for your team and you will create a culture of excellence and mindset of capability thinking for your team and customers.

An ounce of prevention

To prevent bad sales behaviors in the market, all leaders need to work back to root causes. This is often a large disconnect in small organizations where so much of everyone’s day is spent shifting gears between customer service, handling unscheduled requests, meetings, calls, and “other duties as needed”. Regardless of the size of your organization, it’s time to take corrective action and build a better organization. Simple and straight forward, we have to build better organizations one action at a time. No silver bullets, no weekend seminars that will solve all problems, just do the work you should be doing.

One of my favorite quotes from my early work career came from one of my peers. It shook priorities and focused me on the clear and present needs I was tasked with for the organization I was working for. It clarifies the urgent and important work to be done.

Powerful stuff: “What are you not doing that your replacement will?” Let that sink in. Whether you are selling, transitioning, retiring, moving up or moving on, this should resonate with you as a leader. Skip the irrelevant, focus on the pertinent and important,