Stop LECTURING Your Sales Team. Try INSPIRING them instead.

My son has played a lot of basketball. He has played for coaches that were just fine, coaches that were inspirational, and coaches that were MEAN. He even played for a coach one time, that wouldn’t allow any water breaks unless they played well enough (which usually meant no water breaks for the entire practice). That coach also didn’t consider it a good practice unless at least several of them threw up.

Can you guess when my son played best? When he played for an amazingly inspirational coach by the name of Jim. Jim inspired them. He helped them understand the importance of habits, of visualization, and of a positive attitude. Sure, Jim still made them run and work hard, but he didn’t tear them down. He didn’t punish or humiliate. He worked them and then he rewarded them.

Sales managers have the EXACT same mandate. Inspire. Give tools to succeed. Frame up good habits and processes. Reward success.

Now contrast that to managers who lecture, punish, and don’t pay well. People won’t perform well in the long run, and they will look for an out until they find one of those managers who DO inspire.

Be like Jim. Inspire, don’t lecture.

What experience with this have you had? Share with me in the comments!

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