Sales Training Lesson #35: More Leadership Lessons from Wayne Bennett, a Priest and Confucius

Beautiful sunny day here in Perth…

Having a lazy start to the day after a mate’s 50th Birthday party last night..

It was an 80’s theme so everyone dressed in 80’s gear..

Everyone from Adam Ant to Indiana Jones and Madonna (look alikes) showed up..

The speeches reflected on my mates journey over the past 50 years and especially the memories and joys since the 1980’s..

When was the last time you heard Princes ‘1999’ song.. and remembered when you first heard it and it seemed like centuries away when it would be 1999..?

Time flies by..

Adam Ant is probably a grandfather by now.. and like one of my other mates last night who had a black wig with ponytail and dark sunnies (his wife said he looked like a Big Slav)… hairlines and waistlines can and do change..

So what’s that got to do with you and your business?

Read on…

TIME… URGENCY… FOCUS AND SYSTEMS

In several coaching sessions with Sales Managers this week only reinforced some of the lessons I have been reminded of from Wayne Bennett’s autobiography ‘Man in the Mirror’..

Time is passing by too fast to let average performance, complacency, excuses or comprimised standards dominate the day.

Take control. Make the right decisions to put things RIGHT..

Here we go..

1. You have to let people know what you expect from them.

What does great performance look like?

As a leader, demonstrate for them what you want them to do.

For example, one of our retailer clients was not happy about how the team were not doing add on sales.

Yet only showing them once three months ago what the add on sales process looked like is NOT ENOUGH.

I said…. ‘You need to show them.. then show them again.. then get them to show you.. then get them to show you again.. and again.. and again..’

If only humans had a computer chip you could take out, add new software to, then re-install.

A bit like in the Matrix… just do a new download of the latest edition…

IT CAN’T BE DONE… YOU CAN ONLY REPROGRAMME THROUGH REPETITION..

(‘You mean we have to do it again… and again.. and again…?’)

‘Yes…’

How many times do you think McDonalds drill those teenagers to say ‘WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?’

That drill is worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year to McDonalds.

That’s why they teach it… demonstrate it.. drill it… then teach it again.. then drill it.. then audit it.. then reward the behaviour.. then drill it again..

I could go on.. but what is another lesson from the week and Wayne Bennett?

2. ‘If you don’t care about people you can’t challenge them.’ pg 209 The Man in the Mirror – Wayne Bennett

Wayne was talking about a teacher (Brother Bible) he had at school that got him to step out of his comfort zones and challenge himself.

It was only because he knew the teacher truly cared about him that he took notice.

The same with you as a parent, Sales Manager, Sales person, Coach, Mentor and Leader.

When your people know you CARE about them, your words, your actions, your challenges RESONATE deeply.

How do they know you care about them?

Your words..

Your actions..

Your heart space..

We certainly care about your success..

Way and above any fees we might collect, the buzz, the joy, the internal satisfaction we achieve when we have made a difference in people’s lives and businesses makes it all worthwhile.

Let people know you care…. then from that space challenge them or ask them to challenge themselves to go to the next level..

I just wrote up a list of Coaching Questions for our Sales Manager clients to help them Challenge their team members to move to the next level of sales and performance.

You’ll see, we believe that challenging through QUESTIONING works way more powerfully than challenging through LECTURING and TELLING (or TYRADES).

Here are FIVE MILLION DOLLAR COACHING QUESTIONS to get you started: (I recommend you try them out during the next 7 days and see what happens… Write back and let us know..)

1. What do you believe is the next step for you?
2. What do you need to do to move to the next level?
3. What do you believe is holding you back from moving to the next level?
4. What do you think your colleagues think is holding you back from moving to the next level?
5. Are you willing to take those steps?

These are just some of the million dollar Coaching Questions good Sales Managers and leaders should be using to get people to DISCOVER THE ANSWERS FOR THEMSELVES..

TELLING ISN’T SELLING.. and TELLING ISN’T COACHING..

Here is a formula for you think about..

WORDS x ACTIONS x EMOTIONS = RESULTS

Want to find out more about how we can coach you to move to the next level email info@leighfarnell.com and we’ll send you a FREE info pack and free introductory Coaching CD’s..

‘The journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step..’ Confucius..

Take the first step..

See you next week..