I was working with a leadership team – it’s a tough year, numbers are down. It’s not that they didn’t see the storm coming… rather the scope and magnitude were under estimated.
If this sounds familiar – you may not like this post.
I do believe leadership is responsible for seeing the storm before it arrives AND making sure the team is prepared. I am not saying that the unexpected doesn’t happen… that is why they call it unexpected.
Your team needs to be prepared regardless of what comes next in the business:
- reinforce the basics (what sales skills do they need in good times and in bad to be successful)
- expand their knowledge (your industry, about their customers, trends and economic indicators to look at)
- look ahead (beyond this month… this quarter, what are their accounts looking at and saying about the future)
- where do your products/services fall… MUST have, NEED, can be successful without you, Status Quo will be ok for a while…
These are Don’t Know How in a lot of organizations – in others the team is playing in the sunshine and not worrying about stormy days and Won’t… but before you analyse that, take a look in the mirror.
Maybe it’s you that needs to change and grow to be in a position to prepare your team for whatever comes next.