fuzzy

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

Sales Managers, your SDRs and AEs have poor sales enablement skills, what do you do?

For example, a client is racking their brain over their team not utilizing (good) cadences and they just keep defaulting to their typical poor behaviors. I've observed that they're disorganized and a little lazy, followed by just a lack of oomph in their pitches. I think this might be a culture issue. what do you suggest?

first up for me was to have their team read "Extreme Ownership" by Jocko Wilnik

edit: this is a small team with no sales director. I cannot have the CEO rip and replace the team. just not that kind of company. the idea behind the book is that none of them seem to take ownership of their performance and are looking for others to provide solutions, rather than, y'know, being responsible adults.

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18 comments

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CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Fuzzy. You for real or trolling?

Also,

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

I wish I were trolling. This is a fun case that I shouldn’t have agreed to.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

Thanks for the response. 🫠

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Forcing people to read books never solved a motivation problem. If they're lazy odds are they won't even read it.

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

I’d agree with you but then we’d both be wrong.

DataCorrupter

Politicker

Account Executive

I agree with Braintank. Sounds like you're trying to throw a hail mary by getting them to read this, like it's really going to change things for them. They may get some stuff out of it, for sure, but drastic changes like that are made at the company/exec/culture level.

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

In the past, we would stand up a meeting every week with a chapter to discuss. It becomes obvious when they don’t read. It makes it a lot easier to determine who is worth firing. The book opened a lot of eyes on their inability to take responsibility. I don’t expect miracles, but I have to start small with the culture. It’s not like they’re not open to change, they’re just complacent.

DataCorrupter

Politicker

Account Executive

I get what you're doing, and I do think it's commendable (I'd also be trying to solve this in your position). The only part of this I feel weird about is the reading as a requirement. Are you giving them reading time on the job? Are they supposed to read before bed? Can they just find the cliffnotes and fake that they read it?
It feels like requiring them to read a book for the job is just odd. Like it's not a normal part of any sales job, and I feel like you'll get a ton of backlash (even if they don't tell you directly). You might get them to read, but they'll only do it kicking and screaming, whether in affect or attitude.

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

Throw some competition in there. Most calls made, most meetings booked, most email responses, etc. Offer up a prize and see who steps up.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Got some insight from a colleague today who has recently been a BDR. It's about the volume. Which means they have to stop being lazy and get those messages out there. Email every other day. Call. It's literally getting on with it.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

If there is no sales director, who do the reps report to?

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

The CEO, who is new. They inherited this team.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

Sounds like you’re fighting a losing battle. Change can’t occur if it doesn’t have the focus and backing of the leader. In this case your new CEO almost certainly has more important things on their plate.

My advice, while you’d love to fire those that don’t fall in line they aren’t worth your energy. Focus on those who openly and actively are trying to get better. Be consistent in your own effort and messaging.

Regarding the CEO, outline your plan and spell out KPIs, track impact of those who are buying in and report to them 1-2x a month.

Mothy

Politicker

Account Executive

Like others have said, getting some competition going could be an easy way to motivate them. Successful sales people are competitive at heart.

Disorganized, lazy, and lacking conviction sounds like there isn't a lot of buy in, which is definitely a culture issue imo. Could partially be caused by the lack of a sales leader.

You could have some pre-approved cadences that they are required to use, do a little bit of training, maybe bring in a couple of customers to talk about the impact the product has had on their business to help with buy in, and give those who fall in line a taste of success, and get rid of the rest.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

make it more of a competition and force them to use a better cadence. If that cadence works and they are motivated enough by the competition they'll keep using it

Retired Sales Professional

Assign a team leader, the one in the group who has the best results and work ethics. Make sure the team knows that he has the backing of the CEO and get him further training. There is always a person that the group looks up to.

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

Update: two got let go on Friday.

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fuzzy

Sales Managers, your SDRs and AEs have poor sales enablement skills, what do you do?

18 comments

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