As a sales manager, you are constantly striving to achieve your sales targets and drive business results. However, research suggests that 20% of people do 80% of the work, which poses a significant challenge for many managers. To overcome this challenge, it’s essential to create authentic and ongoing relationships that motivate your team members to engage and deliver. In this blog, we will discuss how to lead through conflict and have conversations that connect and build relationships.
Leaders Work Through Conflict
Leading through conflict is a critical skill for sales managers as they address the challenges of leading teams and organizations. Differences are a natural part of any interpersonal interaction, and people are different, which can lead to different perspectives and opinions. Sales managers use best practices to work cross-functionally by setting and managing expectations while resolving conflict and overcoming resistance between people as they move towards delivering outcomes.
Module 10 of the sales manager program will help you break down conflict and address how to handle it based on response style, including competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating. It’s essential to recognize the response style that aligns with your personality and prepare for crucial conversations that matter.
Leaders Have Conversations That Connect
To effectively engage your team members, it’s essential to have conversations that connect and build relationships. However, most people’s reaction to conflict is the opposite of conversation. Instead of listening, asking, and being curious, people tend to go straight into telling, which can lead to further conflict.
It’s crucial to prepare for conversations, especially hard ones, to make a connection and mitigate your response style. The following steps can help you prepare for crucial conversations:
Pause and prepare: Be clear about setting the context. What’s the situation? What do you want to get out of it? What does the other person want to get out of it?
Focus on the facts: Avoid telling a story, being judgmental, or biased. Focus on the facts.
Be clear on the impact: What’s at risk of doing nothing? Is there a sense of urgency? Is there a customer impact? Is there a financial impact? Is there a person or team impact? What is the magnitude of the situation?
Create a back-and-forth dialogue: Avoid debating, staying silent, or disengaging. Encourage a back-and-forth dialogue.
Listen actively: Show up, be present, reflect on what was said, and respond.
Leaders Promote Transparency
Transparency is a critical element of building trust and engagement among team members. Sales managers should prioritize transparency in their communication and decision-making processes to promote a culture of openness and trust. By being transparent, managers can help team members understand the rationale behind decisions, demonstrate accountability, and create a sense of ownership and empowerment.
One way to promote transparency is to establish open communication channels where team members can share their thoughts, concerns, and ideas. Managers should be receptive to feedback and actively seek input from team members to create a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. Additionally, managers can provide regular updates on company goals, progress, and challenges to keep team members informed and aligned. By promoting transparency, managers can create a more engaged and motivated sales team, leading to better sales results and a positive work environment.
Leaders Take Time to Listen
Effective leadership involves active listening and understanding team members’ perspectives, ideas, and concerns. Sales managers who take the time to listen to their team members can gain valuable insights and build stronger relationships based on trust and mutual respect. Active listening involves not only hearing what team members say but also understanding their emotions and motivations.
To practice active listening, sales managers should create a safe and open environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. Managers should avoid interrupting or dismissing team members and instead focus on understanding their perspective. Additionally, managers should ask clarifying questions to ensure they understand team members’ viewpoints fully. By actively listening, managers can demonstrate empathy and create a culture of inclusivity and collaboration.
Leaders who take the time to listen can improve team member engagement, motivation, and productivity. By understanding team members’ perspectives, managers can identify potential challenges and opportunities and make informed decisions that drive sales results. Additionally, active listening can help managers build stronger relationships with team members, leading to better communication and collaboration.
What You Can Do
Conflict can be a positive thing. So, approach it with the right motives and an appropriate response style. Don’t avoid crucial conversations because they are hard. Instead, prepare for discussions that connect. Be sure to set the context and objective for the conversation and listen for understanding.
What It Means to You
Active listening builds trust and helps team members believe that they are being heard. By being a sales manager that actively listens for understanding, you can motivate your team to deliver outcomes and engage in a way that makes a measurable difference for your customers and your company. So, be a leader that actively listens, and you will build relationships, engage your team members, and achieve your sales targets.
Deliver Sales Outcomes Today
Improving collaboration and engagement among sales teams is essential for achieving sales targets and driving business results. By prioritizing teamwork and communication, sales reps can leverage their strengths, share best practices, and achieve sales goals faster. To support this effort, organizations can turn to Sales Enablement solutions that provide the necessary tools and resources to optimize the sales process, improve communication and collaboration, and ultimately achieve sales goals faster.
EnableU offers a Sales Enablement solution that helps organizations of all sizes build world-class revenue sales teams. By utilizing EnableU’s solution, sales reps can improve their capacity to optimize their sales process and achieve better results. With the right tools and resources, organizations can build stronger sales teams, leading to increased productivity, better sales results, and a positive work environment.