Cambridge Business Association
Love Your Team
Book

Love Your Team

A Survival Guide for Sales Managers in a Hybrid World

Helen Fanucci
Helen Fanucci, 2022
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8

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Recommendation

Sales managers all worry about retaining their salespeople. This concern is well-founded given that the members of sales teams are leaving their jobs in droves. In 2021, a shocking 60% of employees – including sales staff – reported they were considering quitting to work somewhere else. Team leadership expert Helen Fanucci says that the way to cut down on turnover is to love your salespeople: Show that you respect them, demonstrate that you value their accomplishments and let them know you understand their challenges. Fanucci explains how to go about the crucial tasks that lead to employee retention, why that effort matters and why it will work.

Summary

Effective sales managers treat their salespeople with respect and love. 

Sales managers should never tell their salespeople how to perform their jobs. Professional salespeople will feel resentful about that advice and the sales manager who offers it. Instead, sales managers must engage in two-way conversations that nourish salespeople’s positive thinking.

Switch your focus from providing advice – input – to promoting positive outcomes – output. Help your sales team members clarify their goals and challenges and empower them to take action for themselves. Listen closely to what they say about the kinds of support they need. 

Sales managers’ conversations with salespeople help determine their sales success.

Quality conversations fuel your salespeople’s progress and yours. You can use such conversations to set sales objectives, boost your salespeople’s spirits, and hold them accountable for carrying out their plans and meeting expectations.  

Meaningful, relevant conversations will enable you to retain your most productive salespeople...

About the Author

Helen Fanucci, who hosts the Love Your Team podcast, had a 25-year career leading and building successful sales teams at Apple, Sun Microsystems, IBM and Microsoft.

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