Sales leaders are quick to say how they can’t get people to do the things they want them to do.
(If I hear a sales leader say that too much, I no longer view them as sales leader, but rather a sales manager. More about that in a future post.)
One reason people don’t always do what we expect them to do is because we’ve never expected them to do it. More often than not, we expect but we don’t follow through.
A few years ago I came up with the quote, “Today’s expectations become tomorrow’s norms” to help give credence to the notion that people will do something if it is made part of their routine.
Many times sales teams go through re-organizations, and one of the results is different activities are expected from people.
At first these activities and many times additional activities seem to be too much and impossible to do. Yet, over time with the guidance, support and on-going expectation of the sales leader, the activity is completed.
In time this expectation from the sales leader becomes normal behavior by the salesperson.
Changes in behavior or responsibility will not occur without an expectation of the outcome and result. For you, the sales leader, the more clear you can be in the expectations and the more you follow-through in the expectations over a period of time, the more likely the expectations will become normal behavior.
All sales leaders should be placing new expectations on their people to encourage the continued growth and development of their people.
Nothing will destroy an organization more than the lack of continuous improvement by each member of the organization.
Just as today’s expectations becomes tomorrow’s norms for your people, the same applies to you. What are your new expectations? What are your new norms?
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
