While I was managing a large organization, I inherited a seller (we’ll call her Polly) from a team that was moved under me. Polly was was polished and professional but wasn’t winning any sales awards. For 2 straight months she had nothing in her forecast. I asked her manager what was happening as I had just promoted her manager. Her manager hadn’t spent enough time with her yet to really know so I suggested we get on the phone to find out.
The first of 5 calls began and what we quickly realized is that Polly didn’t understand her job. She didn’t know the power she had and most importantly she didn’t realize that we had her back. We broke down the forecasting process and our expectations. We proceeded to role play and I chuckled when she would ask, “I can say that?!”
Those 5 calls helped Polly to have the confidence and poise to allow her to assert herself with her clients. She wasn’t afraid to ask tough questions and she knew that if she screwed up, she had our support. I started to receive glowing notes about Polly. Her clients shared how she was going the extra mile for them and they were grateful that she was their advocate. Within 6 months, Polly became one of my top performers and is still crushing it to this day.
The added bonus was her recently promoted manager embraced this kind of leadership and took it to each of her direct reports. Together we built a thriving culture that people wanted to be a part of. For all of us it was an extremely rewarding experience and a memory that reminds me how much can come of out of investing in your people.