How to Improve Sales Performance – Deal with Disengagement (Part 2)
Here’s a shocking statistic. Only 33% of America’s employees are engaged at work. The other 67% are either passively checked out or actively working against the interests of their employers. How many checked-out Millennial leaders and salespeople do you see on your teams?
In my recent Forbes article: Three Steps To Turn Disengaged Millennial Leaders Into Top Performers we discuss the importance of getting your millennial sales leaders back on board, fully engaged. The benefit? A marked improvement in your sales performance.
Are your sales teams exceeding targets? Or, do you have concerns?
Detect and deal with disengagement danger signs
In the first article in this series, How to Improve Sales Performance – Deal with Disengagement (Part 1), I discuss two danger signs that might be causing your up-and-coming sales leader to disengage.
Disengagement Danger #1 – “I can’t see how I fit into your bigger picture”
Disengagement Danger #2 – “I don’t know what I have to do to be seen as successful in this company”
Here’s a third danger sign that might indicate that your Millennial leader is disengaged:
Disengagement Danger #3 – “You are not using my unique talents to contribute to your growth, revenue, margins, and market share”
If you want to see the best ideas from your millennial sales leader, you need them to bring their whole person to work. Most emerging sales leaders tell me they believe they have something special to bring to the team. However, many say they feel ignored. Their individual creativity and talents to grow the company’s success is not even noticed.
Our data shows that 74% of all salespeople are strongly motivated to achieve sales success. However, strong motivation is not enough. There are four pillars of a salesperson with a fire-in-the-belly tenacity. You want to see a strong Desire to be successful, Unconditional Commitment to success, a Willingness to take personal Responsibility, and Motivation.
This is what our research shows:
- Only 74% of all salespeople have a strong Desire for sales success.
- Only 51% have Unconditional Commitment to their success in sales.
- Only 41% take Personal Accountability for their results. (They are not playing the Blame Game)
- Only 60% are motivated by any factors, including extrinsically, intrinsically, or altruistically.
To find a Millennial who has all these Will to Sell components is indeed a treasure. This is your foundation. Now you can reap a positive ROI as you harness their strengths, nurture a growth mindset, and set them up for success.
What can you do?
- Treat your emerging sales superstar as an individual. Purposefully seek to find what is distinctive in them. Observe their individual strengths and you’ll draw out the best in each of them.
- Find opportunities to harness their special talent to boost your growth goals. For example, ask them to help you solve a sales challenge and to apply their unique mindset to discover new possibilities. Then, be sure to let them know that you value their contribution.
- Explore the value that Millennials bring to the table. With innovation turning every corner, your business can capitalize on the need that most millennial leaders have to do things differently.
Millennials Matter, Proven Strategies for Building Your Next-Gen Leader, is loaded with tips, tools and talk tracks to equip you to leverage the unique skills and talents that Millennial leaders bring to our businesses. Your up-and-coming sales leader does not have to be part of the 67% of employees who are passively checked out. Improve your sales results by using your experience and wisdom to create a safe environment. From here, you can coach and mentor your millennial leader to become a fully engaged member of your team.
Read my previous article to learn more about the first two disengagement danger signs. You can also read the Forbes article, 3 Steps to Turn Disengaged Millennials into Top Performers.
Articles that have sparked even more dialogue: Read about it here.
Leadership Lesson: Dig deep to find the unique value that your Millennial sales leader brings to your business.
Leadership Question: How are you ensuring your emerging sales leader stays engaged 24/7?
© Copyright 2018 Danita Bye
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