Coaching Is a Skill

Just because you have been an outstanding sales professional and successful manager doesn’t automatically mean that you’re ready to coach a team.  Coaching, like selling, takes a developed skill set.  Unfortunately, companies too commonly fail to teach their leaders to be coaches.  They might make ideal managers, but they don’t create smart coaches.  If you…

Belief Has to Be Real…To Everybody

Every business culture needs a belief system, and everybody in that business needs to be on board.  Think about it.  Imagine a team in which the employees bought into an idea, but the leadership did not.  Would that idea fuel the team’s energy and passion?  For a time, perhaps, but not for long, not without…

You’re Never Too Experienced

While I’ve often said that sales is a profession to be proud of, the ego is an expensive liability, so get rid of it and start right now investing in getting better.  Selling is a skill, and as such, improving it requires practice.  You’re either improving it or losing it.  Practice allows you to focus on…

Goal Setting and Accountability

As a leader, you’re job is to help your team members reach their goals, and to an extent this involves helping them formulate their goals, but you must not define and set their goals for them.  Not all of them, in any case.  By asking members of your team to develop their own specific goals…