You might believe you have ideas, but the reality is that ideas have you. This is the nature of memes, as Richard Dawkins described in his explanation of how ideas spread. Ideas jump from person to person, like viruses. Sometimes, an idea can capture us, especially when it offers an attractive shortcut or when it taps into our fears. The following viruses infect sales leaders and sales managers, becoming their unseen puppet masters and making it harder for them and their teams to succeed.
Tech Titans and Efficiency Elves: This virus will cause sales managers to believe revenue growth is the product of technology. The infected will be concerned with their team’s efficiency to the point that they care little about anything else. One sign that a sales manager is infected with this virus is that they will increase their sales stack, buying new tools for a team that doesn’t use what’s already available. This makes it impossible for these products to live up to their claims that they will pay for themselves through efficiency increases.
Pipeline Proliferation Pandemonium: A good idea can be taken too far. It makes sense to have coverage in your pipeline, but as the numbers grow ever larger over time, the virus takes over. Infected sales managers multiply their pipeline requirements from 2X of quota to 4X or 6X. There is no reason to create opportunities you will not capture. Infected sales managers are often disappointed that they didn’t hit their targets, despite their enormous pipelines. They cannot recognize that many so-called opportunities were actually fictional.
The Activity Avalanche: This virus is passed down from one sales manager to another, infecting them with the idea that more activity is necessary for their success. In one case, an infected sales manager required their team to make 250 calls a day with 250 minutes of talk time each day (true story). There seems to be no way to treat these sales managers.
Automation Abomination: The infection starts when a sales manager’s team cannot prospect effectively. Instead of working with their salespeople and holding them accountable for booking first meetings, the infected sales manager outsources cold outreach to automation. The sales manager abdicates their responsibility to their sales team. Meanwhile, automation damages relationships with prospects, who are relentlessly spammed.
Velocity Vortex: Many, if not most sales leaders suggest that they want their sales force to be client centric. This virus prevents the sales manager from realizing that sales velocity and being client centric are in conflict. Once infected, the sales manager will require their sales reps to speed up the acquisition of the client and constantly ask when the deal will close. So far, no treatment is available.
CRM Crypt Keepers: This virus infects most sales managers, causing them to require their reps to log an opportunity in the CRM as soon as their sales call ends. Over time, these so-called opportunities stack up until the sales manager's pipeline is compromised and unreliable. When the pipeline is flooded with fake opportunities, it is impossible to identify the real opportunities that have had second meetings.
The Coaching Conundrum: A sales manager being pulled in two directions will often contract this virus. Instead of coaching their sales representatives, they spend time with senior leadership or doing busywork that can easily dominate their days and weeks. The only treatment seems to be a senior sales leader mandating that the sales manager coaches their sales force.
Sales Effectiveness Evasion: The sales manager with this virus will be heard saying, “My team knows how to sell.” You will also hear them mutter, “I hired them because they already know how to sell.” This virus also seems to infect sales leaders who carry several other viruses. This infection causes the sales manager to believe their team is effective, even though they have a low win rate.
Nostalgia Nuisance: A sales manager who succeeded in sales in the past can contract a virus that will lead them to believe that the way they sold decades ago is how their sales force should sell today. Even when facing changes in buyer behaviors and the increasingly complex nature of B2B sales, the sales manager will insist their team sell like they did.
The Standards Slip Slide: This infection causes the sales manager to lower their standards, so they do not ensure their sales team is doing the right work, in the right way, at the right time. Over time, this virus will cause the sales manager to be replaced by another sales manager who has, up to now, avoided the viruses that cause poor sales results.
10 Sales Manager Viruses You Should Avoid
Even though this is a playful take on the reasons sales results are less than they should be, each virus is real, causing sales managers to fail to produce the results they need to succeed. These viruses harm the sales force, causing them to fail to reach their goals and harming them, their families, their company, and their prospective clients.
If you are already infected with one or more of these sales manager viruses, take action to reverse them. You need a lot less technology than you believe is necessary. While you may need coverage in your pipeline, once you cross 2X of quota, you are likely harming your results. No one hits their goals by losing more deals. The only time more activity works is when you have an activity problem.
Many opportunities in your CRM are not real and should be removed. The more time you spend coaching your team, the better your results—and theirs. You are better off focusing on the effectiveness of your sales force rather than worrying about efficiency and automation. The way you sold may not be right for how your team needs to sell now. Better results start with raising your standards. For more help with sales effectiveness, start here.
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