Understanding Your Sales Team - Tom Schodorf - Coach2Scale - Episode # 016
Today’s guest is an outstanding senior sales leader known for his ability to build, lead, and coach successful sales teams. He started his career in sales at IBM and now serves as a board member and advisor for multiple high-growth companies. Tom Schodorf joins Host Matt Benelli for a conversation about building a plan for your salespeople, how leadership shapes the conduct of the sales team, and how to set up new sales reps for success equitably.
Takeaways:
- Salespeople are not “coin-operated” as so many mistakenly believe. Salespeople are motivated by many things, just as all people are. Many companies only provide salespeople with a reward path based on monetary rewards, thus forcing sales to adapt.
- Leaders need to model the behavior they want their salespeople to follow. While you may profess lofty values and only hire based on cultural fit, employees will learn from the way that their leaders act and will pass along these behaviors.
- Prioritize merit and cultural fit when hiring for sales roles. A candidate with the right skills and alignment with company values can contribute significantly to the organization's success. Ignoring these can lead to disharmony and reduced efficiency in the team.
- It is critical to understand your team members in order to coach them effectively. Leaders need to go beyond employees' general work personas and delve into their motivations, career goals, and personal experiences.
- Empowering sales leaders to overcome irrational fears either within themselves or their teams is key. Sales leaders need to face their own fears and biases and harness them as vehicles for change and improvement.
- For sales leaders, creating and nurturing a coaching culture is paramount. To instill a robust coaching culture, coach often and in varied settings, reinforce past coaching, provide examples, and seek feedback from the team.
Quote of the Show:
- “No matter who you're coaching, you've got to know the person.” - Tom Schodorf
Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomschodorf/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tschodor
- Vertica Capital Partners Website: https://www.verticacp.com/
Ways to Tune In:
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Yb1wPzUxyrfR0Dx35ym1A
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coach2scale-how-modern-leaders-build-a-coaching-culture/id1699901434
- Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy50cmFuc2lzdG9yLmZtL2NvYWNoMnNjYWxlLWhvdy1tb2Rlcm4tbGVhZGVycy1idWlsZC1hLWNvYWNoaW5nLWN1bHR1cmU
- Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/fd188af6-7c17-4b2e-a0b2-196ecd6fdf77
- Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/coach2scale-how-modern-leaders-5419703
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Coach2Scale
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