Is it a team sport?

Whenever I work with a manager, the usual statement that I hear is that they are trying to develop a "team" of sales people.

The more I speak about this, the more I am convinced that approach doesn't work, and is wrong for 99% of companies.

Selling is not a team sport. It is, at best, a competitive job where everyone is trying to out sell the other. There is a #1, #2, #3 etc, and coming is last does not mean anything.

I remember a sales person I was working with, who was terminated. He had called to meet with me, and we were in my office. He said that he was a team player, and helped in the office, yet he was fired.

We looked at his numbers and as I expected he was at the very bottom of the chart. He was sure that he should have kept his job since he worked so well with the "team".

So what should a sales person do to make sure that they are not terminated: SELL like hell!

You have to make sure that your numbers warrant recognition. At the same time, it does not hurt for you to promote yourself to management about your sales. I do not mean brag or be stupid about it, but you need to make sure that your success is long lasting and people see that.

I have a simple test that I use with sales people. At the end it asks what it would take for the person to be the #1 person in sales. EVERYONE knows the answer to that question. Few, however, follow their own answer .

Yes, you need to fit in, and that helps.

You need to sell; selling is not a team sport.

Good Selling,

Steve