Episode 2:​ Navigating While Managing a Sales Team During COVID-19?

Navigating while managing a sales team during COVID-19? 

You’ll want to listen to our new episode of “True Confessions of a Sales Leader,” The Olsen Group’s podcast where sales leaders share their secrets of success, insight, and guidance.

For this crucial episode, we interviewed our own Gary Brashear, Managing Partner, The Olsen Group, and Matt Greene, head of sales for Fetch, a company that offers direct-to-door package delivery for apartment and multi-family buildings. Gary and Matt share how they are coping with the disruption, how they are motivating their sales team, and what they see on the horizon. 

Here are three key takeaways from this Podcast: 

Empathy is imperative
Practice empathy with your sales staff and share your concerns and your own fears with staff. Salespeople tend to be extroverted. They’re stuck at home, they’re not face-to-face with clients, sales are down. A status check can reveal who’s having a rough time or needs more guidance. It’s about more than the numbers right now.

Use past experiences
Is there a past experience that emulates what we’re going through now? It’s like a combination of 9/11, the 2008 recession, and the dot-com boom and bust all wrapped together. Take things day to day, try to navigate through information (or misinformation), and as a leader show up, represent, and listen to your team. If we learned anything from past experiences it’s that being transparent is key. 

To pivot or not to pivot 
“Pivot” is the word du jour for our current crisis. So do you stay the course or pivot? Ask questions of your team that may lead them to look at a challenge a different way. Talk to your customers and find out what has changed with them.  As a sales leader it’s your job to serve customers, help them achieve their goals and if those goals have changed, (and they indeed have) you have to realign your strategy and goals for you—and for them.