Nothing succeeds like success. While not recollecting the exact source of this insightful wisdom, somehow I think that it had to come from a recent graduate of the Yogi Berra School of sales management. But like so many of the sayings of Mr. Berra, there is more than a kernel of truth in these words.

Every entrepreneurial manager intuitively knows the value and critical importance of a successful sales team. These same managers also know that even the best salespeople “don’t win ’em all.” And a tough business climate makes every win just that much more important. So the challenge becomes, in a time of declining success, how can I build up positive organizational momentum? How can I leverage what successes we do achieve into something more?

This is a tough challenge, but no less than the survival of your organization is at risk. From an entrepreneurial management perspective the first step is deciding whether you believe or not that people’s attitudes have a significant impact on their performance. The second step is deciding if you believe that positive attitudes are contagious. The good news is that if you are favorably inclined to both of these, there are some actions you can take to bring them about.

The most obvious one stems from a focus on the positive. From a sales results perspective, it is not the sales we didn’t get that matter, it’s the ones we did land, and let’s recognize the effort and talent that made this happen. There is everything right with recognizing success, but you want to do so in a way that says thanks to the achiever while at the same time encouraging others to seek achievement. It can be as simple as having a lunch brought in while you recognize the member of the selling team for succeeding. It can also be as simple as asking the star of the moment to share with the group his or her secret of success. Whatever you do as an entrepreneurial sales manager, think “positive multiplying.” Your goal is to make sure that the event positively impacts everyone on the team.

Now let’s also be pragmatic about this approach. We all know that everyone will not respond the way we intend. Despite our best intentions, some will harbor a thinly disguised jealousy. Others will be so absorbed in their own negativity that no message of encouragement or hope will be received. Don’t worry about these losers! Sooner or later you will have to be shed of these folks anyway. Take consolation in that even if only one person responds favorably and succeeds only one time, the cost of your effort at enthusiasm will have paid for itself.

We sometimes forget that the 20/80 rule applies to selling as much as it does to most other things. Twenty percent of the salespeople will generate eighty percent of the sales revenue. Take it as your charter that your job is to keep this 20 percent knowing that they are appreciated and doing what it takes to keep their attitudes positive. You’ll be surprised just how much one sale can impact the next, how much one good salesperson can impact another.

John F. Riddell Jr., director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth-Hamilton County, writes each Tuesday about entrepreneurs and their impact on companies and the marketplace. Submit comments to his attention by writing to Business Editor John Vass Jr., Chattanooga Times Free Press, P.O. Box 1447, Chattanooga, TN 37401-1447, or by e-mailing him at business@timesfreepress.com

Comments