Resolving A Conflict Between Two Sales Staffs
Resolving A Conflict Between Two Sales Staffs
E. Michael Shays
A distributor of library books for young children merged two companies into one, but kept the sales staffs separate for a year. One staff consisted mainly of men who carried heavy cases of books and drove throughout their territories to show the books and take orders from the librarians. The other staff consisted mostly of women who sold books to some of these same libraries over the phone. Neither staff knew about the other. However, the traveling salesmen were puzzled to see that their customers already had the books they were showing.
A consultant was asked to facilitate the bringing of these two groups together without being told that the revelation of the other sales force would be a huge surprise to each group. The result was explosive acrimony. Each group was severely threatened by the other and emotions, harsh words and tears ran high. The consultant had to abandon the plan he had worked out and instead caucused separately with each group.
Conflict may be expressed as anger, but its roots are fear. In this case it was fear of losing carefully and sometimes painstakingly developed customers, relationships and commissions to a competing group. So the facilitator asked each group separately these same questions:
What would you need from the other group to earn your trust? What would they have to commit to and do to be your partner in sales?
Once he had their answers to these questions, he then asked each group what they would be willing to give up to establish trust with the other group. What would they have to do to be their partner in sales?
Not surprisingly the answers to the second round of question were quite similar to the answers to the first round, and heated emotions cooled. By the first round of questions the facilitator allowed each group to express their concerns by defining what it would take to remove the threat (and thereby eliminate their fears). In the second round of questions the facilitator challenged each group to step into the other group’s shoes and view the conflict from the other side.
The facilitator brought both groups back together and asked each one to report on what they considered constituted trust in working together. In a very short time individuals who had been exchanging angry words the evening before were voluntarily pairing up with their counterparts in the other group and working out ways to share or redistribute their territories.
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E. MICHAEL SHAYS CMC (ems@emsnetwork.com) is President of EMS Network, International, an association of senior consultants helping clients faced with conflict, transition, stagnation, and management dilemmas.
Resolving A Conflict Between Two Sales Staffs - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Shays's Website.
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RESOLVING A CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO SALES STAFFS
E. Michael Shays
A distributor of library books for young children merged two companies into one, but kept the sales staffs separate for a year. One staff consisted mainly of men who carried heavy cases of books and drove throughout their territories to show the books and take orders from the librarians. The other staff consisted mostly of women who sold books to some of these same libraries over the phone. Neither staff knew about the other. However, the traveling salesmen were puzzled to see that their customers already had the books they were showing.
A consultant was asked to facilitate the bringing of these two groups together without being told that the revelation of the other sales force would be a huge surprise to each group. The result was explosive acrimony. Each group was severely threatened by the other and emotions, harsh words and tears ran high. The consultant had to abandon the plan he had worked out and instead caucused separately with each group.
Conflict may be expressed as anger, but its roots are fear. In this case it was fear of losing carefully and sometimes painstakingly developed customers, relationships and commissions to a competing group. So the facilitator asked each group separately these same questions:
What would you need from the other group to earn your trust? What would they have to commit to and do to be your partner in sales?
Once he had their answers to these questions, he then asked each group what they would be willing to give up to establish trust with the other group. What would they have to do to be their partner in sales?
Not surprisingly the answers to the second round of question were quite similar to the answers to the first round, and heated emotions cooled. By the first round of questions the facilitator allowed each group to express their concerns by defining what it would take to remove the threat (and thereby eliminate their fears). In the second round of questions the facilitator challenged each group to step into the other group’s shoes and view the conflict from the other side.
The facilitator brought both groups back together and asked each one to report on what they considered constituted trust in working together. In a very short time individuals who had been exchanging angry words the evening before were voluntarily pairing up with their counterparts in the other group and working out ways to share or redistribute their territories.
* * *
E. MICHAEL SHAYS CMC (ems@emsnetwork.com) is President of EMS Network, International, an association of senior consultants helping clients faced with conflict, transition, stagnation, and management dilemmas.
Resolving A Conflict Between Two Sales Staffs - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Shays's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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