Tennis, Sales Management, and Winning Twice

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It was the Saturday before Labor Day and that meant the club’s tennis championships. In the men’s doubles event, 17-year-old Jack Rubin was serving. His team was down 5-4 in the first set and 30-40 in the game. Jack’s first serve went long. He tossed the ball into the air and hit his second serve into the net. That double fault cost his team the game and the set. Such a failure would crush many of us and stay in our heads for the remainder of the match. We’d scream frustration. We’d apologize to our playing partner. We might even throw our racket.

But not Jack.

Instead, he ran up to his teammate, clicked rackets, and said, “Don’t worry, Dad. We learned a lot in that first set and we will get better.” From that point, Jack and his father Chuck were unstoppable. They won the next two sets and became tennis champions. You might call that sportsmanship or being optimistic. I call it good sales management skills.

Jack’s failure did not set him back because he already knew how his father would react. There would be no scolding or disappointment, only support so long as he learned something in the process. I watched this match play out in awe, seeing a victory at two levels. Chuck Rubin is a strong man with a powerful tennis game, but it was his skill as a father/manager that impressed me the most.

Encouraging Sales Confidence

Do your salespeople do their job with the same level of confidence? Or are they constantly in fear, afraid of what you will say or think, or perhaps under the constant thought, “I need to sell something soon or I will be fired”? Make no mistake about it, the customer can hear every emotion the sales rep is having. Indirectly, your sales management style can have a huge effect on the outcome and success of your sales team.

Be supportive — Selling in 2024 is harder than ever. First, you have to identify the decision-maker. Then, you have to locate them. And finally, you need to make contact. It’s not always clear who has the buying authority. A hybrid work scheme makes for a moving target: Voicemails are not returned; emails fall into a black hole; LinkedIn connection requests go unanswered. It’s a jungle out there, so the last thing your salespeople need is someone asking, “Did you sell anything today?” How about trying a different tact? Perhaps you could brainstorm ways to gain that first meeting. Or maybe listen to their sales pitch and make suggestions. You could sit with a sales rep and look at the prospect’s website for ideas to include when leaving messages. All managers speak some version of “my door is always open” when it’s actually the sales rep’s door they should be walking through to casually ask, “How’s it going out there?” or “What’s the hardest part of the job right now?” or “How can I help you?” And the timing of an unexpected handwritten note of support is one of the most powerful management tools available. While this is especially true for new salespeople, remember to include your legacy reps in your note writing. “I believe in you” gave Jack Rubin the ability to look ahead with confidence.

Focus on the right KPIs — If sales results are the only key performance indicator a manager uses to answer the question, “Is my rep doing the job?” they are asking for trouble. What if a rep takes a month off but enough work comes in so that she makes quota. Did she do her job? What if a rep spends eight hours every day for an entire month prospecting for new business but no orders follow. Did she do her job? While results are the ultimate measurement of success, you are making a mistake if your management focus is that myopic. Furthermore, measuring sales results month by month can complicate the conversation even further. For example, if one order expected in August comes in the last week of July and another August order comes in on Sept. 1, is it accurate to say the rep met expectations in one month but not another? Sales results come from opportunities created by sales activity. Smart managers focus first on activities (i.e., is the rep performing the right actions?), then the quantity and quality of the opportunities generated by those activities, and finally sales volume. Just like the sales rep can’t skip over one to get to the next in that process, neither should the sales manager.

Provide qualified leads — Asked the question, “What would you do if you had more time?,” most of us would include “I’d do more reading” in our answer. Sales managers, you can help your salespeople understand trends by feeding them information collected by spending time looking at the bigger picture. Which markets should they be paying attention to? Where is the economy headed? And on a more granular level, you can feed them not just company names, but research those companies to learn what they do and include that information for the reps. It’s this deeper dive that will dramatically increase the quality of the sales call and yet it’s this information that is most often left undone. The difference between providing your sales team leads versus qualified leads is almost immeasurable. Not only are reps far more likely to follow up on the latter versus the former, the confidence with which they do so (thanks to the information you have given them) will be apparent through better voicemails and a more sustained prospecting process.

Clear the decks — Anything you can do as a manager to remove obstacles and let the sales rep sell will pay dividends. In a perfect sales world, a sales rep takes one of those qualified leads, works to make contact and arrange an appointment, generates a sale, and once that order is entered and out of the picture, is no longer involved in the process. Production takes over all communication with the client. This “perfect sales world” setup allows the sales rep to maximize his or her selling time and not get caught up in the minutia. The cruel reality of sales is this: The more successful a rep becomes the less time he or she has to become even more successful. New sales reps are the Tasmanian Devil, voraciously canvassing for new business 24/7. But as orders come in and a book of business is built, their actual selling time diminishes. This is where you come in, sales managers. Do whatever it takes to unshackle unnecessary tasks and everyone wins.

In the final game of the final set, Jack Rubin was once again serving and once again down 30-40. Making an adjustment to his toss, he whistled his serve past his opponent and then he and his dad won the next two points. Game, set, match. The crowd on the hill cheered the final score. But there was a deeper victory that day, a victory created over time. Chuck and Jack were winners on two levels.