Sales Managers - Know more about your Reps golf game than about their pipeline?

Funny thing, every time you meet with this one low performing Sales Rep, the conversation always morphs into a discussion of golf. Every time you meet, you spend 30 minutes talking golf and then cram the business discussion into the remaining 10 minutes. And if memory serves me correctly, you seem to go over the same things and not much changes.

A familiar scenario? Have you even noticed this pattern? Golf, I have another that talks forever about the family and another who dissects the latest business books for me. Oddly, these 3 are ranked in the bottom half of my team.

Smile, you aren't the first nor will you be the last to be distracted by the passionate magician on your staff. These magicians have learned an hour long conversation with the boss can be painful for them - too much talk about opportunities, sales calls, prospecting, and forecasts. They have so little to say on those subjects, so deep into the top hat they reach and pull out the "Passionate Distraction Technique (PDT)".

Give them credit for being creative and successfully distracting the boss. That is not an easy accomplishment. They likely have successfully been using PDT for many years. Sometimes also practicing it on their peers, customers, and in-laws.

Deployed effectively, PDT can delay the manager's realization of performance issues. Good magicians can combine PDT with another slight-of-hand skill: "disguised procrastination with obvious platitudes (DPOP)"

DPOP is the natural partner of PDT. The magician knows eventually in the conversation the boss will make a recommendation, give an instruction, offer a suggestion, or imply a deadline, uninformed and maybe misguided, but done in a desperate attempt to drive something meaningful from the meeting. The magician knows it is coming, offers a smile and deftly presents DPOP. Here is an example.

Manager - "I know we just have a moment left. That opportunity hasn't moved for weeks. Schedule a call with the decision maker and review the proposed benefits. Then we will discuss it. That may get us back on track".

Sales Rep - "Boss that is a great idea. You are always so wise and helpful. I will schedule that ASAP. Just FYI, I am in a training class next week, and have a proposal I am writing for that really big deal you told me was so important. So it may take a few days."

Magicians protect their craft very well. So don't expect a confession or a behind the curtain peek anytime soon. But you now know the PDT and DPOP tricks. You can't be confused or fooled by them anymore. You now know they are used to avoid a set of overdue conversations about some serious topics.

You may be a victim of your own harried schedule or maybe you like to "fly by the seat of your pants". Regardless of the reasons, you must take the time and spend the energy preparing for these overdue conversations. Recognize the PDT and DPOP tricks and cut them short. Neither you nor your employee benefit long term from the neglect of serious on the job issues.

Inventory the time you spend with your employees, measuring how much time is spent on non business topics. This could be a clue to look deeper.

Good luck and good selling..