This is one of those columns where you change the names to protect the guilty. About 25 years ago, I rode with a sales rep in the Midwest who worked for an industrial distributor. This had been planned for a long time, and I was sent to ride with him by the corporate office, ostensibly to “learn about the business,” so he knew I was coming. Typically, in that situation, the sales rep either dreads the experience and wants to avoid any trouble by looking good, or, if the rep is a top performer, he thinks about how he can use me to his advantage: with customers, inside the company or both.

This sales rep did neither. I met him at the branch, and he was very friendly and gracious. Not to mention, late: We didn’t make our first call until 9 am, which, in sales terms, is basically mid-day. This was in the era when you wore a suit to make calls and after the first couple of hours, I noticed that I was covered in dog hair. The seat was also covered in dog hair, although a little less so now that much of it had transferred to my suit.

“That’s from my dog, Lucy,” the rep told me, smiling. “I usually bring her with me on calls. My customers love her!” While he probably believed this, the number of customers who, throughout the day, were obviously relieved not to see Lucy led me to conclude that he was wrong. Whatever Lucy’s charms, she was clearly an unwelcome distraction to most customers.

Another characteristic shared by the customers we visited that day was that they were all surprised to see us. Not happily surprised, like you are when it’s your birthday, and you walk into a room full of well-wishers and cake. Unhappily surprised, as in “I’m really busy, and I don’t have time to spend with someone who shows up unannounced.” 

It turned out my rep friend didn’t schedule appointments — ever. He just drove from one customer to another, walked in and asked if they had time to see him. 

What was most striking about all this was how oblivious this rep was to the issues he was causing. He was a genuinely nice man, which is probably why his customers tolerated him at all. But few of them could mask their exasperation when they came up to the lobby and spent the minimum time possible telling him: they were busy and didn’t need anything right now. And, often, they told him it would be better if he scheduled appointments rather than showing up unannounced.

I asked him about all of this, and he reinforced that his customers liked him so much he could get away with it. While that was true in a literal sense (we were turned away only once or twice), we didn’t spend any quality time with any customer. 

He was obviously under-optimizing the potential of his territory due to his behavior. I recommended to him (as I wiped dog hair off my jacket) that he’d be much more successful if he scheduled and prepared for appointments. He showed no interest in this and simply smiled and kept driving to the next customer ambush. 

Where’s sales leadership?

You may be wondering, “Where was his sales manager during all of this?” Well, I asked his sales manager about this odd behavior, and he claimed he didn’t know about the dog (which means he’d never been in the rep’s passenger seat) or that the rep never made appointments. 

Ultimately, I think you have to hold the sales manager responsible for behaviors like this because it’s his job to be close enough to his people to understand where they need to improve. He needs to spend time teaching them and then holding them accountable.

If you asked me (and even if you didn’t) to identify the single most important factor between high- versus low-performing sales teams, I’d say it’s all about coaching. Great sales teams get regular coaching from experienced leaders who make calls with them, work through their sales and market data together, discuss and prioritize opportunities, figure out how to overcome obstacles and provide training on how to do the job better. 

Customer relationship management is increasingly important. Great internal and external analytics are particularly important. Compensation models that align the reps’ and the company’s rewards make a big difference. However, without great coaching, your sales professionals will never learn how to do the job well, and that makes all the difference.

Raising the bar

I’ve ridden with a few individuals in my life who claimed they were “natural salespeople.” These are individuals who, on their own, figured out how to master the job. They’re about as rare as “natural pilots” — those nearly mythical humans who can apparently fly an airplane without getting lessons first. In both cases, there’s no definitive evidence to prove they exist, and in no case can you scale up a team that relies on people with one-in-a-million skillsets.

This means if you want great salespeople, you’d better be sure they’re getting rigorous, structured and data-driven sales coaching. By definition, this means your sales leaders are doing ride-alongs. I’ve found that many sales managers talk about how they wish they could do ride-alongs more often, but they don’t have time. As we all know, saying, “I don’t have time for that” is another way of saying, “That’s not as important as other things I make time for.” 

Coaching and doing ride-alongs are so essential that, in my experience, great sales leaders make time for them by prioritizing them. In other words, they get it done even if it means other things don’t get done as a result. 

Selling is like dieting. There’s no mystery around how to do it well, but it’s really hard, and most people fail at it. Great salespeople are well-organized; they analyze data, communicate and follow up promptly and clearly; and they plan their time (and their customers’ time) carefully and thoughtfully. 

Coach your sales force on how to do these things well, and they’ll very likely be effective. Don’t coach them and you’ll find your sales force going to the dogs.