How to Discover Hidden Problems in Your Sales Team that May be Holding Them Back

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴?

Are there hidden problems (in your team) that are affecting sales that you are unaware of? What is it costing you as a manager or business owner?

𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙜𝙤 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙮.

They invest in sales training, seminars, new gadgets, and all sorts of other things that don’t address the real problem. Don’t get me wrong, these things are very helpful, but if 90% of success is a mindset, wouldn’t it make sense to address that first?

This past week, I was working with a roofing company, and one of their salesmen was talking about how anxious he gets when meeting with insurance adjusters. 𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘱, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭.

He is a great salesman, in fact, everyone else admires his persistence in door-knocking, his positive attitude, and how he encourages the rest of the team. Yet, he was completely freezing up in this one very important part of the sales process and it was totally paralyzing him.

𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢. We identified that he had a BIG problem in his personal life. In the past, he had someone very close to him who was very confrontational, and as a child, there wasn’t anything he felt he could do so he felt paralyzed and would completely freeze up.

This is the behavior or program that was playing out every time he met with adjusters. Just like when he was a kid, he felt that they had all the power, he had none, and that the outcome was completely in their (the adjusters) hands. He had a program in place that had been running most of his life, and it was affecting his job.

In fact, he had to have several other salesmen with him on adjuster appointments to help him through it all. He couldn’t see himself doing it on his own.

𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙭 𝙞𝙩.

In a matter of a few minutes, I was able to take him through my process, and we completely fixed this problem for him. In fact, he couldn’t wait for his next appointment with an adjuster. And most importantly, he SAW HIMSELF working with the adjuster full of calm and confidence.

Another salesman, from the same team, struggled with people-pleasing. He was saying yes to things that were not part of his job, and it was affecting his ability to get their customers what they needed on time.

He also did this at home with his wife and kids. What we do in one area, typically shows up in another area. They were both linked to the same problem.

It’s important to know that when working with the subconscious mind, the very first step is to identify what the problem is. For him, people-pleasing was linked to self-confidence and guilt.

In order to rapidly move the team forward, there are 3 essential steps that need to take place in order to shift the behavior of the team. These are problems that individuals deal with, but they affect the entire group.

Identify the Real Problem.

First, we identify the real problem. In the above examples, the real problem wasn’t anxiety with the insurance adjusters, the real problem was fear of confrontation. With the people pleaser example, his real problem was linked to guilt and lack of self-confidence. In both cases, they had unwarranted emotions that were affecting their decisions and behavior. They were both "seeing" through the lens of the past. Even though they may try and do better in this area, they will continue to revert back to the old behavior. A lot of times it is because there is a deeper reason behind it. In order to solve the real problem, going deeper and asking even better questions is key. One of the questions that I may ask my clients after they tell me what big problem they are struggling with is, “how is that a problem?” It’s not the only question, but through deep questioning, I am able to get to the core issue.

You cannot solve a problem you are not aware of.

Discover What Caused it.

The second part of my process is to identify where the problem first began or what caused it. Sometimes the cause of the problem is something obvious, and sometimes it is not. If you grew up with parents that struggled with finances and you constantly heard, “we can’t afford that”, you may struggle with making more money. That’s a more obvious connection.

If you grew up with great support and parents and you are still struggling with meeting goals, the answer may not be obvious and you may need to do some digging. Sometimes, a simple phrase or comment, or activity that seemed harmless at the time, can affect someone's ability to succeed.

Example: I worked with a client who struggled with weight loss in the past. She had lost a lot of weight and had a lot of success, but still had a tremendous amount of guilt around eating food, going on trips, and being out socially. What we discovered is that when she was young, her parents celebrated good things that happened with food, specifically junk food. These were great memories for her and she enjoyed these moments immensely. What happened was she had subconsciously associated the ability to have fun with food and had a very difficult time sticking to her new healthy lifestyle because she believed that she couldn’t have fun without junk food. This created a lot of guilt, and she would then beat herself up about not sticking to her goal. Once we were able to identify the problem, and then get to the reason or the cause, we were able to fix the behavior so that it no longer occurred. What’s even better is that we were able to fix this problem that had been affecting her for her entire life, in just a few short hours. It is the same process as any struggle that a salesperson may have.

To get to the cause of the problem, again, I use a series of great questions. This questioning and the answers provided, lead directly to my next phase in the process which is fixing the problem. Asking specifics about the problem, how they do the problem, and where and when it first occurred are all key pieces.

Fix the Problem So That it Doesn't Keep Happening

This is the part of the process where I bring the conscious and subconscious together and we are able to work together at shifting the mind so that it no longer views the problem in the same way.

Imagine that all of us had an invisible pair of glasses that were given to us at birth. With every experience, you get a smudge on those glasses. Over time, they get pretty dirty. Some areas are dirtier than others. This is how we view our world and base our decisions. Since our glasses haven’t been cleaned up, we have unwarranted or inappropriate anger, fear, and other emotions and it affects our day-to-day lives. It affects our relationships, how we communicate, our ability to reach goals, and even our health. When we are able to “clean” up our view of the world and reframe the emotions around these events, we can easily and effortlessly move forward with our goals and reach the success that we desire. We are no longer looking at life through those dirty glasses. Those problems and the cause of the problems become part of your history where they belong, and what you learned from the event is what you get to carry with you. So your future decisions and perceptions are clearer, more focused, and more intentional.

As for the salesman I mentioned in this article, people-pleasing is no longer a problem for him. Just this past week he said it is getting easier and easier to say no, even at home. His confidence is growing and as a result, he is selling more roofs.

The other sales team member couldn’t wait to have his next adjuster appointment. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝?

Being stuck in our business or struggling in relationships can stop us and our team from reaching higher levels of success. It’s all connected. When we are frustrated with our personal life, (past or present) it affects our business. When we are struggling or stressed in our business it affects our personal life.

𝙎𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 90% 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙚𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙢 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚.

How would it feel to have these unhidden problems fixed in 4-hours or less?

If this is something that you or your team struggle with, or you would like to uncover the REAL reason you haven’t hit the goals you want to hit, reach out to me, I’d love to help.

I hope you enjoyed this article on How to Discover Hidden Problems in Your Sales Team that May be Holding Them Back. If you are a successful business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with a team and want help getting there rapidly, check out: Three Unseen Problems in Sales Teams That Stops Them from Achieving the Company's Goals;

And How to Get Massive Action from Your Team and More Consistent Results

To your TOTAL success,

Kimberly

Kim Lebbing is a Success and Mindset Coach with 10 years of experience in the coaching industry, Kim has a proven track record of getting massive results for her clients. She is an NLP Master Coach and Trainer and has aligned with 3 different schools for her NLP Certifications over the last 8 years.

Kim has created a unique 4-Hour Process that rapidly shifts minds to ignite the fire and motivation that will help you or your team take massive action to reach your highest goals without time-consuming seminars, training, and programs. She gets to the root of the problem and fixes it so that you and your team can have rapid results and can move your business forward.