The Sales Archaeologist

A few weeks ago a good friend of mine slipped on the ice and hurt her hand. She assumed it was just a sprain but after the pain did not subside she went to the E.R and the doctor there looked at the swelling and told her she had probably pulled a tendon and that it should heal. It didn't so she went to her regular doctor - his diagnosis was that the fall had aggravated her existing carpel tunnel syndrome, ice it, cortisone it and it should get better. It didn't.

A few days ago she went to a specialist who put her through an MRI. The results showed there was a fracture that the other doctors had missed and now she is in a cast. Interesting how experienced doctors were not able to diagnose a simple problem. They based their diagnosis on past experience, outward symptoms and what the patient said. It took an in depth scan - thanks to an MRI - to correctly diagnose the issue. She would have never healed properly without fixing the fracture. interestingly she was also surprised that it was broken, she didn't think it was that bad and was hoping it would eventually heal, even though she was in severe pain for weeks she kept "hoping" things would get better!

Sometimes the CEO's and VP's of sales we encounter are like those initial doctors. They try and diagnose the problems with their sales people based on their experience and what their sales people tell them - not on the facts. It takes and MRI like evaluation of the sales force to really discover what is going on under the surface. The symptoms alone do not always tell the story.

Additionally, even when armed with those findings there is a huge difference between managing sales people, building a sales force and establishing metrics and fixing them. As a high performing sales manager I had been successful at all of those - but it took years to learn how to train and fix sales people. The first step in fixing anything is to understand what is broken and for so long I didn't know what that was - I would address a behavior, mandate an activity and coach my reps through their struggles without knowing why those struggles exist.

That said just as all doctors cannot diagnose an injury and really fix the problem not everyone with sales experience or success is capable of diagnosing and thereby fixing even the simplest "fracture" in their sales organization.