Check Your Ego. Don’t Play Hero. Prepare & Prioritize to Minimize Stress & Ensure Success
Aug 30, 2023
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In this podcast, sales leader Drew Ellis shares insights on the discipline required to succeed as a sales manager, including the power of focus and prioritization. They also discuss effective time management strategies such as using a color-coded calendar and saying no. The importance of maintaining mental and emotional well-being is emphasized, along with tips for managing pressure and maintaining work-life balance.
Prioritize simple, fundamental principles over gimmicks or trendy strategies in sales management.
Implement a color-coded calendar system to prioritize revenue-producing activities and let go of uncontrollable factors.
Check your ego at the door and focus on guiding and empowering your sales team for success.
Deep dives
Preparing for Leadership
Drew Ellis shares his journey into sales management and emphasizes the importance of understanding the actual job of a sales manager, which is to create pipeline, advance deals, and close business. He advises aspiring managers to focus on simple, fundamental principles rather than falling for gimmicks or trendy strategies. He highlights the value of mentorship and learning from experienced leaders, along with consuming practical content that is rooted in real-world sales experience. Drew stresses the importance of implementing the knowledge gained and iterating as needed to find what works best.
Managing Time and Priorities
Drew Ellis emphasizes the significance of time management in sales leadership. He shares his personal experience of a life-threatening health scare due to stress and anxiety, which compelled him to prioritize his well-being and find a better way to manage his time. Drew implements a color-coded calendar system to help him prioritize revenue-producing activities, customer-facing interactions, and vital internal tasks. He also highlights the importance of discerning between controllable and uncontrollable factors, focusing on what can be controlled and letting go of the rest.
Maintaining Mental Health in High-Pressure Environments
Drew Ellis acknowledges the intense pressure and uncertainty faced by sales managers, particularly in challenging economic climates. He advises focusing on what can be controlled and not internalizing external factors beyond one's influence. Drew emphasizes the importance of helping the sales team remain calm and focused on revenue generation to establish job security. He also shares the value of personal hobbies and leisure activities, such as skateboarding and snowboarding, as outlets for stress. Additionally, Drew stresses the significance of self-talk and consciously choosing what to care about, adopting a mindset of not giving undue importance to every situation that arises.
Focus on revenue-generating activities
The podcast emphasizes the importance of prioritizing revenue-generating activities as a sales manager. It advises against getting caught up in non-essential tasks and meetings that distract from the primary job of driving revenue and leading the team. The speaker highlights the need to stay focused on activities that directly contribute to creating pipeline, advancing deals, and closing business. While acknowledging the importance of other responsibilities, the message underscores that revenue is the ultimate measure of success in a sales role.
Check your ego and empower your team
The podcast highlights the significance of checking one's ego at the door when transitioning from an individual contributor to a sales team leader. The speaker emphasizes the importance of stepping back and empowering the team members to be self-sufficient and successful. The focus is on coaching, guiding, and removing obstacles instead of trying to personally close every deal. By fostering a culture of learning and teaching, leaders can equip their team to become proficient and independent, driving revenue through their own efforts. The podcast encourages leaders to prioritize the development and success of their team members over seeking personal glory.
Episode 58 kicks off an exciting series around the launch of Mike’s newest book!
While the publisher asked Mike to write The First-Time Manager: Sales specifically for newer (and aspiring) managers, every. single. executive. who read an advance copy commented that it’s a must-read for experienced leaders too… Fresh perspectives and fresh stories from the field, along with simplified frameworks and uber-practical tips for everything from coaching, to addressing underperformance, connecting on a heart-level with your people, and even interviewing best practices.
This new series features respected sales leaders whose best practices and wisdom were featured in the book. Mike will share more of the backstory along with an overview and why he agreed to write this particular book in the next episode, but in today’s show, he hosts sales leader extraordinaire Drew Ellis who highlights the need for the mental, physical, calendar, and (even) financial discipline required to win big as a sales leader.
The wide-ranging conversation offers invaluable insights for both individuals transitioning into management roles and seasoned managers seeking to refresh and upgrade their effectiveness as a leader.
Drew and Mike tackle critical topics including:
The importance of focus and prioritization
The benefit of a calendar that looks like a coloring book
The power of the word “no”
The reality check when stress (all by itself) puts you in the hospital
The need to check your ego when moving into management
The danger (and lack of scalability and sustainability) when managers play sales team hero
Listen closely as Drew, in no uncertain terms, strongly reminds managers that there are no awards or bonus points for being a good corporate citizen and checking all the boxes if your sales team misses its number. And please allow his story of ending up in ER (solely from stress) and what a wise doctor told him to help you not only reconsider your priorities but also to refocus your energy on the precious few management activities that truly move the needle.
Resources:
Get a sneak peek at the reaction to Mike’s new book, the contents, introduction, and a sample chapter HERE.
