Okay, no one has ever actually asked me this so this is more of a question I wish people were asking over actually asking! To me, accepting criticism is at the top of the list for what makes a good employee. Too often people have excuses for why they do things as opposed to solid reasons. In order to improve, we need to resolve the things that we are doing wrong; not just celebrate what we are doing right!
I was at youth soccer games today and the 14 year old ref made 2 decent size errors in the first game he was officiating. Before the second game, the referee coordinator took him aside and explained what he was doing incorrect and the appropriate way to handle it in the next game. He did not try to avoid blame and instead took the critique seriously and did not make the same mistakes in the second game. If a 14 year old kid can react this way to drive immediate performance, I don’t think it’s too much to ask of professional adults!
I’ll contrast this with a discussion I was having with an existing salesperson who told me that he didn’t think he needed any sales training because it wouldn’t change anything. Honestly, I strongly believe that the best salespeople are the ones that are constantly training and seeking to improve. Accepting constructive feedback is just one piece of ongoing training.
The first step is to truly be open to listening to the feedback. Most people will say that they will take any advice that will help them. Most people also feel that they are open to change. However, when presented with an alternative way to run a process, we tend to go back into our comfort zone or play it out based on what we have always done in the past.
There is definitely a need to determine the validity of the feedback. The source of the feedback is certainly important. It typically needs to come from someone with experience and is trusted. Then a true determination should be made on whether or not the advice is going to help us perform better. This is the most difficult piece because it is often easier for us to defend our position even with valid advice under the guise that the advice is wrong.
Once we have determined that we are open to the constructive feedback, it is helpful to create a structured and consistent approach. Even the best advice is harder to absorb and implement if it isn’t received at the appropriate time. I would recommend avoiding the “pop in” advice. This is when you hear someone saying something and you pop in after their call to tell them what they did wrong. While this will certainly work with those that are more open to feedback, it’s not a great way to start out.
Most of the ways that work are outside of the comfort zone of the typical salesperson. Role Playing is a great start because there is no consequence for not performing well. It’s also a situation where you can pause the event to have a discussion or rewind to try something again. Our AppX Sales program takes role playing to the next level with a Sales Showdown. This is a more formalized process where roles and situations are explicitly laid out and there is a feedback process built in. Whether you are going to do a more formal Sales Showdown or a more informative round of Role Playing, make sure that everyone participates and that the strengths, as well as the areas of improvement, are discussed.
Listening to calls live and having your manager attend an in-person meeting are also ways that you can establish a forum for constructive feedback. I often hear that these can be uncomfortable and may even get in the way of a sale. I always push people to do the thing that they find the most uncomfortable as it’s the best way to expand that comfort zone making things slightly outside of it more achievable. Also, keep in mind that the short term pain may pay off much larger dividends in the long run.
Another great way to create an atmosphere accepting of constructive feedback is by recording and listening to phone calls. Again, this can be a little uncomfortable at first. Here we would take the “crawl, walk, run” approach. Start with just having the staff listen to their own calls without anyone else around. Ask them to identify two calls a week. One that they felt was strong and one where they felt they could have performed better. The manager and employee both listen to the calls and then meet for 15 minutes. They discuss at least one area of strength and one area of improvement for both calls adding a discussion on what could have been said when the employee was struggling. The next step is to have the same meeting but listening to the calls together. We then start to add people into the meeting (2 employees and 1 manager) listening to each other’s calls and providing the feedback. The final step is where we are taking time each week with the entire department listening to each other’s calls and providing feedback. The additional benefit of these meetings is not just being more receptive to the feedback but listening to co-workers calls is a great way to learn from each other what they are doing well.
Remember, short term pain can equal long term gain. Expand your comfort zone today, open up to that constructive feedback to be a better salesperson tomorrow!
