3 Most Common Problems with The Mobile Salesperson

This is an open love letter to business owners, sales leaders or anyone leading a team of sales people that are mobile aka “out of the office” most of the day. Sales is a system and you, the “mobile” salesperson and any tool, process or procedure you follow together, is part of that system.

Since you are part of that system, take a look at what you can do first, as a contributor to that system. When you take this step first and communicate that you have done this, to the mobile salesperson, I guarantee you will get the improvement you are looking for.

Here are the 3 Most Common Problems with “The Mobile Salesperson” that we see, that readers of this love letter can focus on first to improve results:

1) They Tend to Not Follow Processes

Processes aren’t created with them in mind so, you get frustrated when they don’t follow the standard process. For instance, they don’t have access to tools that are mobile friendly, like CRMs, pipeline spreadsheets or god forbid, they are still using paper. So, for them to create the desired results, they have to figure out a workaround, which breaks the process. Find tools and processes that have their mobility in mind so you can create the results you both want. If you don’t, the current system will keep doing what it has been perfectly designed to do: frustrate you.

2) They Don’t Have Enough of Your Trust

Because you don’t see them, your default mechanism is to not fully trust them. This creates a gaping hole in the relationship, from the start. For any team to work well together, trust must be present. All high functioning teams, in any industry, have high levels of trust. Figure out how to develop trust between you and your team and you will see that team’s numbers go through the roof!

3) They are Given Too Many Constraints

Because there are low(er) levels of trust between the both of you, constraints are applied on them that “keeps them in check”. This derails their ability to do the job you want them to do. For instance, there was a sales position that I had, early on in my career, that covered clients all over Chicago and it’s suburbs. The constraint I had placed on me was that I had to start the day in the office and end the day in the office. This was an outside sales position! So, with this constraint, I had to cut out time in the morning and afternoon, to drive to the office, which stole time I could have meetings with prospects or clients. The potential lost revenue is astronomical and this constraint placed a black cloud over the culture.

If this rule was removed, I could have had potentially 2 more prospects or clients meetings a day, to grow the business.

This may be an extreme example and it makes the message clear. Take a look at what “rules” you are applying to your mobile sales professionals, because even though the intent is to “help”, it may be hurting them and you.

Looking at every part of your sales system in a way that it includes every part of the system (which includes you), is the best way to improve results. Too many times the focus is on only a part of the system and not the whole. This gives you the ability to find the root cause of the issue and resolve that issue faster. What you will also find in this approach, is that your team will be more collaborative with you because they are part of the solution versus always feeling like the finger is being pointed at them as the problem.

So, since this is a love letter, I guess I have to stick with the system of how love letters work by saying:

With Love & Care,
Bryan McDonald