Diagnosis: Sales team disrespect, Part 2

In Part 1 of this blog post, I covered the signs that you’ve lost your sales team’s respect. Some might say the only cure for this chronic condition is new management, but I have witnessed several cases of management recovery. And in virtually every case, the manager took the following five steps:

1.    Personal acknowledgement. The manager recognized the loss of respect and made a commitment to correct the issue.

2.    Confessing to the team. The manager confessed to each member of the team (either in a group or individually) that he had failed them and renewed his commitment to serving them.

3.    New ground rules. The manager set out new ground rules to govern both the team’s and the manager’s actions, including the consequences for breaking those rules. Team members must know what’s expected from them as well as from the manager.