When Your Kids Don’t Need You Anymore: Effectively Leading Experienced Sales Professionals

“Dude… Dad… I can walk into music lessons by myself…”

“Ugh… I know how to get to the corner store by myself… You can’t be serious, right, Dad?”

Part of me loves that my son is growing up. However, as each day passes, he becomes more capable. I came to an inevitable realization that my son will need me less and less as time passes, eventually becoming self-sufficient. I mean, seriously, a year ago my child couldn’t make himself a peanut butter sandwich. Now he is legitimately making soufflé. Furthermore, he learned to make the dessert on his own. There are times I wish 90’s kids like me had YouTube. At the same time, I am darn glad everyone wasn’t carrying around cameras in their pockets. Those 90’s house parties would have blown our parents' minds!

As my son gave me attitude exiting the car for music lessons, a correlation to business presented itself to me. I feel fortunate to work with an incredible team of people. We share a combined total of 81 years of commitment to our organization. Our crew very well may be the most tenured per team member at the company. We are all grown up and “left the house” years ago. I think about myself and all the professionals I once led. Today, many of these folks are my leaders. They say the mark of a great leader is the ability to reproduce yourself in others. I’d say the same for parenting. Both have brought me tremendous pride. I also think of our new team leader. I said to myself this morning, “I really feel for her. It must be a challenge leading a team that ‘left the house’ long ago.”

About five years ago, I was tasked with sales coaching a new team of mortgage bankers. What was unique about this group is the minimum tenure on the team was about ten years. As I mentioned earlier, I have vast experience reproducing myself in new team members. In contrast, I had minimal knowledge of leading a team that could probably manage without me. I had to change my approach and strategy. Here are my top three recommendations to any business leader tasked with improving individuals with vast capabilities:

1. Start by asking THEM to teach YOU! Veteran businesspeople (sales especially) love to talk about “their way.” My advice is to let them! For about 45 days, I spent almost all my time making non-traditional deposits with each person. By them teaching me, a relationship formed, trust was established faster, and I learned how I could “find angles” to lead effectively. To be clearer, this assisted me with figuring out what these team members did not already know! From that point forward, I created a space where I could make this group better than they already were! I am proud to say that this strategy worked! I was able to reproduce myself in others. Only this time, it was seasoned pros vs. new hires.

2. “Take It or Leave It” Another key to my success is that I didn’t expect the team to listen to everything I said. I am a firm believer in the concept that there is not “the way” to do anything. My way is not necessarily right. Everything I taught was presented as a suggestion. I did not expect every piece of advice I gave to land. Additionally, my success was fueled by creativity. I had to maintain a “fresh not frozen” approach to my leadership and teaching. In return, I got better as well. I was constantly finding “the new” to keep things interesting and engaging.

3. 75%/25% Rule A tenured team member is more than likely capable of leading and motivating themselves. Sure, there will be some ups and downs. However, my advice is to “do less.” This is not a demographic that requires motivational quotes, exercises, or workshops. The goal instead is to leverage #1 and #2 to inspire a “want to learn” culture. The experienced team of bankers I was leading was always on time to coaching sessions and eager to hear what I had to say next. I suggest spending 25% of your time on leadership and 75% of your time making professional deposits.

In conclusion, kids grow up. It’s inevitable. A kid that is fourteen years old is no longer inspired by what excited them at five. Adults are no different. Thinking differently, putting them in control, and laying off the “kid stuff” will propel your veteran team to new heights.

Thank you for your readership. If you picked up even one thing from this article that you consider a win, then I do as well.

Sell well,

Robert Peeples

Sales Performance Consultant

Three Salmon SPC