Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/276079
March/April 2014 37 ate the long-term improvements you're seeking. In other words, focusing on the symptoms does little to address the underlying cause, or causes, of poor sales performance. Think of it in terms of a real-world example. You go to your doctor because your throat hurts. But "fixing" your ach- ing throat will likely not resolve or cure the underlying problem causing your discomfort. Instead, the doctor needs to determine if your sore throat is being caused by a bacterial infection or a virus. Same symptoms, but completely differ- ent solutions required to permanently eliminate your throat problems. During my 30 years as a consultant, few clients have brought me actual sales problems to fix. Clearly stating your problem might be you telling me, "Our sales reps keep resorting to selling on price because our company has done little to either define or package our message of competitive uniqueness." Instead you are more likely to come to me requesting help in strengthening your sales reps' closing skills or assis- tance in teaching your team how to sell value instead of low price. Here's the easiest way to differentiate between problems and symptoms. Symptoms tend to focus on the need for front-line skill training and improvement (short- term "bottom-up" solutions), while problems tend to involve more process and structure changes (longer term "top- down" solutions). Isn't it interesting that most tend to pursue the short-term "front line" training solution as their first attempt to resolve an identified "chal- lenge." Separating Problems from Symptoms As a leader, the best way to sepa- rate and identify selling problems from symptoms is to expand your questioning and thinking into what I call the "Six Expansion Questions." Listed below, they will help you (and your team) expand your view, expectations and understanding of an identified challenge by asking each of these questions. The best way to see a different solution is to look at something with different eyes, from a different angle or with a different direction. Question #1 "What if this challenge were really only a symptom?"--A way to expand your thought process is to immediately take the position that any new challenge or problem brought to you is really only just a symptom. Now you can start ask- ing (and looking for) the underlying source responsible for your reoccurring symptoms. Concerned that your sales reps are not closing enough business? Start your hunt for the real culprit earlier in the selling process. Is your team mak- ing enough prospecting calls? Are they continued on page 38