The middle of a pro cycling peloton is a chaotic, unnerving place.

The speed, the sounds, the wild colors, the constant jockeying for position, the talking/yelling/swearing, the unanticipated/unseen bumps and cracks in the road, other riders literally bumping your shoulders and elbows and hips and knees and handlebars…

It’s an exhilarating and yet terrifying place, not for the faint of heart. You cannot be distracted by the commotion. You must focus on the goal and the interim steps to that goal.

Kinda like enterprise sales.

And just like enterprise sales, if you just “sit in”, riding along with the flow of the peloton, you’re falling behind. You’re losing ground!

You think you are keeping up…because you only see what’s immediately around you. What I didn’t realize, as a first time bike racer years ago, that competitors constantly move up along the sides. They take the opportunity to improve their position even as the main group is largely static.

Again, just like enterprise sales…if you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind.

Now that the parade laps of the first half are over, it’s time to focus. Even in the tumult of the peloton, the rider must focus on the larger task at hand…getting to the finish line safely, before the competition arrives.

The pro racer has two primary advantages:

• Many months of preparation and practice, on top of years of fitness and skill building
• A manager in the team car providing overall leadership and encouragement and as-needed coaching

The manager in the team car has a full map of the course in front of them. They see how their individual riders and the team as a group are doing. They have an increasing set of realtime data on each rider and metrics on the market (I mean course) to review.

The manager coordinates team tactics from the team car. They provide food and water (and sometimes cola!) to the riders, and as needed, the sales engineer (I mean team mechanic) will provide technical services.

Reps – Time to focus

Now, as we dive into the second half of the year, it’s time for sales people to focus. Focus on the workstreams and initiatives that offer strategic impact for your customers and prospects. Show up with a strong point of view or business value hypothesis and share it with the key stakeholders.

And ignore everything else!

Sales managers and leaders – Time to ensure that your team is focusing

Many reps tell me that they find it difficult to make time for selling, even for the direct preparation and support activities that ensure effective selling. It’s up to you, their manager, to ensure that your reps can focus. Take everything off their plate that doesn’t directly contribute to effective customer engagement.

Help them find ways to work processes in parallel. Will this Q4 deal require a CSA or contract addendum? Do we need a business partner to own implementation? Lets get working on it now.

Would an executive briefing help accelerate internal adoption and support? Lets get it on the calendar now for early Q3, and start planning and prepping. (I hate to point this out…but…Q3 will be over before we know it!) Are we holding that executive briefing at the customer site, at headquarters, or at our EBC?

In parallel, what other activities will help strengthen the relationship, build our engagement and support with key stakeholders? Fall is a great time to take customers to a ball game, or out for a fancy dinner. Invite the spouses/partners and don’t talk about business at all.

You have the experience to know what helps to ensure/accelerate a deal. Be prescriptive. Tell your team what to do, how to be successful.

With your reps so focused on the task at hand, you as the manager must make these suggestions and help drive them to completion. Provide a resource to coordinate local events. Focus on what works in your region. Dinner in NYC is great. Quail hunting outside of Atlanta has done wonders for team building…in that region! Renting Laguna Seca for a day works in central California…

As the team leader, you must ensure that the team works together towards their singular goal.

Ask this question repeatedly: “Is what you are doing right now critical to the success of the team? Will it make the boat go faster?”

In one of my favorite business books, Will It Make the Boat Go Faster: Olympic-winning Strategies for Everyday Success, by Ben Hunt-Davis MBE and Harriet Beveridge , Ben discusses the challenges of the 2000 British crewing team.

While the team experienced setback after setback, they continued to focus on the basics that ultimately ensured success:

• Singular focus on the goal
• “No problem” attitude
• Team first, all-in, all-together approach
• Practice, practice practice
• Prepare, prepare, prepare
• Deal with the unexpected and move on

As the leader, you must ask this same question.

As a sales person managing your territory and important individual opportunities, you must also ask this same question.

And then…for my coaching clients, I will ask the follow-on question — What must be true?

If this resonates with you, if you want help with rep or team productivity, lets talk…