“The way I look at it is it’s like the foundation of a house and so if I just built up a massive concrete wall or concrete foundation, it’s going to be very hard to tear that down.” – Paul DiVincenzo & Debe Rapson in today’s Tip 1160
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Stepping Up Into Leadership – Debe Rapson & Paul DiVincenzo
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes in the form of a clip from a panel discussion I had with Debe Rapson and Paul DiVincenzo about Stepping Up Into Leadership at last year’s Sales Success Summit. You’ll find the full conversation over on the Sales Success Stories podcast, but here’s a taste:
Scott Ingram: How many people have heard and this has only been in existence for a few hours? How many people had an opportunity to get in and listen to the hallway conversations on the podcast feed? A handful of hands, David Weiss made a great, great comment about he works to be the leader that that person needs for him to be. And it was way more nuanced than that, too. It was really around in that moment. Again, there was another dynamic to that. It’s not just I need to be the leader that you need me to be. It’s that changes by the minute, by the deal, by the conversation, by what we’re working on. Paul, what about for you?
Paul DiVincenzo: Yes, I am very similar Debe. We all hate the micromanagement. So by default, the way I look at it is it’s like the foundation of a house and so if I just built up a massive concrete wall or concrete foundation, it’s going to be very hard to tear that down. So to me, that’s what micromanagement is, in my mind. Once you put the big block in there, it’s over. So I default to extreme freedom. I hope my team will say this, but I’ve even had one go like, “Can I tell you about the deal?” “Yeah, of course. That’s what we’re going to do.” And I’m like, I take that as a sign of success is that, and my best leader, shout out to Steve Blythe if he ever sees this is the fact that I don’t even remember our one on ones talking about business. And to me, that means we’re doing it right. Because we’re running the business. We’re accomplishing. We’re taking the hill like David said. It’s like we’re doing it. So now let’s talk about Game of Thrones or whatever.
And so that’s where you want to get. And in the meantime, I definitely try to step up. So it’s like, let’s talk about the deal, then I get into motion. Okay, what do we want to talk about? Is it all the normal stuff? Pricing term, objection, whatever we want to talk about. Great, let’s do it. And I try to be that person in the moment for them. Absolutely. But I default to nothing. I don’t talk about KPIs. I don’t talk about how many emails or dials or any of that stuff. We’re all going to do that or we’re not. And you got hired on the fact that I trust you. I made that decision. So now we’re going down together or not going down together. And then we’ll decide mutually whether that makes sense or not, but that’s how I look at it.
Debe Rapson: It’s also interesting because when you think about both of us and I think most people who have been reps hate micromanagement. What’s really interesting about the way that things have changed in the world of sales is, we’re all selling in teams now. There’s this massive collaboration and so sometimes people feel micromanaged when you’re just asking questions, to understand what’s going on in the deal, right? Sometimes it feels like, “Hey, I know my stuff, you don’t need to be asking me that.” But it’s like, “No, we have to be reporting on it.”
So the communication factor can be mistrued as feeling like somebody’s hovering. But there’s the balance of communication, really good prep, collaborating between the teams, and ensuring that everyone is set up to be really successful. And so there’s a tightrope that we’re all walking right now as leaders and as teams, in general, to make sure that we’re all communicating and on the same page, but not feeling like it’s too much, it’s just enough.
Scott Ingram: For links to the full discussion and to connect with Debe and Paul, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1160. Once you’ve done that. Be sure to come right back for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!