Employee engagement numbers remain pretty bleak. The Gallup State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report noted that only 21% of all employees are engaged. The engagement level in 2022 is well below the 32.5% engagement we first reported in 2016. While these numbers refer to people across organizations, it does beg the question…what about sales teams?

What could a disengaged salesperson look like?

Like any employee, there are times when a salesperson could become disengaged. After all, salespeople face rejection daily since they hear many “no” as they interact with prospects and customers. Some of the hallmark signs are:

• missed goals
• diminished quality of work
• increased absences due to illness or complaints about physical ailments
• complaining about expectations being too high or too vague
• frequently out of the office without corresponding leads or explanations

It becomes apparent when you have had a consistent or even elite performer slide into a lower level of performance.

A few of the obstacles to re-engagement

The sales manager must engage everyone to be successful. However, there are challenges to this. First, it is tough to get someone back when he is feeling resentful or neglected. Second, if your company has handled a re-organization in a high-handed fashion or without clear communication, this can leave some people with a bitter taste. Third, personal issues can consume much of someone’s energy and attention, making it more challenging to perform well at work. Finally, sometimes it is more of a personality conflict fueling someone’s withdrawal. The list can go on with all the variations of challenges that re-engaging can bring. Ultimately, it is a journey for all involved, including reviewing the processes and systems and the relationships between people.

Getting people re-engaged…

You probably already have pipeline discussions scheduled each week. But have you looked at the pipeline’s health or the human effect on how things get done? Individual conversations are critical to how well you understand what is in play. Ask open-ended questions like a detective to qualify opportunities and determine if they align with the team and organizational goals.

These individual conversations open up the opportunity to coach each team member. The simple question, “how’s it going?” is a great conversation starter to check the level of motivation, attention, and activity. When you hear a big sigh or “I just can‘t…” recognize it as a cue to slow down and listen. This is an invitation to hear how your team member struggles with engagement. Coaching conversations allow you to acknowledge that person’s experience without judgment and still introduce a way for them to understand themselves better while getting back into action.

A little more to make you go, hmmm…

Creating new memories engages or re-engages someone. We make many associations of what is positive and negative in our lives and often do not realize that we remember how a place or person makes us feel. Compliance coaching techniques (e.g., focusing mainly on accountability and goal achievement rather than including the person) foster negativity and do not promote engagement. Remember that you, as a mentor, are acting as a facilitator for someone practicing mastery. A recent psychological study emphasizes how memory plays a role in learning, which occurs continuously. When asking someone to describe how they will act in the future, they encourage someone to self-imagine. This self-imagining does two things. First, as this study pointed out, it supports solidifying memory of new material by making it self-referential. Secondly, positive associations create opportunities for engagement. If you make me feel good, I want to show up and do more. The Employee Engagement research tells us time and time again that it is managers that make people disengage.

Don’t be that guy

The employee engagement numbers are distressing, but you can directly affect how your team functions. Disengaged salespeople bring the team down both in morale and actual numbers. Keeping your team engaged and trying to re-engage the ones who have checked out has direct outcomes that can be measured. Sales managers know that specific goals must be met, and no one wants to go to that meeting and explain why sales are down. Additionally, there is a human component that responds well to mentoring or coaching. Making time for one-to-one conversations that encourage self-evaluation, learning, understanding, and action makes people feel like they matter. People perform better when they feel like they matter at the end of the day.

When you think about sales effectiveness at your organization, does it seem like you are close but just missing those unique elements that give you that competitive edge? Looking for a way to understand how your buyer thinks, decides, and reveals information? At The Nova Consulting Group, we believe that professional selling is a craft. With the Advanced Sales Conversation©, you have those missing elements that move your salespeople from competency to mastery. With our deep understanding of what makes and sustains high-performance organizations, we provide integrated solutions that do not replace your sales methodology and yet advance a progressive selling mindset. Be bolder, more insightful, and get results. To learn more about how to master the craft of sales and encourage sustainable high performance, call  (617) 933-7249 or email info@novaconsultinggrp.com.