“I will take it from here.”

Six words that when combined together damage sales team morale, undermine the credibility of the salesperson and are the words spoken by lackluster leadership or business owners that do not trust in the abilities of their salespeople to finalize a deal or to take a prospect to the “next level”.

Instead of believing you (leadership) are the only one that can “get the job done” by swooping in to “save the day” because you (leadership) think it requires your special touch to close or finalize a sale or take it to the next level…

Try this: Guide and LEAD employees on the steps necessary to complete the process in which the leadership believes is a best practice. This will allow the salesperson to maintain integrity and trust with the internal champion of the organization they have engaged.   Coaching salespeople in the process allows the sales team to execute a formula for continued and future sales success without undermining their abilities and creating a culture of distrust.

Side Bar: The “I will take it from here.” mentality also stands to create setbacks. The salesperson is on the frontline creating the trusted relationship. The salesperson has had the countless conversations and has noted subtle details that leadership may not identify.

The sales process may be impacted or dragged out, therefore, forcing a repeat of already executed diligence and discovery. The leadership may unknowingly state or discuss items that have already been addressed creating confusion and appearing to be “out of the loop” which may also setback the process.

To be clear, it is one thing for leadership to jump on a call to create an impression of support and to demonstrate that they are “in the loop” to leverage the salesperson’s credibility, or even to hash out legalities in an Agreement or pricing. It is however, counterproductive and counterintuitive to the sales process, the salespeople and the sales team by undermining their overall progress and pending opportunities because of ego.

So next time, instead of “I will take it from here.”…

Try this: Believe in your salespeople and LEAD them to success.

by:  Denise Anne Taylor, Career Catalyst and Founder, CareerMedic