As a Sales Leader, do you keep a rhythm of regular one-on-ones with individual sales reps on your team?

We hear one of two things from Sales Professionals. Either (a. I don’t need one on ones and I talk to my manager all the time) or (b. My Manager is too busy for one-on-ones and they always get rescheduled).

Most people are craving feedback and need ongoing encouragement, guidance, and support from their manager. At the same time, as a Sales Leader or Manager, there are real challenges from labor shortages to managing inventory and lead times that can make it easy for ‘firefighting’ to control your day. It’s also easy to bend to the feedback from your team if they say they don’t need the one-on-one time. 

Your time and your rep’s time are extremely valuable. But, falling out of the rhythm of regular one-on-one meetings won’t save you time. In fact, it will likely cost you time in the long run because you’ll have to take extra steps to communicate and get updates from your team.

The next time you’re tempted to cancel or reschedule a one-on-one meeting, consider these 3 reasons why sticking to your regular cadence will help save you time and sanity!

3 Ways One on Ones Save Time for Sales Managers:

1.  Reduces the number of emails being sent back and forth.

Regular one-on-ones will allow you and your team members to save topics for your scheduled meeting because you already know you have that time on the calendar together. This is an area where reps commonly say “…but I talk to my manager all the time” and use email to provide updates or ask questions, for instance. While you can’t avoid emails altogether, email doesn’t provide the quality conversation needed to nurture your relationships with your team members.

2.  Encourages open discussion about priorities.

When you and your rep keep agenda items that you can both edit, your one-on-one meetings will be more efficient and effective. Ultimately, making your time together more purposeful and productive.

3. Provides a dedicated time to have tough conversations, if needed.

At some point, you may need to have a tough conversation with a member of your team. Whatever the reason may be (clarifying expectations, discussing changes in performance, etc.) this gives you the quality time needed to address any issues while creating the opportunity to offer support or coaching.

One-on-one time can be used to get to know your team members, understand their individual strength and weaknesses, and give them guidance on how to advance opportunities in their pipeline as well as their overall sales careers.

Now, you may have a few experienced team members who aren’t necessarily “craving” direction, but having regular scheduled one-on-one meetings with these reps will “feed the eagles.”

Your one-on-one meeting agendas will likely be different for these veteran team members and will require some pre-call planning. As a result of that added planning, you will be in a position to have more purposeful conversations so that veteran team members walk away with an idea, strategy or even an opportunity to mentor someone else to do something they can do effortlessly.

Whether you’re meeting with a new hire or one of your seasoned veterans, routine is key to making one-on-one meetings a powerful tool for creating alignment and establishing a trusting relationship. 

Challenge for you:

If you’ve fallen out of the rhythm of regularly one-on-ones, set a reoccurring invite and send invites to those on your management or sales team that need your insights and coaching the most. Be realistic on the frequency and duration so you can avoid rescheduling. The key is consistency. 

Establishing a regular cadence of one-on-one meetings with your team will help both you and them feel energized, engaged, and better equipped to do the job at hand.

Good coaching out there!