Simple Tool to Help Make a Positive First Impression When Starting a New Sales Management Position
The first day in a new job is daunting, no matter what the position. Just setting up electronics, knowing who to contact, and making first impressions can seem overwhelming. As a manager, making positive first impressions both need to be made to senior management and your team. Yikes!
So the big question is, how do you make a good impression on your team when you first start in your new position?
There can be many approaches to doing this, such as having a conference call where everyone introduces themselves, a “setting expectations” call, icebreaker exercises to name a few. All of those tactics are helpful; however, the approach that can be an impactful first step to help a manager find out a little more of the core of the “who” of their team members is by sending out a “personal communication guide” a few days before setting up one on one calls with each team member to review their answers. So what is a personal communication guide?
Now, by personal, I don’t mean asking any questions that cross any lines. However, the objective is to ask questions of each team member about how they like to communicate best (phone, text, email), how they like to be acknowledged, do they have any hot buttons, what they liked about their favorite manager in the past, and how they can be best supported by their new leader? Of course, there are more questions, but this facilitates a conversation, a starting point, to finding out more about the core of the “who” of each team member. Why wait months to find out these key insights?
If a car comes with a user manual, why don’t humans?
Communication is the key to any great relationship. How many of you have started a position on the wrong foot. I certainly have. Why? Because I was so consumed in my “nervousness” of being new. I forgot to recognize that my new team was equally nervous about having a new manager. By stepping outside of oneself and taking the time to go “inside” to learn more about what makes people tick is a positive first display of leadership. Showing your team members that you are a manager that cares to first take the time to get to know them, before business objectives, will help any new manager make a positive start.
Shouldn’t we all start any new relationship this way?
For a free personal communication guide to use with your sales team, select the image to the right and download.
About Meghan: Meghan Clarke is an author, executive, accredited executive coach, and professional speaker. For the past 20 years, Meghan has held sales and sales management roles in the Healthcare Industry.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we all stayed curious, used the Personal Communication Guide and listened in any new relationship. We make so many assumptions and sometimes don’t take the time to ask the questions.
Love the Download material.