Feb 16, 2022
Matt Ferguson is an expert on taking unpredictability out of the equation for sales leaders who have just been promoted to management. He was in this situation more than 10 years ago, and he wants to help others avoid the same mistakes he made. Since becoming a leader, he’s helped his team land accounts with giants like Peloton, Nordstrom, Bed Bath & Beyond and more. He believes that leadership comes down to tracking the metrics that allow you to eliminate unpredictability, helping you to focus on spending more time with your team. Today he’s talking about hiring the right people, avoiding the mistakes he made, and identifying the metrics that matter.
He came into sales with no experience, and it took him less than two years to become a top earner on his team. When he transitioned to leadership, he thought that he could just teach others to do things exactly the way he did. In fact, thinking he could save everyone with his own strategies was his biggest mistake. Even though he had a great mentor, he failed miserably and beat himself up for it. It took him nearly two years to really find his leadership legs.
Matt believes in focusing on the metrics that matter. It takes time to really figure out what matters for your team and your business. You make mistakes, you pivot, and you adjust. But in almost any situation, the most important information is the ideal customer profile. Who are you calling, why are you calling, and are you talking to the right people? It might seem like common knowledge, but a surprising number of businesses get this wrong. Matt thinks people call on the wrong people because of the need to feel productive. A rep hears dozens of “Nos” on the bigger fish, so they reach out to a smaller one that’s easy to convert. The manager’s job is to coach reps to not fall into that trap.
Putting the right team together comes down to what he calls the A.T.M approach. You have Awesome Reps, Typical Reps, and Reps that are Mess. The dynamic of the team is centered around the awesome reps. These are the culture warriors, the professionals that other reps are likely to follow. Matt likens having an awesome rep to the Chicago Bulls building a dynasty around Michael Jordan. Reps like this can make life easier for the leader because they will be the role model who can help the manager lead the charge. Awesome reps care about more than just their commissions. They care about the whole team succeeding, and they have real leadership potential.
When it comes to hiring, he sends candidates an audio book called Fanatical Prospecting and tells them to listen to a portion of that book. He can tell a lot about a person based on the way they react to that assignment. He wants candidates who read it, share their insights, and get excited about the challenging career it portrays. It doesn’t matter what book it is, giving an assignment like this allows the candidate to really prove how serious they are about a position.
When transitioning from individual contributor to leader, Matt says his top three priorities in first month as manager are as follows: