[E245] Book Review: No Ego

Jason: Time for another book review episode. And I get asked a lot about ideas and recommendations for sales books. And so on this episode, I'm going to dive into another book that may or may not make sense as a sales related book, but you'll find out by the time the episode is done, why I think it is. And if you're looking for personalized recommendations for books, for courses, for things to help you and your own sales career, or in leading your sales team, go to Jason cutter.com. Get on my calendar. Let's talk about sales, information, training courses, books, all of that, based on what you are looking for, where you're at in career and where you're wanting to head to. Again, go to jasoncutter. com, get on the calendar and let's talk. For now, enjoy this episode of my book review. Of something you're probably not even thinking is a sales book. Jason here with another book review. This time we're going to go straight at the ego, and this is potentially going to upset a bunch of people. But I think it's very important because to be a leader in an organization, especially of salespeople, not that this is a sales book, but it's a leadership book. It's about coaching and what is coaching focused on? A lot of times the classic mistake that I see. is that sales management sales leadership focuses on helping the bottom people come up so that you can raise up the floor. Now, some organizations only focus on the top people and pretty much ignore everyone else. So it just depends. But one common flaw that I've seen so many times is where managers are trying to lead everybody the same, and that doesn't work. Now, the book that I want to talk about this in the framework is called No Ego by Cy Wakeman, and it's a great book. Anybody who's leading any kind of team, again, it's not a sales book, it's a leadership management coaching book. And the big thing that she writes about is how entitlement and workplace drama occur, why those things occur. And when you cut those out and when you lead and coach the team from a different perspective, how you'll get different results. And it's really about. Accountability to your team members and then also treating everybody different. It's not about treating everyone the same. If you've got high performers who are open and eager to listen and learn, then you want to spend time with them. If somebody is not, then you don't want to spend time with them. And one of the things that she talks about, and I think this is super important because I've seen this trap many times. I've fallen this trap. Years and years ago, and I didn't realize it. And now I help teams overcome. This is one of the things is that a lot of times sales managers are getting feedback from everybody on the floor. So for example, you roll out a new script, right? Or a new process. Everyone's complaining. Usually it's the bottom performers who are complaining because they don't like change. They're already struggling and now they're going to struggle more and they've got to have something to point the finger at. They've got to have somebody to blame. For the fact that they're not closing enough deals when in fact, it's all about personal responsibility. So there's something that they're missing, or maybe it's not a good fit. Maybe it shouldn't be in sales at all, or maybe they're not doing sales effectively and not doing it in a proper way. And so what happens is. They're very vocal. Usually the people at the bottom are very vocal. The middle may or may not care. And some people at the top may be vocal as well, depending on their attitude. Sometimes you roll something out. The top people are very eager to adopt it and adapt to it because they're open to change. That's why they're winning. That's why they're successful is because they're willing to take on new things and see how it works and try it out. And because they're always looking to learn and grow. That's why I love working with top performing salespeople. Because they get it, they're eager, they're open. You can push them pretty hard and they will just do what they can to succeed. And they're always looking for new ways. The bottom is where it gets challenging and they will complain. And what size says that's super important. Why bring this up? is to make sure you're careful about who you listen to. Now, it's just one part of this book, but I think it's so important is that you should take the feedback and opinions of your top performing reps or the top performing members of your team seriously, and you should engage with them and then take their feedback as something that could be valuable to adjusting or changing or adapting to and not listen to the bottom group. I think you should Always make sure to take the feedback from somebody who you should listen to. And it's the same thing in life, right? If you have a friend who's never been successful, they're always challenging. Maybe they have made terrible relationship decisions, and they're trying to give you relationship advice. You're not going to listen to them, right? But a lot of sales managers listen to bottom performing reps, listen to their complaints and get sold on their finger pointing and then take action. So make sure to check this book out. Cy Wakeman's No Ego. She has a series of books as well. Some other ones that are really great. I think this one's important for anyone leading a team and it's really going to help shift your mind to coaching and accountability. and helping people move forward in their own way instead of micromanaging them and needing to push them. It's about being a leader and a coach. So make sure, check that out everywhere that books are available. Thanks for tuning in for another book review. Send me a message if you have any issues or challenges with your team. If you're leading a sales team or you have a sales team that is a part of your company and you're struggling with getting them to perform and move forward in the right way. And it feels like it's just always a battle. Then let me know. Let's talk about it. And there are some things that we can put into place and work on together. Or I can help you and your team succeed by shifting from managing and micromanaging and the carrot and the stick to coaching and leadership. Thank you for listening to the sales experience podcast. Find show notes, more episodes, and join our email list by going to cutterconsultinggroup. com forward slash podcast.