Glenn Mattson

One of the biggest challenges my clients who hold leadership roles face is accountability or lack thereof. Their ultimate goal is simple: they want each member of their team to do what they say they are going to do when they say they are going to do it—period.

Without a consistent source of qualified candidates, how will you continue to grow your net field force?

Despite the importance of recruiting, for almost all firms any activity associated with recruiting gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list. Closing new business or courting prospects always take precedence

At the start of Q2, how is your team trending year-to-date?

After all, you spent a lot of time at the end of last year and beginning of this year building and submitting plans—are the plans strong enough to guide you to a strong year-end finish?

Unfortunately, most plans are not even worth their paper.

Today, most leaders spend close to two-thirds of their time in meetings, yet very few people actually have successful meetings.

Most have a meeting to see if it makes sense to have another meeting to talk about X, Y, or Z.

Crazy, right? I cannot express the horror of being part of a meeting that has no purpose or direction. Who has time to waste?

Use of wishy-washy words—I'll try, I hope, We'll give it a shot, That's what I expect to do—is the way your people get out of making commitments.

Using mentorship as a means to grow and develop newer or underperforming producers is a great way to strengthen skills and increase productivity. The contributions a mentor makes may include making introductions, acting as a sounding board, and offering inside perspectives into industry trends or nuances. Under the right circumstances, the insight and experience a mentor offers can be invaluable.

With the hustle and bustle of closing out the year behind you, now is a great time to seek out some quiet time, grab a notepad, pen, and reflect. Yes, you read that right—I said reflect.

It is the end of another fiscal year, and while you would love to say you can coast into the New Year, the reality is the majority of the Producers on your team have yet to meet their yearly revenue goals. Allowing your Producers to wait until Q4 to close all of their business is not good business and needs to change.

Have you ever had an associate who wasn’t performing as you expected or, wanted? When you're not getting the performance you want, you must understand why.

It may sound counterintuitive, but I believe the best salespeople are pessimists. There is no room for optimism or blind hope when selling. While pessimism tends to be associated with negativity, for many it is a way to mentally and emotionally prepare for all types of selling situations.