Episode 71

Perfecting Your B2B Sales Skills with Shawanda Roberts

Published on: 22nd June, 2022

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Highlights

  • B2C to B2B: Her journey in the sales profession (01:06)
  • How to be a strong salesperson and sales leader (03:23)
  • The power of sales + customer service (05:34)
  • Trainee to Manager: How she ended up managing the people who trained her (09:44)
  • Building a successful B2B sales team by focusing on the three Is (12:21)
  • Emphasizing more on people development versus the KPIs and metrics (17:13)
  • Why companies must stop promoting individual contributors into management roles without developing them (24:45)
  • Achieving 130% of your target by growing and developing your top salespeople (27:55)
  • Inspiring other saleswomen by telling her story in the Heels to Deals book (34:59)

In this episode of the Transformed Sales Podcast, I will have a chat with Shawanda Roberts, the Vice-President of Sales at Frost & Sullivan and one of the co-authors of the Heels to Deals book. She’s an individual contributor and leads a team of talented sales professionals who work to help clients identify, prioritize and implement growth opportunities through research and advisory services.

Along with work and family commitments, Shawanda devotes her time, energy, and passion to outside organizations with a mix of industry and community involvement, where she has several leadership positions. She’s known by others for her passion and being a leader of connection and conviction. She will share her very inspiring journey into sales and give us some incredibly valuable strategies we can employ to succeed in B2B sales. We will also talk about how powerful it is for companies to invest in their salespeople, why there needs to be more diversity in sales, and so much more. Enjoy!

Quotes

“Too many of us as salespeople just jump right on in with the product and solution, and we don’t hear anything about what the real challenge is” - Shawanda Roberts

“Listening is the key to make sure that you’re gonna bring the right value and the right product or solution to the customer” - Shawanda Roberts

“Get the professional development you need to strengthen those weakening areas that you have or just learn new skillsets” - Shawanda Roberts

Resources Mentioned:

Learn More About Shawanda in the Links Below:

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

  • Wesleyne’s Website - https://transformedsales.com/
  • Wesleyne on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleynegreer/
  • Wesleyne on Facebook - https://web.facebook.com/wesleynegreer
  • Wesleyne on Twitter - https://twitter.com/wesleynegreer
  • Email Her at wesleyne@transformedsales.com
Transcript
Wesleyne Greer:

Hello and welcome to another episode of

Wesleyne Greer:

the transform sales podcast where we dive deep into the

Wesleyne Greer:

science of selling today. I am so excited to have Shawanda

Wesleyne Greer:

Roberts, how are you? Shawanda

Shawanda Roberts:

I am great. I am great. Thank you so much for

Shawanda Roberts:

having me.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you so much for being here. Let me tell

Wesleyne Greer:

you guys a bit about Shawanda. She's the vice president of

Wesleyne Greer:

sales at Frost and Sullivan and one of the co authors of the

Wesleyne Greer:

heel two deals book. She's an individual contributor and leads

Wesleyne Greer:

a team of talented sales professionals who work to help

Wesleyne Greer:

clients helping them identify, prioritize and implement growth

Wesleyne Greer:

opportunities through research and advisory services. Along

Wesleyne Greer:

with work and family commitments. Shawanda devotes

Wesleyne Greer:

her time, energy and passion to outside organizations with a mix

Wesleyne Greer:

of industry and community involvement where she has

Wesleyne Greer:

several leadership positions. She is known by others for her

Wesleyne Greer:

passionate and a leader of connection and conviction. Oh, I

Wesleyne Greer:

love that bio. Wonderful intro. So how did you get started? And

Wesleyne Greer:

how did you become this person full of compassion and

Wesleyne Greer:

conviction?

Shawanda Roberts:

Absolutely. So I actually got started back in

Shawanda Roberts:

2006 was my very first foot in the door to be to be sales or

Shawanda Roberts:

professional sales. Prior to that I was working at a tier one

Shawanda Roberts:

financial institution, helping to service and sell consumer

Shawanda Roberts:

loans. And so it was more b2c type things. And it was more of

Shawanda Roberts:

them calling me so I knew they had an interest in something and

Shawanda Roberts:

I just had to walk them through the process. I had a really good

Shawanda Roberts:

friend at the time that was working at a b2b company that

Shawanda Roberts:

said, hey, you know, you should look into b2b sales at the time

Shawanda Roberts:

I had no earthly clue would be to be was even what it emits or

Shawanda Roberts:

anything. But I went through the interview process got hired on

Shawanda Roberts:

started working, and I absolutely fell in love with

Shawanda Roberts:

working with businesses and helping them understand and

Shawanda Roberts:

figure out growth opportunities to grow their revenue, right.

Shawanda Roberts:

And so I eventually became an account executive in the role.

Shawanda Roberts:

And I will tell you, it took me probably a good nine months to

Shawanda Roberts:

even figure out what I was doing, because I had to learn

Shawanda Roberts:

everything from what market research was, what consulting

Shawanda Roberts:

was, and even how to prospect in the word persona. I had no idea

Shawanda Roberts:

what that even meant. And so there was a lot of learning and

Shawanda Roberts:

a lot of learning curve. But I grinded and I made it work to

Shawanda Roberts:

where I knew exactly what I was doing. And then I became one of

Shawanda Roberts:

the top salespeople from there, I, you know, continue to learn

Shawanda Roberts:

and grow and learn and grow. And then I became a leader in the

Shawanda Roberts:

company. And so I was managing and I still am to this day

Shawanda Roberts:

managing and leading a team of representatives that actually

Shawanda Roberts:

trained me when I came into the organization. So it is literally

Shawanda Roberts:

an honor to do that and continue to see them grow just like they

Shawanda Roberts:

helped me grow. So that's kind of my story of how I got into

Shawanda Roberts:

b2b sales.

Wesleyne Greer:

So that's interesting. You went from the

Wesleyne Greer:

b2c world and you jumped over into the b2b world. So what

Wesleyne Greer:

lessons learned or what key things that you learned, in your

Wesleyne Greer:

first sales experience on the consumer side help you today to

Wesleyne Greer:

really be a strong salesperson and leader?

Shawanda Roberts:

That is really a good question. And I will tell

Shawanda Roberts:

you, if you asked me that question, probably a year ago, I

Shawanda Roberts:

wouldn't have been able to tell you what that was. It was one of

Shawanda Roberts:

my mentors at my job now that hired me on and I just happened

Shawanda Roberts:

to ask her Hey, you know, I had no background in b2b sales and

Shawanda Roberts:

no experience in that industry. Like what made me stand out for

Shawanda Roberts:

you to hire me. And she said there was one thing she said

Shawanda Roberts:

your smile was contagious. Number one, and I'm always a big

Shawanda Roberts:

smiler. And she said number two, your customer service skills. I

Shawanda Roberts:

knew that with your customer service skills that you had that

Shawanda Roberts:

it was going to be a very easy transition to get you to learn

Shawanda Roberts:

the b2b sales part and the product or service or solution

Shawanda Roberts:

that we were going to be selling that can be taught but she was

Shawanda Roberts:

like you have that transferable skill that is a lot of times

Shawanda Roberts:

hard to come by. And so she said that was my number one reasoning

Shawanda Roberts:

for hiring you on and I never thought about it. And after she

Shawanda Roberts:

said it, I said you know that makes perfect sense. customer

Shawanda Roberts:

service skills because in sales we are customer service people

Shawanda Roberts:

as well as salespeople you we've got to make sure that the client

Shawanda Roberts:

is satisfied and happy and continuing to come back to us

Wesleyne Greer:

and you know, having that customer service

Wesleyne Greer:

focus that kind customer is first, I want to help you

Wesleyne Greer:

achieve your goals. That key aspect that key facet really

Wesleyne Greer:

helps salespeople become better. I was working with a team of

Wesleyne Greer:

salespeople recently, and I told them I said the sale doesn't

Wesleyne Greer:

end, when you get that purchase order, that is when the sale

Wesleyne Greer:

begins. That is when your relationship with the client

Wesleyne Greer:

needs to start. So you as somebody who has this really

Wesleyne Greer:

strong background in customer service going into sales, how do

Wesleyne Greer:

you mix those two worlds to ensure that your team gets yes,

Wesleyne Greer:

we're salespeople, we have quotas, we have numbers, but the

Wesleyne Greer:

customer service we provide is key.

Shawanda Roberts:

You know, I think one of the things is and

Shawanda Roberts:

if you think about different organizations, there are some

Shawanda Roberts:

organizations where you, you know, you close the deal, and

Shawanda Roberts:

you're off of it, and then someone else comes into it. But

Shawanda Roberts:

then there's organizations like mine, where I take it from start

Shawanda Roberts:

to finish, and I continue to farm the account and try to get

Shawanda Roberts:

more opportunities out of the account. And so I think the

Shawanda Roberts:

biggest thing is being able to listen carefully, and come back

Shawanda Roberts:

and make sure that you understand what those challenges

Shawanda Roberts:

or problems it is that they're having prior to even going in

Shawanda Roberts:

and talking about whatever your product service or solution is,

Shawanda Roberts:

I think too many of us as salespeople just jump right on

Shawanda Roberts:

in with the product and solution. And we don't hear

Shawanda Roberts:

anything about what the real challenge is, or we touch on

Shawanda Roberts:

something else that they never said. And so I think that when

Shawanda Roberts:

you take those calls, or you're in face to face with them, and

Shawanda Roberts:

you're really just trying to understand that you make sure

Shawanda Roberts:

that they understand that you understand exactly what it is

Shawanda Roberts:

that they're saying their challenge is, and then asking

Shawanda Roberts:

those questions like, you know, hey, well, in this particular

Shawanda Roberts:

challenge, if I was able to get you, blah, blah, blah, how would

Shawanda Roberts:

you feel about that? And a lot of times, it's Oh, yeah, that

Shawanda Roberts:

actually would make my job a lot easier, or it would be perfect,

Shawanda Roberts:

you know, I wish there was something out there like that,

Shawanda Roberts:

right, and then taking time to go away, and then come back to

Shawanda Roberts:

the conversation with then talking about your, you know,

Shawanda Roberts:

solution or product or service, whatever it is. But I think

Shawanda Roberts:

listening is definitely the key to making sure that you're going

Shawanda Roberts:

to bring the right value in the right product or solution to

Shawanda Roberts:

them. Right. So that's one, the other one is making sure that

Shawanda Roberts:

the lines of communication are always open with your clients.

Shawanda Roberts:

And so a lot of times when I'm talking to my clients, whatever

Shawanda Roberts:

stage it's at, I make sure that they've got all my contact

Shawanda Roberts:

information, I make sure that they also know that, hey, if you

Shawanda Roberts:

have any questions, comments or concerns, I put it out there, I

Shawanda Roberts:

need you to call me I take all positive and negative whatever

Shawanda Roberts:

it is, because my goal is to make sure that there are no

Shawanda Roberts:

challenges that you may have with working with my particular

Shawanda Roberts:

company or working with me, whatever it may be. So keeping

Shawanda Roberts:

those lines of communication open. And then also just

Shawanda Roberts:

building that relationship, really trying to get to know

Shawanda Roberts:

them know their role, know what their challenges are in their

Shawanda Roberts:

role. And a lot of times that moves into the personal

Shawanda Roberts:

relationship where you end up knowing any and everything about

Shawanda Roberts:

their family and about their outside activities, and you

Shawanda Roberts:

start getting engaged with what it is they're doing. They're

Shawanda Roberts:

emailing you for fundraisers that their kids are having or

Shawanda Roberts:

whatever. And that's always just great to have. So I would say,

Shawanda Roberts:

you know, those are kind of the keys that I talk to my team

Shawanda Roberts:

about all the time to weave in that great customer service

Shawanda Roberts:

relationship building listening skills to where they start to

Shawanda Roberts:

really trust you. And then there's also that credibility

Shawanda Roberts:

that's there because you continue to do what you say

Shawanda Roberts:

you're going to do.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it. I love it. I love it. And you know

Wesleyne Greer:

when we think about because I tell people, I don't really come

Wesleyne Greer:

from that true SASS or tech background. So I only know about

Wesleyne Greer:

full cycle salespeople, this whole world of STRS, AES

Wesleyne Greer:

customer success. It's like I did draw I prospected. I had to

Wesleyne Greer:

call I do the demo. I had to farm it, if they had issues

Wesleyne Greer:

afterwards. If it was too technical, I would send it away

Wesleyne Greer:

to technical support. But a lot of times I was handling myself.

Wesleyne Greer:

And I think that one thing when people are deciding like which

Wesleyne Greer:

direction do we go? What is the better setup for our

Wesleyne Greer:

organization, it seems that the larger the sale, those are

Wesleyne Greer:

better with those fullcycle salespeople if you're selling a

Wesleyne Greer:

$10 subscription, or $5 widget or even 20 or $30, the average

Wesleyne Greer:

customer value lifetime customer value isn't as high right?

Wesleyne Greer:

Whereas the buyer for them the buyer for the team when they're

Wesleyne Greer:

done. Yeah, that's it.

Shawanda Roberts:

You're absolutely right about that.

Wesleyne Greer:

So you mentioned that you are managing the people

Wesleyne Greer:

who actually trained you initially. Tell me about that

Wesleyne Greer:

dynamic. How was it going from being colleague to manager? Yes,

Shawanda Roberts:

I was absolutely blessed in my

Shawanda Roberts:

particular role, because even as an AE to a director, I always

Shawanda Roberts:

had my colleagues cheering me on and telling me, you need to

Shawanda Roberts:

move, you need to move up, you need to move up, you're too good

Shawanda Roberts:

to be where you are. And I was always like, Well, no, I don't

Shawanda Roberts:

think I'm too good. You know, I got a lot more to learn. And I

Shawanda Roberts:

mean, I'm still learning every day, I'm learning something new

Shawanda Roberts:

every day. So I still, you know, say that when people are like,

Shawanda Roberts:

Well, have you thought about looking here, or looking there

Shawanda Roberts:

or moving to this particular position? And I'm like, you

Shawanda Roberts:

know, I don't know, you know, because my whole goal and even

Shawanda Roberts:

before getting into leadership, you know, the purpose. And my

Shawanda Roberts:

goal was always to do three things inspire and form an

Shawanda Roberts:

impact. Those are the three biggest things that everything

Shawanda Roberts:

that I do and that I commit to in life, those are my three

Shawanda Roberts:

biggest things. And so whatever I can do to help you grow, or

Shawanda Roberts:

get to that next level, wherever it is you want to be, I'm all

Shawanda Roberts:

for it. I'm your cheerleader, I'm your motivator. I'm also the

Shawanda Roberts:

one to tell you, Okay, you may not want to do that. You may not

Shawanda Roberts:

want to go that route, how about you go this route. And so all of

Shawanda Roberts:

my colleagues have really always been kind of behind me, cheering

Shawanda Roberts:

me and pushing me even, you know, my manager at that time

Shawanda Roberts:

was, you know, Hey, girl, like, I see you in a bigger role, I

Shawanda Roberts:

see you making a bigger impact with more people. And you know,

Shawanda Roberts:

a lot of times it takes other people's confidence, or it takes

Shawanda Roberts:

my confidence, it lags a little bit getting to other people's

Shawanda Roberts:

confidence of me, including my husband, you know, and it's, you

Shawanda Roberts:

know, they're telling me that I can do this, but I have to sit

Shawanda Roberts:

back and say, Well, can I really do it? And it's that self doubt,

Shawanda Roberts:

right? And I had to learn over the years to basically just say,

Shawanda Roberts:

You know what, that's it, the quote that says, sometimes the

Shawanda Roberts:

only transportation you have is a leap of faith. It's true. And

Shawanda Roberts:

so I had to really kind of lean on that quote, for many years.

Shawanda Roberts:

And once I started leaning on it, and I started seeing things

Shawanda Roberts:

happen. I was like, Oh, wow, you know, I give it all I give it

Shawanda Roberts:

all up. Just tell me what you need me to do. I'm going to go

Shawanda Roberts:

for it. I'm going to keep learning. And I'm going to keep

Shawanda Roberts:

going. And so that's what I've done.

Wesleyne Greer:

So tell us more about those three eyes. You

Wesleyne Greer:

mentioned your three eyes. I can't remember I remember impact

Wesleyne Greer:

is the one that stood out to me more. How do you ensure that as

Wesleyne Greer:

a leader, you are ironclad focused on those things that you

Wesleyne Greer:

hold most dear to you?

Shawanda Roberts:

Sure. Thanks. So with my team every year,

Shawanda Roberts:

well, number one, I am a big motivational quote type person

Shawanda Roberts:

you probably have seen on on LinkedIn and everything else.

Shawanda Roberts:

I'm always posting something because that is what energizes

Shawanda Roberts:

me and gets me going. So one of the things that I initiated a

Shawanda Roberts:

few years ago was what we call motivational Monday's, because I

Shawanda Roberts:

understand that Mondays, you know, you may have had a great

Shawanda Roberts:

weekend. And Monday is like, I gotta go back to work. You know,

Shawanda Roberts:

I've been there done that sometimes I still have those

Shawanda Roberts:

days, right. But I instituted a Motivational Monday where I

Shawanda Roberts:

would send out this quote to everyone, and I started getting

Shawanda Roberts:

emails back from the team saying, You know what, these are

Shawanda Roberts:

great. Like, I am literally carrying these all week with me,

Shawanda Roberts:

and it's really energizing me and lifting me up if I need to

Shawanda Roberts:

be lifted. So I was like, oh, okay, so it's really doing

Shawanda Roberts:

something. So I started just doing it every Monday. And then

Shawanda Roberts:

I started adding more people to the email chain, because word of

Shawanda Roberts:

mouth was getting around. And people were like, Hey, tell me

Shawanda Roberts:

about these motivational Monday's you're sending. And

Shawanda Roberts:

it's just a one or two liner, write it, that's all it takes.

Shawanda Roberts:

The other thing is, at the beginning of every year, I

Shawanda Roberts:

always have a one on one with each person on my team. And I

Shawanda Roberts:

asked them, What are your goals for this year, I want to know

Shawanda Roberts:

your personal I want to know your spiritual and I want to

Shawanda Roberts:

know your work career goals, because listen, I'm there all

Shawanda Roberts:

the way I'm on land, trying to help you whatever it is that I

Shawanda Roberts:

can help you with. And if you think about it, you know, when

Shawanda Roberts:

people hit their personal goals, or maybe even their spiritual

Shawanda Roberts:

goals, you know, it just pumps them up to continue hitting

Shawanda Roberts:

those goals, right. And so I am there to celebrate those small

Shawanda Roberts:

wins and the big wins, and to just kind of get them going.

Shawanda Roberts:

Right. And so that's another thing that I kind of set up, but

Shawanda Roberts:

then also every quarter. Now at our company, they have biannual

Shawanda Roberts:

reviews, well, I'm like, No, I'm going to meet with you every

Shawanda Roberts:

quarter, right? Because there's things that you may feel like

Shawanda Roberts:

God, it was just a bad quarter for me. And it's like, okay,

Shawanda Roberts:

well, let's talk about it. How can we change it? Like, what do

Shawanda Roberts:

you think you need to do? Right? And that's also helped to turn

Shawanda Roberts:

some things around to turn some ideas and also to turn some

Shawanda Roberts:

fears around from people. You know, I've had people that were

Shawanda Roberts:

at one point looking to just move and just get out of the

Shawanda Roberts:

job. Well, if I had not had that conversation with them, I

Shawanda Roberts:

wouldn't have known that. I didn't want to wait six months

Shawanda Roberts:

to hear that or either they're gone in six months and then I'm

Shawanda Roberts:

like What could I have done. So I always make sure that I keep

Shawanda Roberts:

the lines of communication open, I always make sure that I'm

Shawanda Roberts:

patting them on the back virtually or you know, in person

Shawanda Roberts:

in celebrating every single win that comes through, even if they

Shawanda Roberts:

get a no, or if they get a you know what, maybe next time, I'm

Shawanda Roberts:

still pushing them on and just saying, You know what, you got

Shawanda Roberts:

this, let's do this, let's just keep going, let's talk about,

Shawanda Roberts:

you know, how we can prioritize the accounts you're looking at,

Shawanda Roberts:

and move forward from there. So that's my whole goal. And, you

Shawanda Roberts:

know, the three eyes that you mentioned, is, again, inspire,

Shawanda Roberts:

you know, inspire them to want to be better and to want to

Shawanda Roberts:

grow. And it's one of those things where I like to say, it's

Shawanda Roberts:

not just going through life, but it's growing through life,

Shawanda Roberts:

right, so inspire you to grow through life, and I do the same

Shawanda Roberts:

with my kids, hey, you're growing, let's grow through life

Shawanda Roberts:

together, right in form. So inform those about any and

Shawanda Roberts:

everything that's out there. Right now, I'm being a huge

Shawanda Roberts:

advocate, just like, you know, us lean in women in sales and

Shawanda Roberts:

trying to, you know, make sure that they understand and are

Shawanda Roberts:

aware that there is a gender gap in b2b sales, and then impact,

Shawanda Roberts:

you know, how many people can I impact, the more I can impact,

Shawanda Roberts:

the better it is for me, but even if I'm only impacting one

Shawanda Roberts:

person, you know what, I'm still happy, because I impacted that

Shawanda Roberts:

one person. And so, you know, when I think of impact, I always

Shawanda Roberts:

think of, you know, again, quote comes to mind that, you know, I

Shawanda Roberts:

can't help everybody, but everybody can help somebody. So

Shawanda Roberts:

that just kind of sticks in my head, every time I think about

Shawanda Roberts:

something, and I'm like, You know what, even if I help one

Shawanda Roberts:

person, I'm happy. And then let them pass it on, let them pay it

Shawanda Roberts:

for it, hopefully, because I'm paying for it. All of the

Shawanda Roberts:

goodness that my mentors brought to me all the goodness, my

Shawanda Roberts:

parents and my family instilled in me, I'm now paying it

Shawanda Roberts:

forward, you are

Wesleyne Greer:

doing so many of the right activities in terms of

Wesleyne Greer:

sitting down with your team and having them realize that this

Wesleyne Greer:

job is not just about them generating revenue, it is about

Wesleyne Greer:

them generating that revenue that is going to drive them to

Wesleyne Greer:

meet that personal or professional goal, whether it's

Wesleyne Greer:

I want to pay off debt, or I want to become a painter or

Wesleyne Greer:

whatever it is. Right. And I am curious how you spend your

Wesleyne Greer:

typical day because it sounds like you spend a lot more time

Wesleyne Greer:

on people development than you actually do focused on. I won't

Wesleyne Greer:

give it a bad word. But the Yeah, I was just say the stupid

Wesleyne Greer:

KPIs in the food. Yes. So tell us how do you spend your days.

Shawanda Roberts:

So I do. And that brings up another good

Shawanda Roberts:

point that I'll bring up here in a little bit. But I just love

Shawanda Roberts:

helping people. I love helping them grow. I love helping them

Shawanda Roberts:

understand where things may be going wrong, especially when

Shawanda Roberts:

it's on the job. Yes, we're measured on KPIs and metrics,

Shawanda Roberts:

and I have those talks with them as well. But I don't spend my

Shawanda Roberts:

time talking much about that I spend my time talking about how

Shawanda Roberts:

can we change it. And so when reviews come up, there is

Shawanda Roberts:

nothing I'm so transparent, that there's nothing new for them. I

Shawanda Roberts:

mean, they get their review, and they know exactly what I'm going

Shawanda Roberts:

to say in their review, because we've talked about it several

Shawanda Roberts:

times prior to the review coming up. So there are no surprises it

Shawanda Roberts:

also what I was going to bring up is because I am in this

Shawanda Roberts:

player coach role. And so I've got my own individual

Shawanda Roberts:

contributor target that I need to be penetrating in and hitting

Shawanda Roberts:

my target along with developing the people on my team and making

Shawanda Roberts:

sure that they're hitting target. I've been doing the

Shawanda Roberts:

player coach role for probably about five or six years. And it

Shawanda Roberts:

wasn't until you know, the books, of course, will always

Shawanda Roberts:

tell you oh, there's a conflict of interest. You can't do that.

Shawanda Roberts:

Because you can't balance it and things like that. I never

Shawanda Roberts:

thought about it until COVID hit and 2020 COVID hit and 2020. And

Shawanda Roberts:

I started to feel more concerned about my team hitting target

Shawanda Roberts:

than me hitting target. I could care less if I hit target. And I

Shawanda Roberts:

knew that that was a risk because I was saying my God,

Shawanda Roberts:

I've never not hit target. So what's going to happen if I

Shawanda Roberts:

don't hit target, and I just moved on with it because I said

Shawanda Roberts:

the issue is bigger than me. And the way I think of leadership

Shawanda Roberts:

sometimes is serving others before serving myself. And so I

Shawanda Roberts:

worked very hard on people development and making sure that

Shawanda Roberts:

they were mentally okay, that they were physically okay, that

Shawanda Roberts:

you know, the saying of we're all in the same boat, you know,

Shawanda Roberts:

it's one of those things were we weren't necessarily all in the

Shawanda Roberts:

same boat, but we were in the same storm and that's from Mike

Shawanda Roberts:

Robbins book. And he made a good point that you know, some of us

Shawanda Roberts:

were at home by ourselves during COVID and had no one to talk to

Shawanda Roberts:

or work with some of us like myself were at home with three

Shawanda Roberts:

kids and I had to be a teacher as well as do my job and you

Shawanda Roberts:

know, work with the dogs and make sure that they were going

Shawanda Roberts:

outside when they needed to right and so it was total chaos

Shawanda Roberts:

at one point. So we were all in different boats, but we were all

Shawanda Roberts:

in the same storm. For the first time going through COVID. And so

Shawanda Roberts:

it made me think, is this something doing a player coach

Shawanda Roberts:

role? Is this something I can sustain long term? And it really

Shawanda Roberts:

truly made me think about do I need to look at just going into

Shawanda Roberts:

a leadership role only, versus doing individual contributor

Shawanda Roberts:

only? Well, I decided, You know what, I think I do want to move

Shawanda Roberts:

towards that leadership role only. But I wasn't in a rush to

Shawanda Roberts:

do it, because I did not want to just leave my team beside with

Shawanda Roberts:

someone else. And everything just falls, right. And then I'm

Shawanda Roberts:

moving on to my own thing. So right now, I think I'm in the

Shawanda Roberts:

process of just trying to make sure that they're going to be

Shawanda Roberts:

okay, before I decide if I'm going to make that next move.

Shawanda Roberts:

And in the meantime, I'm still doing both sides. However, I

Shawanda Roberts:

will tell you that my passion and more of my time is more on

Shawanda Roberts:

my team. And like you said, the people development of it,

Wesleyne Greer:

huh, that's so good. And I can tell based on

Wesleyne Greer:

the things that drive you that developing people and to sit in

Wesleyne Greer:

the back of the room and see your whole team on stage getting

Wesleyne Greer:

their awards for hitting their quota. That means more to you

Wesleyne Greer:

than you think, Okay, I'm on the stage, but I'm by myself. And I

Wesleyne Greer:

think that so often, my view of player coach is not necessarily

Wesleyne Greer:

that you're going to be focused so much on only hitting your

Wesleyne Greer:

number, or only your team hitting the number or those

Wesleyne Greer:

things, it is more so that your eyes on two different balls,

Wesleyne Greer:

right? Because if you're in sales mode, that's having one

Wesleyne Greer:

part of your brain activated, whereas if you're in a leader

Wesleyne Greer:

role is having another part of your brain activated. So when I

Wesleyne Greer:

think about the player culture, those are the things that I

Wesleyne Greer:

talked to companies about, like when they're first of all, I

Wesleyne Greer:

asked them why like, why, if this person is so great leaving

Wesleyne Greer:

why can't they just bring in AI, this is not a self deprecating

Wesleyne Greer:

term, guys, I really am sorry, but I call them a baby sales rep

Wesleyne Greer:

or a junior sales rep, like a brand new person that they can

Wesleyne Greer:

train a mentor to take over their book of business, right?

Wesleyne Greer:

If they're really that that leading so that those are my

Wesleyne Greer:

thoughts, if you will, on the whole player coach thing?

Shawanda Roberts:

Yeah. And it's a great way to look at it, I've

Shawanda Roberts:

never really looked at it as two balls, right? I've never looked

Shawanda Roberts:

at it that way. So again, I told you, I learned new things every

Shawanda Roberts:

day. So this is one of the things that I'm learning is to

Shawanda Roberts:

change the way or perception that I look at it, that would

Shawanda Roberts:

make it a lot easier, right for me. And I won't feel down or as

Shawanda Roberts:

bad if I'm not doing what I need to do as much on one side or the

Shawanda Roberts:

other. But I still try to make sure that I'm giving enough

Shawanda Roberts:

attention in order to make sure I'm trying to hit both targets,

Shawanda Roberts:

right. It's almost kind of like when I hit my target. It's like,

Shawanda Roberts:

okay, I'm satisfied, which I know, I probably shouldn't be, I

Shawanda Roberts:

should be, hey, you got to exceed exceeding seat every year

Shawanda Roberts:

I go above and beyond, right. But what I want to see is I want

Shawanda Roberts:

to see my team getting to 150% of target and 200% Target,

Shawanda Roberts:

because when we're at that President's Club dinner, you

Shawanda Roberts:

know, I mean, just seeing them happy and getting called up

Shawanda Roberts:

there. And we're reading bios on them. I mean, it's just, it's

Shawanda Roberts:

amazing to me, it just makes my heart smile. And

Wesleyne Greer:

sales leadership is not for everyone, people that

Wesleyne Greer:

think about only themselves being in President's Club, or

Wesleyne Greer:

only doing this or only doing that I interviewed somebody

Wesleyne Greer:

recently, and they were like, I actually really like selling I

Wesleyne Greer:

do like leading to blood, I kind of like selling a little bit

Wesleyne Greer:

more. And it's a decision you have to make, right? It's not

Wesleyne Greer:

that one is right and one is wrong. But if you really thrive

Wesleyne Greer:

on seeing that customer getting that Pio hitting, hitting,

Wesleyne Greer:

hitting, then you're going to be more focused on being a

Wesleyne Greer:

salesperson. But if you're like, I love seeing my MINI MES, if

Wesleyne Greer:

you will, I love seeing them implement the techniques that

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm teaching them the things that I'm giving them, then

Wesleyne Greer:

you're more suited to be in leadership,

Shawanda Roberts:

you are absolutely correct. And I have

Shawanda Roberts:

been to companies where I have seen it all. And I mean, I have

Shawanda Roberts:

sales reps, and even just through LinkedIn, people that

Shawanda Roberts:

don't necessarily work at my company, they work at other

Shawanda Roberts:

companies, and they're calling me and saying, I need help.

Shawanda Roberts:

Like, I've got this sales manager, they have a book of

Shawanda Roberts:

business two, I am not getting any leads. And then I find out

Shawanda Roberts:

they're getting all the new accounts when a when a sales rep

Shawanda Roberts:

leaves, they're getting all the big accounts. And eventually

Shawanda Roberts:

they start to see all of that transpire. And then they're like

Shawanda Roberts:

whoa, wait a minute, like I'm in competition with my own manager.

Shawanda Roberts:

It should not be that way. But there are still a lot of

Shawanda Roberts:

companies where it's like that and I think you have mentioned

Shawanda Roberts:

it and many people have mentioned it before that a lot

Shawanda Roberts:

of these people are getting into leadership because they were

Shawanda Roberts:

such good salespeople and that It is not always the case that

Shawanda Roberts:

they're going to be a good sales leader. And I don't know what

Shawanda Roberts:

it's going to take for companies to understand that.

Wesleyne Greer:

So, you know, yeah, you must have wanted to

Wesleyne Greer:

open this Pandora's box for me today, you know, I did.

Wesleyne Greer:

Everything is like those top salespeople, a lot of times,

Wesleyne Greer:

they're actually not the best salesperson, because they're

Wesleyne Greer:

very focused on themselves and hitting their targets. And you

Wesleyne Greer:

have to have that multifaceted view, you do have to have strong

Wesleyne Greer:

sales skills. But you also need to understand it's not just

Wesleyne Greer:

about me, and the sales leaders that fail, those ones are like,

Wesleyne Greer:

oh, there's 18 month turnover with sales managers, it's

Wesleyne Greer:

because nobody's developing them. And so I like the thing

Wesleyne Greer:

is, I'm not even mad at the sales person, or the sales

Wesleyne Greer:

manager, I'm mad at the company, I'm mad at the company for

Wesleyne Greer:

thinking it's okay to promote an individual contributor into a

Wesleyne Greer:

management role and not develop them, and then fire them in a

Wesleyne Greer:

year when they're not doing well. It's the company's fault.

Wesleyne Greer:

That's the problem.

Shawanda Roberts:

Bingo. And I see it a lot. I see it a lot, I

Shawanda Roberts:

hear it a lot. And the only thing that I can say to that,

Shawanda Roberts:

you know, when someone calls me up and says, you know, they're

Shawanda Roberts:

trying to put me on a pip. However, I've had no in house

Shawanda Roberts:

training on what to do, or anything, like, okay, don't wait

Shawanda Roberts:

for your company, go out and get it on your own. Okay, that means

Shawanda Roberts:

go out and find if there are free virtual courses out there,

Shawanda Roberts:

let's say you just can't afford it. Okay, go out there and find

Shawanda Roberts:

free virtual courses, join groups that have like minded

Shawanda Roberts:

individuals that can help you with some of this stuff, connect

Shawanda Roberts:

with people on LinkedIn that you know, are talking about this

Shawanda Roberts:

thing. But if you have the money for it, invest in yourself, pay

Shawanda Roberts:

that $100 $1,000, whatever it is, to get the professional

Shawanda Roberts:

development, you need to strengthen those weakening areas

Shawanda Roberts:

that you have, or just learning new skill sets. And I guarantee

Shawanda Roberts:

you, they're going to see that right, and then you're going to

Shawanda Roberts:

come back. And you know what, don't be afraid to ask the

Shawanda Roberts:

company. Listen, you're not giving me professional

Shawanda Roberts:

development here. So I've went out and I've actually found it,

Shawanda Roberts:

would you be willing to sponsor my professional development and

Shawanda Roberts:

pay for me to get this stuff because you're not giving it to

Shawanda Roberts:

me, and I really, really do want to be at this company. However,

Shawanda Roberts:

if you're not going to invest in me, then maybe I should look

Shawanda Roberts:

somewhere else. Don't be afraid to have that conversation. And I

Shawanda Roberts:

know, it takes courage and it takes competence for us to,

Shawanda Roberts:

especially as women to have that conversation. But it's

Shawanda Roberts:

definitely necessary. And you may be surprised that your

Shawanda Roberts:

company is going to back you up. Because they probably know Yeah,

Shawanda Roberts:

you know what, we're right. We're not doing what we should

Shawanda Roberts:

be doing from a professional development, we don't want to

Shawanda Roberts:

lose you, we know that you're good, I will go ahead and pay

Shawanda Roberts:

what it is that you want to strengthen those skills that

Shawanda Roberts:

you're wanting to strengthen.

Wesleyne Greer:

And that being vulnerable, going to your

Wesleyne Greer:

manager, your leader and saying, I really want this, but I don't

Wesleyne Greer:

have the tools that I need to actually do this. So I'm asking

Wesleyne Greer:

for you to invest in me. And I had a client recently that was

Wesleyne Greer:

out there looking on her own looking for like executive

Wesleyne Greer:

coaches, or sales, training and all of these different aspects.

Wesleyne Greer:

And then her leader came to her and said, Hey, we're hiring this

Wesleyne Greer:

person for you just like oh, my gosh, I've been looking for

Wesleyne Greer:

this. But she never once told her boss that I'm struggling and

Wesleyne Greer:

I need support. And it happens all the time. Men, women, it

Wesleyne Greer:

doesn't matter. They're just they don't want to show that

Wesleyne Greer:

you've given me a promotion. You trusted me to do this. And I

Wesleyne Greer:

think I might feel like I'm failing, right. And so that is

Wesleyne Greer:

the piece that is so integral. And so when I'm working with

Wesleyne Greer:

people and teams, I talk about this dynamic of managing up a

Wesleyne Greer:

lot of times we just manage down, we manage our team, but we

Wesleyne Greer:

have to manage up we have to how do we talk to our boss? How do

Wesleyne Greer:

we show them that we are doing the things that we need to do to

Wesleyne Greer:

drive growth not in the team, but strategically for the

Wesleyne Greer:

company? Because we want to move up in our careers?

Shawanda Roberts:

You're absolutely right, you are

Shawanda Roberts:

completely right. I think another thing that leaders don't

Shawanda Roberts:

really truly think about too much is growing and developing

Shawanda Roberts:

your top salespeople. I think a lot of times we concentrate on I

Shawanda Roberts:

don't know the right word to say it. It's the middle class of

Shawanda Roberts:

sales reps, or the mediocre sales reps, you know, those that

Shawanda Roberts:

maybe don't hit target every year, they're not consistent

Shawanda Roberts:

with hitting target or they hit it. They just hit it right on

Shawanda Roberts:

target. They don't exceed it, right. But then you've got those

Shawanda Roberts:

that are the top 10% And we're kind of like, they're good.

Shawanda Roberts:

They're gonna hit target every year. Not gonna worry about

Shawanda Roberts:

them. They're good. But my question then becomes, okay,

Shawanda Roberts:

well, how do you grow them right and growing them may be one year

Shawanda Roberts:

they hit 110% A target but how do we get them to 130% of target

Shawanda Roberts:

because again, it's still more revenue coming in. to your

Shawanda Roberts:

company, the more sales they can bring in, the more sales

Shawanda Roberts:

everyone can bring in and getting them to increase that

Shawanda Roberts:

percentage, year over year is always a good thing. But we

Shawanda Roberts:

don't look at that we just kind of concentrate on the 90% and

Shawanda Roberts:

the 10%. We leave them alone, right? And then when they get

Shawanda Roberts:

ready to leave a company and they go somewhere else, we're

Shawanda Roberts:

like, whoa, what did we do? What's going on? Why are they

Shawanda Roberts:

leaving the company? We've lost a really good sales rep, how are

Shawanda Roberts:

we going to replace? And then it becomes like, chaotic, and it's

Shawanda Roberts:

like, are you talking to them? Like, did you know what was

Shawanda Roberts:

going on in their personal life? Did you know what was going on

Shawanda Roberts:

that might have changed their perception of the company

Shawanda Roberts:

they're working for and made them want to go look around.

Wesleyne Greer:

And the key to those top performers is

Wesleyne Greer:

sometimes it's the small things, there was a company I was

Wesleyne Greer:

working with, and they had a new salesperson came in after four

Wesleyne Greer:

months, they closed the largest sale, it was like $750,000, that

Wesleyne Greer:

they closed after being there for months. And that person said

Wesleyne Greer:

to me, he never said thank you. He never said Good job. He never

Wesleyne Greer:

said I'm so proud of what you accomplished. Literally after

Wesleyne Greer:

the sale came in. It was like, Okay, that's good, what you got

Wesleyne Greer:

next. And so it's something just so small, so small as you did a

Wesleyne Greer:

good job, you did something that we'd have never done in the

Wesleyne Greer:

company before. And what people don't realize is, yes, those

Wesleyne Greer:

trips are nice. Yes, the commission is nice. But

Wesleyne Greer:

sometimes people just want some kind of recognition. So when I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

showing, I'm like, Okay, let's have a sales meeting. And I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

working with the leaders. I'm showing them how to have a sales

Wesleyne Greer:

meeting, we always start with something talking about

Wesleyne Greer:

gratitude, or what's the word, the word that's on your mind

Wesleyne Greer:

today? Who do you want to give kudos to like something because

Wesleyne Greer:

at the end of the day, salespeople are humans to that,

Wesleyne Greer:

like I probably should change my LinkedIn title to salespeople

Wesleyne Greer:

are humans, too.

Shawanda Roberts:

They are. And they like to have fun. They love

Shawanda Roberts:

to have fun. And so what I have noticed, too, is that, you know,

Shawanda Roberts:

not just having these weekly pipeline meetings, right? We're

Shawanda Roberts:

all we're doing is going through numbers. Well, first of all, if

Shawanda Roberts:

I have a team of 10, I don't want to hear nine other people

Shawanda Roberts:

going through their pipeline. Because I care less, I'm like,

Shawanda Roberts:

let me tell you what my pipeline is. And so I can keep it move,

Shawanda Roberts:

go

Wesleyne Greer:

find it in in the CRM, that's what I tell

Wesleyne Greer:

them. This is not what the meeting is for, go look at the

Wesleyne Greer:

CRM period.

Shawanda Roberts:

Yeah. And you know what, if you don't have an

Shawanda Roberts:

accurate CRM, then you know what you tell them, hey, every

Shawanda Roberts:

certain day of the week, every Monday at two o'clock, I need to

Shawanda Roberts:

have an email with all your pipelines. And if I have

Shawanda Roberts:

questions, I'll call you or email you back. But you should

Shawanda Roberts:

be able to tell me, what we're going to do is we're going to

Shawanda Roberts:

have what we call a weekly huddle, and we're going to talk

Shawanda Roberts:

about updates, we're going to talk about kudos, we're going to

Shawanda Roberts:

actually even have a fun game that we're going to play, it

Shawanda Roberts:

could be an icebreaker, it could be a puzzle, it could be you

Shawanda Roberts:

know, I'm gonna ask you a question. And everybody's just

Shawanda Roberts:

gonna talk about their personal stories, or whatever it is. But

Shawanda Roberts:

it's really just about having fun and making sure that

Shawanda Roberts:

everyone feels good, everyone is being recognized for whatever it

Shawanda Roberts:

is that they're doing. Plus, we're putting all the updates in

Shawanda Roberts:

that call. So if there's a new product or service, or if

Shawanda Roberts:

there's something going on, I'm gonna let you know about it

Shawanda Roberts:

right then and there, you know, and then it's also the

Shawanda Roberts:

reminders. And so it's weekly on their calendar every week, we

Shawanda Roberts:

may not meet every week, you know, I might cancel it and say,

Shawanda Roberts:

Hey, nothing much to meet about this week, guys go out there

Shawanda Roberts:

happy, prospecting, happy selling, whatever it is, right.

Shawanda Roberts:

But also just making sure that your team knows, hey, my door is

Shawanda Roberts:

always open, regardless of what's going on. If you have

Shawanda Roberts:

anything that you want to talk about, ping me, call me text me,

Shawanda Roberts:

my team has every single way to get in contact with me if

Shawanda Roberts:

anything goes on. So again, just having that open communication

Shawanda Roberts:

and feeling like you know what, she's on my side, she's going to

Shawanda Roberts:

help me through whatever it is that I have. It's a great

Shawanda Roberts:

feeling. Because even when I was just an AE, it was a great

Shawanda Roberts:

feeling to have that I knew that my manager had my back all the

Shawanda Roberts:

time, regardless of what it is, if I made a mistake, that's

Shawanda Roberts:

fine. She's still going to have my back. But she's going to tell

Shawanda Roberts:

me how to correct it going forward and make sure I don't

Shawanda Roberts:

make a mistake again.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yes, yes, those are so important, those meetings

Wesleyne Greer:

where you just have the CRM up and you're going account by

Wesleyne Greer:

account pipeline. That's an absolute waste of everyone's

Wesleyne Greer:

time, like no, like you said, the person who's doing nothing

Wesleyne Greer:

doesn't want to see the number one person with all these deals

Wesleyne Greer:

in their pipeline. The person who's doing all these things,

Wesleyne Greer:

doesn't want to hear you beat up on the person that's doing that.

Wesleyne Greer:

It's just it's a waste of time, you can pull reports CRMs these

Wesleyne Greer:

days are too strong for you to not be generating your reports,

Wesleyne Greer:

pull your reports and then like you said, you reach out to the

Wesleyne Greer:

people one on one, but have your meeting so people understand

Wesleyne Greer:

like what the outcome is, is that we're going to learn a new

Wesleyne Greer:

skill today is we're going to do round robin cold calling or I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

going to pull up an email that somebody sent and we're gonna go

Wesleyne Greer:

really deep dive on it like what are we going to be working on

Wesleyne Greer:

because the goal is to build their skills, right? The goal is

Wesleyne Greer:

not to beat them over the head with the pipeline in the

Wesleyne Greer:

forecast. That's it. Absolutely it so when you Think about your

Wesleyne Greer:

career and you are so passionate about developing people and

Wesleyne Greer:

really helping them grow. What is something or someone you're

Wesleyne Greer:

most excited about having accomplished, you're done? Oh,

Shawanda Roberts:

my goodness, I would say right now top of mine

Shawanda Roberts:

is actually telling my story in the heels to deals book for the

Shawanda Roberts:

first time ever, I always thought that I didn't have a

Shawanda Roberts:

story. You know, it was just kind of like, we're just going

Shawanda Roberts:

through the daily things of going to work, do what I do have

Shawanda Roberts:

fun at work, hit my target, go home, be a mom, Uber around kids

Shawanda Roberts:

everywhere, you know, and just have fun. Well, I never knew

Shawanda Roberts:

when someone finally came to me and said, Listen, you've been in

Shawanda Roberts:

this industry for a while you've got a story. And I never thought

Shawanda Roberts:

about it like that. And so as I started thinking, and I started

Shawanda Roberts:

actually writing that book down, I noticed that you know what, I

Shawanda Roberts:

do have a story to tail. And it's never too late. Right? It

Shawanda Roberts:

was one of those things where I personally had been naive to the

Shawanda Roberts:

gender gap, and b2b sales. I only started really looking at

Shawanda Roberts:

this and researching it, probably when COVID hit about

Shawanda Roberts:

two years ago. And so I always tell people that listen, for the

Shawanda Roberts:

last 14 years, I never knew that there was a gender gap. I was

Shawanda Roberts:

just going with the flow with everything. I didn't have many

Shawanda Roberts:

challenges, which I thought I didn't have many challenges, I

Shawanda Roberts:

thought I was moving up pretty quickly where I wanted to be.

Shawanda Roberts:

But then as I stopped and started researching and thinking

Shawanda Roberts:

and talking to other people, I was like, Whoa, I actually have

Shawanda Roberts:

been kind of, you know, I've had a lot of micro aggressions come

Shawanda Roberts:

to me that I hadn't. Again, I was naive to it didn't even

Shawanda Roberts:

realize it, right didn't realize that some of my male

Shawanda Roberts:

counterparts were making way more money than me didn't

Shawanda Roberts:

realize it. And it wasn't until I started talking to people and

Shawanda Roberts:

researching things that my eyes started to open up. And I

Shawanda Roberts:

started to really say, You know what, I've got to be part of

Shawanda Roberts:

this solution. I've got to help bring the awareness, I've got to

Shawanda Roberts:

help, you know, inspire other women to not only get into

Shawanda Roberts:

sales, but to move up the ladder, right, I've got to also

Shawanda Roberts:

inform others about the factual data that's out there about

Shawanda Roberts:

women in sales. And so writing my chapter in the heels to deals

Shawanda Roberts:

book, after I did that chapter, really, I was like, I am very

Shawanda Roberts:

happy that I did that, that I decided to do that, that I was

Shawanda Roberts:

honored that someone came to me and said, I would like for you

Shawanda Roberts:

to be part of his book and share your story. Because again,

Shawanda Roberts:

otherwise, if no one had ever asked me, I don't know if I

Shawanda Roberts:

would ever have shared anything about how I got into sales

Shawanda Roberts:

unless someone just asked me, and it wouldn't have been that

Shawanda Roberts:

in depth, it just would have been Oh, I had a friend that

Shawanda Roberts:

asked me to come in. And that's what happened.

Wesleyne Greer:

That's it. No, it's so interesting that you say

Wesleyne Greer:

this, I interviewed another woman of color who's actually in

Wesleyne Greer:

Texas to industry. And she said she didn't realize it either.

Wesleyne Greer:

Right. She was just like I had women bosses, I had a team full

Wesleyne Greer:

of women, I didn't realize that there were things that were

Wesleyne Greer:

going on around me. And one thing that I say when I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

speaking and a lot of times I tell this to the managers so

Wesleyne Greer:

that they can identify these behaviors that as people of

Wesleyne Greer:

color, underrepresented minorities, were taught to go to

Wesleyne Greer:

work, put your head down, work hard. Don't ruffle any feathers.

Wesleyne Greer:

Don't tell your boss that you're doing more than you need to do

Wesleyne Greer:

your work is going to show and because of that reason, that is

Wesleyne Greer:

the reason why women are not being retained, and they're not

Wesleyne Greer:

being promoted. Because they don't know how to use their

Wesleyne Greer:

voice. They don't know how to show all of the things that

Wesleyne Greer:

they've done. And so you said that and it just brought it all

Wesleyne Greer:

back to me full circle. It's because of the way that we're

Wesleyne Greer:

raised the culture that we've been developed in.

Shawanda Roberts:

You are absolutely right. Absolutely

Shawanda Roberts:

right. And, you know, I'm working, I've got three kids,

Shawanda Roberts:

I've got two daughters and a son. And my oldest daughter is

Shawanda Roberts:

in high school. I mean, at high school, she's in eighth grade,

Shawanda Roberts:

getting ready to go to high school, but it's, you know, even

Shawanda Roberts:

with when her talking to her teachers, you know, she'll come

Shawanda Roberts:

home and she'll say, Well, Mom, you know, I have a question. And

Shawanda Roberts:

I'm not sure why the teacher did this, or you know, they didn't

Shawanda Roberts:

put my grade in. And I know I turned it in. And the first

Shawanda Roberts:

thing I say is, Well, honey, have you emailed the teacher?

Shawanda Roberts:

Have you done what you should do? Because you're in eighth

Shawanda Roberts:

grade. Now you've got to start speaking for yourself, right?

Shawanda Roberts:

Mommy can always come behind you and do everything. And so it

Shawanda Roberts:

took her a while to just start emailing the teacher and having

Shawanda Roberts:

that competence to say I did this assignment. Why did you

Shawanda Roberts:

grade me that I didn't do it or whatever it was, it took her you

Shawanda Roberts:

know, a good while to do that. But now she's got that

Shawanda Roberts:

competence. And every once in a while, she'll come back to me

Shawanda Roberts:

and she'll say the same thing and I just look at her and she

Shawanda Roberts:

knows exactly what I'm going to say They, you need to do the

Shawanda Roberts:

steps that you need to do first and make sure that it's

Shawanda Roberts:

documented before Mommy and Daddy get put in the mix.

Shawanda Roberts:

Because when Mommy and Daddy get put in the mix, we want to have

Shawanda Roberts:

the facts. And we want to know exactly Hey, she emails you

Shawanda Roberts:

here, here, here. And here. There's no email back what's

Shawanda Roberts:

going on. And so now she understands the concept. And

Shawanda Roberts:

it's, you know, my mom and dad taught me the same thing is,

Shawanda Roberts:

Hey, speak for yourself before we have to get involved. That

Shawanda Roberts:

way we can say she reached out to you, you didn't respond. So

Shawanda Roberts:

now you got to deal with Mama and Papa Bear.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yes. And I can actually see a very big

Wesleyne Greer:

difference between I have two boys 13 and seven. And the seven

Wesleyne Greer:

year old was born in the height of my sales career. Like, I tell

Wesleyne Greer:

people, you know, I was literally in the bed having to

Wesleyne Greer:

attraction texting people, okay, we got to do that, like in the

Wesleyne Greer:

height of my sales career. And he is so much more of a self

Wesleyne Greer:

advocate that even my older son who you know, he when I would

Wesleyne Greer:

pick them up from school, and we'd go home, and so he didn't

Wesleyne Greer:

really get as much back. And so now I'm having to instill it

Wesleyne Greer:

into him later, he's actually an eighth grade too. And we're

Wesleyne Greer:

going to his night, whatever tonight, actually, that night or

Wesleyne Greer:

whatever. So you know, even instilling those things in our

Wesleyne Greer:

kids so that we can change the next generation so that the sale

Wesleyne Greer:

profession in 510 1520 years does look different. I think

Wesleyne Greer:

that we have a responsibility to do that.

Shawanda Roberts:

Yes, absolutely. And it's funny,

Shawanda Roberts:

because you know, when we pre COVID, you know, the kids

Shawanda Roberts:

wanted, they wanted a dog. And I was kind of like, Yeah, I'm not

Shawanda Roberts:

ready for a dog, even though I grew up with dogs, right? My mom

Shawanda Roberts:

always had a dog for me. I was like, Yeah, I don't know, if I

Shawanda Roberts:

really want a dog. I'm not ready for it. And I feel bad because I

Shawanda Roberts:

was like, I grew up with dogs, and they want a dog. So they

Shawanda Roberts:

actually put a presentation together about the best dog that

Shawanda Roberts:

we should get. And it was my first time seeing them actually

Shawanda Roberts:

give me a sales pitch. And although we did not get that

Shawanda Roberts:

dog, they still want us over because instead of us getting

Shawanda Roberts:

one dog, we got two dogs.

Wesleyne Greer:

Double the trouble.

Shawanda Roberts:

I told those kids, I said, Listen, you know,

Shawanda Roberts:

y'all should go into sales, right? And they were like, Well,

Shawanda Roberts:

yeah. And so when you ask them, Well, what is what is sales

Shawanda Roberts:

mean? And one of them told me that just means meetings? Yeah,

Shawanda Roberts:

there's gonna be meetings all day, because they're used to me

Shawanda Roberts:

being on Zoom meetings and everything else. And so I

Shawanda Roberts:

thought it was so funny. But I said, You guys have had your

Shawanda Roberts:

first big sales pitch to me, and y'all did a pretty good job. So

Shawanda Roberts:

I think y'all may need to look at that going forward. So we

Shawanda Roberts:

always laugh about that. But they close the deal. And they

Shawanda Roberts:

got more money out of me.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it double the trouble? Well, what is the

Wesleyne Greer:

one best way that people can get in touch with you if they want?

Shawanda Roberts:

Well, I am very active on LinkedIn. And so

Shawanda Roberts:

my LinkedIn is open to anyone just I'm under Shawanda.

Shawanda Roberts:

Roberts, they can reach out to me, the only thing I ask is that

Shawanda Roberts:

you put a message to the requests, because I get a lot of

Shawanda Roberts:

requests, where people are just wanting to sell me something.

Shawanda Roberts:

And you know, I'm in sales myself. And that's just a big no

Shawanda Roberts:

no for me. So I will decline you if I don't get a message from

Shawanda Roberts:

you saying why you want to connect with me. So if you could

Shawanda Roberts:

just let me know where you saw me and where you want to connect

Shawanda Roberts:

or why you want to connect, that would be great. I am open and

Shawanda Roberts:

willing to help any and everyone that is looking at a sales

Shawanda Roberts:

career or that's looking to move into leadership, I am willing to

Shawanda Roberts:

help anyone. And so it's just time to go out there and be

Shawanda Roberts:

amazing.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you so much. Shawanda this has been an

Wesleyne Greer:

amazing, amazing conversation. And I know you guys see that

Wesleyne Greer:

this one a little bit long, because we're having such a good

Wesleyne Greer:

time. So thank you so much for your time, your talent, your

Wesleyne Greer:

expertise and your passion about sales leadership. I've

Wesleyne Greer:

thoroughly under enjoyed this conversation.

Shawanda Roberts:

Thank you so much for having me as one of

Shawanda Roberts:

your guests to and it has been a great time. And I know we went

Shawanda Roberts:

over time but we can talk all day long. And I'm sorry about

Shawanda Roberts:

that. But I hope that this inspired some of you all that

Shawanda Roberts:

are listening and if it did, let me know let Wesleyne know we'll

Shawanda Roberts:

be happy to hear that. Thanks so

Wesleyne Greer:

much again. And that was another episode of the

Wesleyne Greer:

transformed sales podcast remember and all that you do and

Wesleyne Greer:

everything and every day transform your sales until next

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About the Podcast

Transformed Sales
Transforming Sales Managers to Lead Using Behavior-Based Skills Development
As a sales manager, you are judged by the performance of your team. And you're praised when they do well. But one thing that you've not been able to figure out is how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every single month. Sales leadership is difficult.

The Transformed Sales podcast equips sales leaders with the skills to develop high-performance teams. We provide coaching strategies for improving sales team performance, mentoring developing sellers, and providing ongoing support for best practices. As a result sales leaders can guide, create, and nurture long-term relationships with their teams.

You will learn how to enhance your ability to engage in productive conversations with internal team members, resulting in a collaborative, dynamic environment where sellers feel supported.

Transformed Sales assists businesses in developing and building the culture necessary to build high-performing sales teams. In this leadership coaching program, coaching strategies are offered that can be used to improve the performance of sales teams. These strategies provide ongoing support and reinforcement of best practices