I make dinner for the family on most nights. When I’m not traveling, I work from home, so the job of dinner comes down to me.

My youngest son likes to make dinner too.

This is a big help because I can put him to work as my 9 year old sous chef; cutting vegetables, minding the boiling pots and keeping me company in the kitchen.

Oftentimes, he makes suggestions as to what we should cook, which is great because I often have hard time thinking of things to cook.

One night he suggested we have “Greek Night”.

Sounding like a damn good idea, we happily went to the supermarket to get our Greek supplies:

• Lamb

• Tomatoes

• Rice

• Feta cheese

Grocery list done, we went home, fired up the grill and were on our way.

I then realized I had never cooked Greek before…

Although we have tons of spices in the spice rack, I didnt have any “Greek spices” to spice the lamb. I’m not even sure what Greek spices are…

Pressed for time, I figured I’d keep things simple. Having been to Greece, I knew the Greeks liked to keep things simple when it comes to ingredients.

So I grabbed the salt and pepper, and started to grill the lamb.

Salt and pepper.

When it was all done, it was the best lamb Ive ever had.

The rest of the meal, with the tomatoes with feta cheese, white rice with butter that went along with it were pretty sweet too.

Total ingredients for the entire meal: 6

Simple.

The #1 Key To Great Sales Management

I get asked all the time what the key to great sales management is.

When I answer, I often think of “Greek Night”…especially the lamb.

Why? Because great sales management is all about keeping things simple.

In fact, the more complex you get at times with your “sales management strategies, tactics and tricks” the worse your results.

The key to sales management success is simplicity.

And be helpful.

The New Salesperson

A few years ago I had a new salesperson who was frazzled from her first month or two on the job. She would call me constantly, at all hours, asking about dozens of questions on policies and procedures, afraid that she may do something wrong.

I would always return her call and help her with whatever issue she had. I would also teach her how to solve the issue on her own so she would gain confidence, competence and not call me for every little thing…

One day, I decided I would call her out of the blue.

She picked up the phone (thankfully), and I asked her one of the best questions a sales manager can ask:

“I had a few extra minutes, so I wanted to call you to see if there anything you need help with?”

There was a stunned silence on the other end…

In fact, she may have dropped the phone.

She responded that although she had been in sales for over ten years, she had NEVER had a sales manager call her out of the blue and ask her if she needed help.

We chatted for a while, discussing some of the issues of the day she was having some issues with and hung up.

Be Helpful

A few years later, when I left that company she told me she would never forget that day when I called her. She said that because of that call, she had never worked harder for a boss ever in her life.

Although I think she was exaggerating in her praise, the simple fact remains:

To be a great sales manager, its simple: be helpful.

What’s the key to great sales leadership?

Be helpful.

What’s the key to great sales motivation?

Be helpful.

What’s the key to great sales coaching?

The more you help your salespeople, the more they’ll want to help you…and the more you help your salespeople, the better they become and the better you’ll feel about what you do everyday.

Keep it simple…like salt and pepper

And if ever come over to the house on Greek Night, I’ll have some grilled lamb waiting for you….

What’s your salt and pepper?

Special thanks to Chris Brogan for incredible inspiration for this blog post.