TSLP Season 4- Next-Level Sales Team Performance

🎙️ Are You Ready for Next-Level Sales Team Performance? | Transformation Station Leadership Podcast with Shad Tidler

In this episode of the Transformation Station Leadership Podcast, I sit down with Shad Tidler to discuss what it takes to elevate sales team performance to the next level. We explore the leadership strategies, mindset shifts, and team dynamics that drive sustainable growth, stronger results, and greater engagement.

Whether you're leading a sales team, managing a business, or developing future leaders, this conversation will challenge you to think differently about performance, accountability, and leadership effectiveness.

Learn more about Shad:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shadtidler/
Website: https://www.lushin.com/consultants/shad-tidler

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Until next time, stand tall, step bold, and own your transformation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

It is true. Sales performance doesn't improve by pressure alone. It improves through leadership, clarity, and consistent development. We know that the teams that reach the next level, they're not the ones that are simply working harder. No, they're led with purpose, coached with intention, and equipped with the mindset and systems that turn effort into sustainable resilience. I'm so excited for this conversation. Come on, let's get into it. Welcome to Transformation Station Leadership Podcast, where leaders don't just talk about transformation. No, we lead it, we live it, and we ignite it in others. I'm your host, Adrian Benton. And today we're diving into a topic that directly impacts growth and culture and results. That's right. We're talking about how to take your sales team performance to the next level. And I'm super excited about our guest today. His name is Shad Tidler, and I can't wait for you to meet him. Why have to do with my own research? I see that he is a leader who understands that elite sales performance is built at the intersection of accountability, coaching, trust, and strategy. Let me tell you a little bit about Shad. Chad is a seasoned member of the Legend sales team since 2014. He combines his extensive global business expertise with the disciplined mindset of an Iron Man triathlete, specializing as a leading sales transformation consultant. He's known for crafting scalable strategies and processes tailored for client success. Chad's structured approach instills a sense of calm and clients, guiding them past immediate challenges towards their goals. And it is my honor today to welcome to Transformation Station. Chad, welcome. We're so glad you're with us today.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Thanks, Adrian. Appreciate having me on today.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Absolutely. Well, in preparation for this, I was thinking to myself, you know, when we talk about taking a sales team to the next level, to myself, after having over two decades in leadership, I was thinking that in order to do that, it requires more than just goals and a quota. I have found over the years that it requires things like confidence and sharpening skill sets and creating clarity. So I want to start off by asking you this question. From your experience, what are the biggest factors that separate average sales teams from high performing sales teams?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Three big things.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Strong will to sell, strong, we call it sales DNA, or think of beliefs that are going to help and support, and strong tactical skills for elite sales teams, but then also the piece layered up on top of it, and you said at the beginning, Adrian, is strong management that's supporting and helping guide them through that. Um so when I say strong will to sell, is you've got to have people who are motivated. You know, one of the things is how do I motivate people and hold them accountable? Well, yes, there's so much you can do as a leader, but if your people aren't coming in motivated already for their own personal goals and reasons and relating that to if I get better from selling, I go out and achieve more, I do it faster, I do it easier, it helps me get there. You're not gonna be able to motivate them. So many leaders go, Well, I want to motivate my people. I go, Well, if they're not motivated to start, you're not going to. Um, you know, things like are they really committed to getting better, right? Just because they're motivated doesn't mean that they're gonna be committed to getting better. I always think of it's like professional athletes, like the ones who become the Hall of Famers, they're committed to doing stuff that even the other great ones who are professional athletes, and that's already great in its own sense, aren't willing to do. Same thing with your salespeople, like they're they're wanting to go out and practice to get better, they're willing to put themselves out in tough situations that are outside comfort zones and to ask tough questions and to look to improve and to get mentors and to get help, right? Because they go, I want to be the best I can be. If you think of what we call sales DNA, there's beliefs and biases that either make it easier or make it harder when we're selling things like um we call it need for approval. Well, if I'm what this is, is if I'm more concerned people like me and approve of me than they respect me, then I'm gonna have a hard time asking directly for what I want, or even picking up the phone and possibly calling somebody out of the blue because you go that interrupts them, they're not gonna like it. I don't want to do that, right? So things like that, beliefs like I can't ask or talk certain things or say certain certain things, so it makes it harder, take more time, effort, and energy to get to the goals. And then finally, it's the tactical skills. Do they have the skills and tools and know how to use them consistently in their own voice? So it's natural, all the way from getting in front of new folks and building relationships and being able to uncover what truly would drive them to make a change and the value they bring, and then being able to talk budget and align on effort and energy and how decision gets made and ask for the business and close it and grow those accounts. So those three things, and then you have the management piece above it is well, do the managers have the will to manage those salespeople, right? And those tribes and that do they have the beliefs they're gonna support that they can have the accountability or motivating conversations or coach them? Do they have the skill sets? So those are kind of big three areas I see that the great teams have when they've got all that together figured out. There that's that's jiving versus the teams that are average where they're missing key pieces.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

I love that. So here in Transformation Station, we always invite our listeners and viewers to take a moment and pause and let it soak in, right? So Chad has already been giving us a masterclass right here. And I want to invite you, you gotta go back and watch the replay, but even right now, just pause and and take accountability and awareness of what is resonating with you as you're hearing this conversation. You know, Chad, as you were talking, what resonated with me is one of your three um items there in terms of you gotta have people that want to sell. And you as a leader, you you need to have the will and the desire to lead. It's a two-way street, right? You gotta have that desire to lead, like authentically lead, right? Not not just be authoritative, but lead. And then you have to have the people that want to, they want to sell, they want to grow, they want to devour it. I love that. So let me ask you this question, right? How can leaders, how can we create a culture of accountability and motivation that drives consistent, that word consistent, right? That drives consistent sales performance. And here's the key without burnout.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yep. Uh well, Adrian, uh, you know, uh the question I like to ask people is like, what what causes burnout? And and if you think about it, burnout is it's it's not only, you know, I'm working hard and I'm I'm putting in a lot of hours and time, effort, and energy. Burnout comes from when I lack a sense of purpose of why I'm doing it, right? So if you think of that is is part of that whole that measure, that motivation accountability has to be is there a reason why a sense of purpose of why people are doing it? And whether that's it starts with their own personal, like it goes back to what I was saying before about their own personal goals and drives and things. And and does the leader understand what that is individually for each person? And then how do they help them get more of that? You know, um, and so many people go to, and so many leaders I talk to throughout the years go to, well, you know, they're they're money motivated, they're in sales. Well, no, there's actually three types of motivation. There's extrinsic, which is the money motivation and the tangible rewards, then there's intrinsic, which is I want to be the best salesperson I can possibly be, and getting coaching, training, development, and hitting and exceed my own goals drives me. And then there's altruistic, I want to help as many people as I can, even if it means it's at my own detriment, I'm not getting what I need, but as long as other people are. If you as a leader don't know which of those three is like we've got all three within us, but which of those three is truly what's driving someone, then you're trying to motivate them in the wrong way. And if you don't know, well, what does that mean specifically for them? So that's where it starts. And then accountability is just okay, now that we I understand what you're trying to get to, what's important, and we've laid out from the company goals, here's what we need to do to get you there, right? To help you, you know, whether it's you know, make a certain amount of money so you can, you know, use for your family or house, whatever vacation, whatever it is, or if it's um, hey, to get to be the best, your goals, and by getting you to to do more and improve, that will help you get there. Or if it's to help more people and by you improving or doing more will help more people. Once I've connected those dots, I now need to lay out a plan with you to go, well, how are we gonna get there? Not just the I've seen this too many times, like, okay, great, your goal is a million dollar, go to it. Right. No. Well, you know, even the best athletes go, you know, best salespeople go, I want to have a plan so I can be surgical and intentional versus just I'm gonna buckshot a bunch of stuff and hope something hits along the way and somehow I get there. Well, you got to help out that plan, then go, okay, along that way of that path with the plan and these things we're tracking and measuring, we're going to have these check-ins to see are we on track, are we off, and what do we need to adjust? But always relaying it back, it's so you can hit these goals for the company, which gets you the goals that you want. And now it's a purpose and it's motivations for their reasons, not yours.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Listen, you are hitting on some key points here. Key points here. You know, when when you were talking, I was thinking about this uh leadership principle, which says accountability drives performance when it is paired with support. And that's exactly what you were talking about there. And to every leader, you know, you're listening and you're watching, this is a great place for assessment, right? You're driving your team, you're you're giving them the mission, the metrics, but are you giving them the support? In order to see consistency, accountability has to be paired with support in order for you to see that growth. What a what a really valuable point that you have led us to, uh, Shad. So let me ask you this what then what are the key items to structuring my company to grow faster?

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Yep, four key items. Uh it builds in the things we've been talking about, right? Accountability, motivation, coaching, et cetera. But but it starts with, and you just said it a minute ago, um, the vision and mission. What what what is really what we're going after? Not just the here's the goal a year from now, three, but what are we going after and why? That's the start. And it may surprise you, may not, you know, across various industries, I've seen so many leaders and organizations that they've started a business and it's going, but they've never stepped back to go, where and where do I want this to go? And why and be intentional. Um, you know, and it doesn't have to be as a grand, like, oh my gosh, you've got to spend all this time. No, just sitting down going, this is what we're doing it for and why, right? And that direction. Because if if you can't clarify that and get clear in your mind, then your people won't be. You know, they're they're they're they're not gonna get behind you in a line if they're not clear on what that is. So that that first piece of strategy is the first key uh to growth is are you clear on that vision and mission? Are you clear on here's our ideal, if you think of it from revenue growth, here's our ideal customer and what that looks like that's going to help us get there, that we serve this vision and mission to? Here's where we go find them. Uh, here's um what our growth strategy looks like growing with our current clients and helping them more to the vision and mission versus getting new. Being very clear about that. That's the the starting point. Now, the next piece is the structure. You gotta have this, like you said, the support for accountability, the structure. So, what tools do we need to put in place in order for us to grow to get there? Well, very first one is we gotta have some sort of a process that we follow and be consistent with. And so mapping that out and going, here's what it is, and here's the problems, and here's how we're gonna fix it, and then here's how we'll utilize this through our organization. Train and coach our salespeople to use and help them get effective using it in their own voice and style. So it's natural, but then also using it as a tool for if my salespeople are struggling, being able to coach from it and go, okay, hey, now we understand why this deal is off track, not heading the right direction. Now we can use it to get back on or maybe disqualify and go, this was something we shouldn't be after. Hold them accountable to that. Uh, we talked about breaking down the goals and going, here's our plan. Well, there's got to be metrics and measurements along with that and checkpoints. That's part of the structure, even a structure of how do I, as we grow or if we turn people over, how do I go out and find and recruit new salespeople and evaluate them and bring them on and onboard them and ramp them up? Um, so many leaders I've talked to is they they go, well, sales is this art form, it's nebulous. And they don't put any process or structure around it because they just kind of naturally do it in their head and expect other people to. But the problem is that that would be like going to your accounting department and go, hey, you guys are kind of like an art form of what you do. So just kind of go figure out how to bring in like how to collect money and how to pay it out. Like you would never do that because you're like, it's too freaking important to the lifeblood of our organization. No, we've got to have process, we've got to have checks, we've got to have measurements, we've got to know if we're on track or not. Same thing. So that's the second is structure. Third is your your team, you gotta be able to evaluate and go what's there, what's missing. If we want them to get better, what what what do we even need to work on? And then the fourth is we call the the actual skills, and that's training going, okay, now let's train them up to be effective so we can get to our goals, utilizing the structure and tools, utilizing what we learned in that third part, the staff piece of evaluating our team. So that way we're not just throwing training and hoping it sticks, but we're actually training coaching to get to the outcomes we want and to help them truly improve.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

I love this. So then that takes us to our next question, right? Take us a little bit deeper. Talk to us truly about the role that coaching, training, and leadership communication plays in helping our teams to continuously, right? Because what I hear you saying is not a one and done. This should be a continuous process, right? So, what role does coaching, training, and leadership communication play in helping sales teams to continuously improve our results?

SPEAKER_00 15:20

And all three are important, Adrian. The number one that has the most the biggest impact is coaching. Um and the reason why is because that's where you really help people go from theory to application. And if done well, you're coaching individually to what's most important to them, right? Or what's unique to them. Because, like let's say you may be struggling with uh getting in front of decision makers, right? And maybe I'm struggling with uh, well, how do I I can get in front of them, but I can't, you know, uncover value and it all becomes about price. Well, I've got to coach individually to the problem that you're you're running into and have the tools to be able to figure that out through a line of questioning. So I'm working on the right problem, and then coach individually to get you to discover what to do and not tell you the biggest one of the challenges I see with law leaders is they go, I'm moving really quick. I got 18 other things. I'll just tell you to get it done, check the box. Also, they go, Well, it's easy for me in my head. I know how to fix this, so it's easy for you. And then they go, Okay, and plus I've saved time by doing this. Well, the problem is, all you've taught your person to do is come to you for the answer. Right. And then you probably have heard this where so many leaders come to you and like, my people just never can figure it out. And they ask me the same things again, again. The first question I ask is, Okay, what first off, what's the example again and again? I go, What walk, what what's your process when they come to you? And most of the times you hear they go, Well, ask a couple questions, they say, Here's the problem. I go, go do this. Why don't they get it? Because you've created what we call that learned helplessness. Now they just have learned, come to you, you solve it. A great coach is like a doctor. They go, I'm gonna diagnose first, what's the problem, why it's the problem, what impact it's having. And then instead of just giving you the answer, I'm gonna ask questions to get you to think from the training that we've done and the things we've communicated as a leader to you and through our company to apply those in a real life situation. And then I'm going to hold you accountable to where you're gonna apply those because great coaching has to come with behavioral change. Not effective if you and I just let's spend some time. Oh my gosh, Adrian, that would work. Oh, that's really good. If unless you go, here's what I'm specifically going to do and why and by when. So that way we put it into action. So those are key. It's always yes, we got to communicate clearly what we're looking for and why, train people, but the coaching piece is the most critical, and one of the areas where most leaders in that role struggle immensely.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Leaders, what's resonating with you right now? I want you to go ahead and talk to Chad and I put it in the comment section. I know that your wheels are turning as you're looking at and thinking about your own environments and leadership experiences that you've had throughout the year. So share, share, share. Tell us right now what's resonating with you. So, Chad, I'm a leader, right? We're leaders. How how then, when we look at the people that we want to hire, how do we um more effectively hire an onboard, not just an average salesperson, but a great salesperson?

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Yep. Um, well, first it starts with ideal. Do you know what even a great salesperson looks like? Most times what people do is they go first of just, well, uh, this is what my salespeople are like now. I go, okay, no, no, no. We're gonna talk about what ideal looks like. Um, not only like what do you need them to do, and clearly articulating that, but also the the culture and personality of right, like things like we talked about earlier, like that will the cell and drive, like, do they have that? Like you want to articulate that as they're very goal-driven, they're they want to go out and grow, they're coachable, they'll actually listen and apply coaching and training. Um, you know, being able to like this is their mindset and those sales DNA things, and these are the skills they have. What results have they brought in? Uh, what you know, if there's certain industry or industry adjacent that they need to have experience in, right? That's the first thing you got to identify what ideal is and then clearly articulate that into your job description and then to your ad. Now the next piece has to be okay, you're gonna get a lot of people applying, but now that you've got that ideal, it becomes easier and quicker to weed out and go, here's the ones that are on paper that look like the ideal. Now, the next thing to go is the worst thing you do is go, well, I'm just gonna interview them, kind of go with my gut. No. No, because people know how to say the right things and how to write the right things and how to tell you things that sound good. That doesn't mean that they actually can do what they say they can do and have those things. Next piece needs to be there has to be some sort of objective assessment that is used to assess not only their sales skills up front, but are they the right fit to your selling environment? We use one through a company called Objective Management Group that is specifically for that. And it's to help us figure out and our customers very quickly, do they actually have the sales skills you need as a in general to be a great salesperson, but also fit to your selling environment? They've had experience selling to the decision makers, your size of deals, your types of uh industries, your types of sales cycles, all that's important because you could always get somebody from your industry, a competitor, their salesperson, go, oh my god, they're they're gonna be great here because they they come from a competitor. The environment might be completely different from your environment, right? So you need something objectively to help now kind of weed the next group out. And then from there, now it's okay. Do I have the skills and know the questions asked to really understand? Do they have the experience? So many leaders go, hey, can you go out and prospect new clients? And they're like, Absolutely, I do it all the time. And they take it at face value versus how do you do that? How do you block time in your calendar? How do you uh get in front of them, especially in our industry where they're very resistant to being salespeople and so many are calling on them? Uh, what objections do you get and how do you work through those early on, right? Um, being able to ask, not just take it at face value, like, yep, I can do it. And it says on my resume, but how do you do it? And give me specific examples. Even things like role-playing, like take your hardest couple of situations your salespeople uh run into and make the candidate role play it out. Like they're not going to know the ins and outs of your business and your world, but they should know how to handle those situations and what to do in those situations, regardless of if it's your company or not. Right. And then to your point, you made that last point of onboarding. That's where a lot of people forget in this process. They just go, hired a great salesman. Salesperson, they should figure it out and they should take off something. No, even the greatest, you know, salespeople need to be onboarded appropriately in your organization. Also, it can communicate to them it's not our first rodeo. We know what we're doing. We're hired people before, and we see it's very important to get you off on the right foot and give you all the tools you need. So, do you even have a documented onboarding plan? Is it clear to everything that you need them to really figure out in the first three months and be able to start to apply to do? Where does ongoing coaching and training happen from there? Who's going to do it at what times? Right. Um, and it'll never be complete. Like we we literally just had a new guy start this morning with us. I've been here 12 years. Um, our iteration of our onboarding plan and the tools we use is vastly different from mine 12 years ago, which was the very first one we ever did. You will only get it like 80, 85% of the way right the first time, and even then it's ever evolving because you should go back to who you hired before and go, what did we miss in that first three months that would have made your life easier? Helped you along. And every time we find little iterations, it's like talk about this, or we need to train on this, or how to do this, or give me an application here. But that's what it needs to look like, and not just winging it, you know, and then just throw them in and hope that they figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Yeah, you know, as you're talking, I'm I was thinking to myself, you know, people love structure, even if they, you know, buck against it or you know, they ask a million questions, but people like structure. And I like what you said. Like once people they want to know that this is not your your first rodeo, right? They want to know that even when you hire some, when you get hired for a job, you want to know that you got hired because you were considered best for the job, not just because they thought you had a nice smile or you you said one or two things that caught their attention, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:57

And so you real quick on that, like to that point is you gotta think as an employer, like I'm evaluating them going, I I'm hoping they're the like I've done all my work, but you know, are they really the right fit? They're evaluating you too because they go, I left a situation that was not right. I hope to God I didn't walk into another one. And if you've got a good plan in place and go, okay, hey, here's what we're gonna do to help. Now they're starting to go. That buyer's remorse is starting to go down because they're like, okay, I I see the path, the anxiety is reducing. I made the right choice here.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Yes, absolutely. So we got two more questions, right? But I want to kind of turn, turn, turn the direction just a little bit, not the corner yet, but turn the direction just a little bit in terms of so we have leaders, they're in sales, right? And I want them to get some more value out of this conversation, right? So talk talk to us, talk to them. What do what do they what do we need to do to close deals faster?

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Uh close deals faster. Uh, the number one thing you need to do is go, well, there's a few things. Um, it starts with them in front of the right people that can make the decision. A lot of leaders don't have that problem, especially if you're owner president CEO, because you typically get the owner present CEO to come out of the woodwork, right? Because idle. But your people don't have that luxury. So are they getting in front of the right people consistently? Are they are they clear on who the right people are and able to get to them? Or if it's a complex buying group, identify it and then pull those folks in at the right times. Uh, number two, is there a compelling reason for them to make a change from what they're doing now? And that change can be we we have to buy your service or product, we just need to buy it from someone. So determining should we go from who we use now to someone else, or is it in the world we're in, nobody has to take due sales training coaching. So it's more about why should we do this? But can your people uncover the compelling reasons for that? And then also find out are those reasons truly something they're committed to? Right. You know, Adrian, it's like we we all have things in our life we complain about, but it doesn't mean I'm committed to putting time, effort, energy, and money behind fixing those things. Same thing with leaders. Like if I got competing priorities, it does not mean your product service or making the change to you is my top priority. Well, if we don't, those things right there, compelling reason, top priority decision makers, if those aren't stronger and clear up front, we are going to spend a lot of time trying to convince people to use us and try to close deals or chasing them for deals that will never close. So those three things are the biggest, like all the rest stuff that's important, but those three things are the biggest three that I see across industries, across size of businesses that deals stall out, don't close, is because of that.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

I love this. I love this, I love this. Ah, I'm enjoying this conversation. All right. As we turn the corner on this conversation here, I want to ask you this final question. For leaders that are listening and watching that are looking to elevate their performance quickly, what is one foundational shift in mindset or process or or leadership behavior that can create immediate impact?

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Know your people and focus on them. So two if we go back to two things I said earlier, coaching, very key. Well, that coaching is focusing on them because a great coach can't make it about me. Can't be about I want to, I want to tell you how you know how I would solve it and be how great, or I'm nervous if I ask you about this or talk about this, like that's uncomfortable for me, even though it's the right thing we need to ask or talk about. I and I don't want to go there. You gotta make it about your people if you want to help them get better. And the other thing when I say know them is know what motivates them, know what drives them and why. And if you can connect that back to the mission and vision goals, I mean I I've seen it here, is we do that a great we've I will say we've gotten much better over the years, but in the last five, six years doing a great job. And people here in our organization, Aleutian, will run through walls to get to to accomplish things because our leaders know us and what drives us and what's important to us. And when they coach, they're not afraid to ask the tough questions and to push us in the vein of helping us get to where we want to get to.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Wise words. I love this. I love this. What an amazing conversation that we've had an opportunity to have today. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, because I'm gonna go back and watch the replay. I know that there are leaders that are listening and watching that want to know more, want to know more. And so, what's the best way that our leaders can engage with you? What resources do you have available?

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Sure. Um, best way is go out to our website there, Lucian.com. Uh, if they'd like to engage with me, there's literally a button in the upper right that says Talk to Coach. They can drop down, pick me, and it fill out a form, it sends me an email and says, Hey, Adrian would like to grab time, and then I just schedule, you know, reach out, schedule time. On there, we also have blogs, white papers, videos on various topics, be it selling, sales leadership, sales management, leadership in general, that people can go out and watch, read, grab, download.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

I love that. 1000%. All right, viewers, you know, we like to support all of our guests. So you see the link here on the screen is also in the description box. I want to invite you to go ahead and engage with Shad. I want you to reach out to him, let him know that you saw this particular episode, saw or heard it, and let him know also what resonated with you. Because you know, we believe the community that grows together, learns together, learns together, grows together. Thank you so much for joining us today and for adding so much value to Transformation Station. It's been wonderful to have you with us today.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Thank you, Adrian, for having on great questions and great conversation. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

Absolutely. Thank you. Well, listen, I don't know about you, but I learned a lot today. What did I learn? You know, Chad reminded me that when leaders, when we start investing in coaching and accountability and culture, we create teams that don't just hit the goals, they build momentum that lasts. And if this episode today resonated with you, I want to invite you to go ahead and share it right now with two leaders in your network and don't just share it, have a conversation about it. Matter of fact, share it with your team. Use it at the beginning of one of your staff meetings and then have a discussion. I want to thank you for joining us here on Transformation Station Leadership Podcast. And until next time, keep leading with clarity, keep coaching with purpose, and keep on building the kind of team performance that transforms all results.