How to Respond When Your Manager Demands Too Much

Barry Maher (pronounced Marr), author of No Lie: Truth Is the Ultimate Sales Tool (McGraw-Hill, 2003), speaks and consults on sales and sales management. He offers the following suggestions for responding to unreasonable demands from your manager.Avoid these ineffective ways to communicate:

• The Silent-Suffering Method. Never mention the problem. Just let it eat at you and poison everything you do.

• The Poor-Little-Me Method. Complain to everyone about the problem – except the boss.

• The Accuse Method. Accuse managers as if they have it in for you or as if there is some vast corporate conspiracy to ruin your life and ensure that you fail.

Instead, use these effective strategies:

• Raise the issue by separating the behavior that’s causing the problem from the personalities.

• Put any stated or implied criticism within the context of the positive aspects of what your boss is doing.

• Propose a solution that lets the manager see you know what you want.

• Give solid business reasons for the change(s) you’re requesting.

• Present the problem as a mutual one, not something that’s the manager’s fault.

• Try to understand your manager’s position, his or her pressures and goals.

• Focus on the WIIFM – the “what’s in it for me” for your manager.

• Don’t say or imply, “You’re a rotten manager,” or “You don’t know how to sell or to sales train.”

Instead, tell your sales manager, “Bill, I always appreciate your suggestions. I know there’s a huge amount I could learn from you. And what I think would make it even more productive from my point of view would be if we could focus on just one issue at a time during ride-along sessions. When I try to change several different things at once, I end up not doing anything well, and the sale goes out the window. If we just worked on one thing at a time, I think I could make better progress and generate more sales sooner.”

Maher offers this final advice: “Remember that this is a sales call too – an internal sales call on your boss. Just like with a customer, keep in mind the WIIFM, the ‘what’s in it for me’ for your boss. Always know your manager’s goals (learned through fact finding), and figure out how you can help them meet them.”

For more information, email info@barrymaher.com.