balance of knowing when to interject ef- fectively. Not allowing your crew to work through small challenges on their own can stunt their growth. Trust them to know when it’s appropriate to escalate a challenge to you, and let them trust in your intuition to step in. Remember, a soldier doesn’t affix their bayonet until the situation requires it, and similarly you should know when your sales reps can truly benefit from your involvement. Ensure your team has other “plan B” bayonets stashed in their pack, like a well- defined stop-gap solution when a system goes down or a schematic of the applicable
circumnavigations. Don’t just put it on paper, make it a practiced behavior. That, too, lies on your shoulders. Find equanimity between these two concepts and your staff will respect your earnest endeavors to help them. They’ll support you in kind. Over time, you’ll feel the cohesiveness that comes with the territory of performing repeated perfectly executed missions together. MI Cyph Shah is the manager of Astro Audio Video Lighting in Glendale, California. He’s also the lead instructor of the DJ School, Astro Mix Lab and designs AVL systems as Astro AVL’s installation foreman. He’s toured the country as a DJ for more than 20 years.
buying choices and inventory fluctuate between supplier brands, the dealer may be incognizant to the misalignment between their backstock and showroom display models. Any of the aforementioned can result in the customer walking out empty handed instead of rolling out that new QSC subwoofer. Observe these occurrences while you go about your business and then do a mild-mannered post-mortem with your employee after each to understand what took place and where they met that resis- tance. Most employees will not actively vocalize why a sale went south because it’s not a success story. Teaching by ex- ample is always a good move, but don’t get so tied up in trying to fix today’s lost opportunity that you fail to see the big- ger picture. Appreciate that oftentimes optimization can’t be solved right away and may require some engineering. Tweaking the back-end of your POS sys- tem with your developer or tracing audio cables through a spaghetti nest might have to be done one bite at a time. Either way, take notes on what your team tells you and then collectively evaluate a solution from multiple perspectives to vet it against potential pitfalls. From this routine they will become more inclined to engage their own critical thinking tendencies and offer you solutions proactively. And, because they know this information will be well-received and acted upon, they’ll quickly tune into the fact that it’s in their best interest to report any hindrances dwelling within the tools that are supposed to facilitate closing sales. This means you’re not flying into combat blind and they’re not feeling ill-equipped. You’re getting manageable reporting and resolutions from the front lines. With this you’re not only providing a well lubricated, finely-tuned barrel for them to execute mis- sions with, you’re also fostering decentral- ized command, which will free up your time for other money-making matters. THE BAYONET: ALTERNATE STRATEGY DEPLOYMENT A bayonet serves as an alternate strategy when ammunition is depleted or conflict is too close range for standard practices to be effective. Its presence signals added security and preparedness. On occasion, a sales con- versation may warrant your direct, immediate involvement. You’re the bayonet, deployed as an additional tool to aid in overcoming the more urgent impediment. The typical manager fallacy is that they’re often either too hands-on or too hands-off, lacking a
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