The Co-opetition Culture

Over the years of consulting with B2B sales teams, I have noticed four characteristics of all B2B sales teams:

1. Salespeople love recognition for their success;
2. Salespeople can be very competitive;
3. Salespeople have difficulty sharing information; and
4. Salespeople can be envious of other’s success.

When I consulted for Nike, I found their corporate culture was full of energy, focus on achievement, and transparency. The reason? Nike has value that cultivates this spirit of vibrancy called “Co-opetition”.

Yes, Compete and Cooperate as individuals who are part of a team.

The foundations of this “Co-opetition Culture” are: respect for each other, knowing that “together we are better”, and transparency so both success and failures can be openly recognized for celebration or learning by failing forward.

A B2B sales manager can take these actions to create a “Co-opetition Culture” that leads to better sales team performance:

1. Actively employ the skill of “Giving Recognition” to those sales people that achieve both Leading and Lagging KPI’s and those that share information to help other sales people;
2. When coaching sales people who are stuck or below plan, employ the skill of “Giving Constructive Feedback” that focuses on KPI’s, skill, and problem solving rather than blame;
3. “Losing Face” is making public what should be kept private.” In poor performing sales organizations, sales coaches or people who are insecure have difficulty in bringing their below-par performance out in the open. Harmony and keeping face then takes priority over team problem solving for improvement. Signal Transparency is part of your Sales Culture: “Some disharmony now leads improvement and to greater harmony and less stress in the future”;
4. Foster team openness and let the team know it is safe to bring sales issues out in the open. This promotes sharing and learning. Every sales meeting, have each salesperson highlight a “War Story”;
5. Regularly celebrate individual achievement and improvement in your team sales meetings. Have each person share a “Success Story” on a key account strategy, tactic, or help they receive from other team members;
6. Study the “5 Love Languages in the Workplace” by Dr. Chapman and learn how recognize how different sales people want be respected and appreciated; and
7. Finally, in sales meetings, positively recognize those salespeople that can securely share failures, helpful solutions, and credit others for support in achieving sales goals. Always signal that being a secure salesperson is a plus.

If you would like to learn the skills a sales manager can employ to foster “Co-opetiton” in his/her sales team, click on the link below.

Have a great week instilling the spirit of “Co-opetition” in your sales teams!