Kevin is a "D Squared" sales manager. He is Driver's Driver—focused, direct, aggressive and bottom-line oriented.

This management style helped him when the team was in a crisis, turnaround mode. However, the crisis was over and his star salesperson, Mark, was tired of Kevin's business-only, bottom-line orientation.

Mark, who also had a strong sales record, believed that it was important to get to really know people, to connect on an emotional level before discussing business issues.

In fact, Mark was so tired of Kevin's overly aggressive approach that he submitted his resignation. A resignation from the largest revenue producer on his team caught Kevin's attention.

It was then that Kevin realized that to retain Mark, he'd have to alter his communication style when speaking to him. Instead of directing Mark with a list of "To-dos" that need to be "checked off" by the end of the day, Kevin needed to slow down, spend some time with Mark, asking about how things were going. He had to learn to collaborate with Mark.

Knowing the communication style of your people is critical to your role as sales manager.

Learn to communicate in a way that resonates with each individual on your team. Just knowing this information dramatically improves understanding. You must learn different communication styles, i.e. DiSC, and master communicating in each.

What you say is not as important as how you say it.

Developmental Question: What unique communication styles do your salespeople have? How have you changed your communication style to enhance their understanding?

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