There’s an old mantra in regards to management that I believe originated at 3M. It’s quite simple and really sheds a good light on how to lead. Or rather what you should deem important in your engagement with the team. It goes like this:

Inspect what you expect them to respect — and in turn, they will respect what they expect you to inspect.

Don’t care if your team shows up on time or leaves early? Don’t inspect it, and they will fail to respect it.

Don’t care about the abandoned call rates in your service center? Don’t make the information visible or accountable, and they will fail to respect it.

On the other hand, if your close rates are critical to your company’s success then inspect them and, in turn, the team will respect them.

It’s a very simple process and one that can help you to be a better leader and lead your organization or industry across important benchmarking categories and enhanced sales success results.

I’d like to share a quick story to highlight this. And who knows, perhaps this classic originated at 3M:

Years ago, OK decades ago, a company was trying to sell new lighting to a manufacturing plant. They wanted to convince the plant owners that new lighting would make the plant more productive. So they decided to test and measure it. Portions of the plant were provided the bright new lights, and others were not. They monitored and measured the results.

Do you know what they found? Their results were not so much about the new lighting as they were about management and leadership and inspecting what you expect them to respect. You see, they discovered that employees are much more productive when they are watched. When the management team cares enough to keep an eye on the business operations, the employees sit up and pay notice and become more productive.

Inspect what you expect them to respect and in turn, they will respect what they expect you to inspect.

And remember, if you need help ‘inspecting’ to get the respect you expect, take time out to invest in sales management training, sales training seminars or an innovative leadership training workshop.

Obtaining the extra tools you need to efficiently inspect to find the respect your business requires will save you time and money. Eventually, the sales team will bring in larger returns as they begin to respect what you inspect and expect!