Ryan Dohrn advises on working with a new manager you don't click with. Start by asking how you can support them and what an ideal employee looks like. If that fails, document the issues and escalate to their boss before considering leaving.
What's going on, friends and fans? Ryan Dohrn here, your friendly neighborhood sales coach, and we're answering your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. We get a lot of questions, friends, and do my very best to either reply back to you or answer them right here on the podcast and on the video blog as well. All right, first question comes from Debbie out in California. Hey Debbie, thanks for your question. Hey Ryan, um, quick question for you. Just not getting along with my new sales manager. They are significantly younger than me, not sure exactly what I should do. Any advice is appreciated. Debbie. So Debbie, this is a, this is a pretty specific question, but I really chose it because I want to give you some thoughts from somebody that's been doing this a really long time and working with people older than me and working people younger than me. Don't give up. Now there's always circumstances where after everything you've tried, it's just not gonna— it just doesn't work out. And then either you need to find something or they need to find something else. But let's say don't give up. There have been so many I've had circumstances in my sales career where I haven't got along with somebody and then we end up splitting and going different directions. Then I realize, gosh, why did I ever do that? Or we go different directions and then end up being friends with that person, you know, later on. So I truly believe one of the best things you can do is first ask yourself, are you putting considerable effort in trying to make this a great relationship? Are you really going out of your way to listen? Are you going out of your way to be really productive? Are you pushing back at things when you really should just try to be understanding and observing things? Just remember, somebody that's a new manager, they've got to prove to the person that hired them that they're going to— they're doing a great job. And then part of it is they got to come in and just by nature of the beast, most people will come in and try to make a lot of changes. Now, if it was me, and for those of you that listen to the podcast, watch the videos and things like that, When I take on a new role, a new responsibility, I don't make that many changes. And it's what I refer to as being referred to me in my life is just recognize the 1-year rule. I don't make a whole lot of changes. But that doesn't seem like it's the case for most people. Most people feel like they've got something to prove. So just, Debbie, kind of put yourself in their seat or put yourself in their shoes and recognize that probably they're trying to prove something to somebody that hired them. And so you're getting kind of caught in the midst of that. Typically, Things will almost always get better. Okay, other thoughts for you is sitting down with that person and say, say, I really— don't say, hey, we're not getting along. Hey, I really want to have a great relationship with you here at work. I really want to be supportive of you. What can I do to really be supportive of you? What can I do to make your job easy? What can I do to make your life easier? The other thing is just kind of humbling yourself and saying, you know, I feel like You know, I just really want this to be a great working relationship. Have I done anything wrong? What can I do better? What can you use help on? What could I improve? What could I do to be the very— if you could paint a picture of the perfect employee, okay, what does that look like? All right, now Debbie, let's say none of those things work. All of those fail or none of them are applicable. At a certain point, you may need to go to that person's boss and say, I've tried it all. And then list all the things that you've tried to do to make it work. Don't just quit to quit. And I'm not saying you're doing that, Debbie. Don't ever— anybody, don't just quit to quit. Make sure you've exhausted every resource possible. Don't lose your cool. But more than anything, just recognize that you're in sales. And people that are in sales, we've got a common bond. A lot of times we're A personalities. A lot of times we're never going to be besties. But you don't have to be somebody's bestie to be really effective at work. Debbie, I recognize that sometimes these situations can be difficult, but hopefully some of that advice will help you stick around and keep this job rocking forward. I guarantee you, or I hope to guarantee you, that it'll end up being a great relationship with your new sales manager. Friends, keep your questions coming. Love to answer them. ryan@ryandohrn.com is the email address. Love to come to your office to speak at your national sales meeting and get people really pumped up. Never forget, friends, if this job was easy, everybody'd be doing it, and they're not. We're the chosen few. These are great sales jobs. It's going to feed your family for a lifetime. All right. Reach out to me on ryandohrn.com. Otherwise, we'll see you next week. Keep those questions coming.
