He’s a divisive character, but he’d be great at fixing an underperforming sales organisation.
The media often portrays him as a rude bully, but I watched a few of his TV programs recently and whilst he can certainly be abrasive, saw an inspirational, tough, focused and caring individual in action. Someone who wins the hearts and minds of the team he’s working with and gets results.
If you haven’t seen any of the programs, here’s a quick summary….
He is tasked with turning around struggling restaurants and hotels. He’s usually their last hope. The owners are up to their eyes in debt, marriages are strained, everything’s riding on the business and almost without exception the owners are part of the problem and in denial.
Have you ever met someone in the hospitality industry and wondered what on earth they are doing working in it? Well, you get to see plenty of them.
Gordon starts off by assessing the business. He looks at presentation, décor, how the staff are dressed, the menu, training and processes, levels of hygiene and cleanliness. He then sits down with the owner(s) and gets the true financial picture and lays out exactly what’s going to happen to them if things don’t change quickly.
It’s always a lack of sales that’s the problem.
An authority in his field, he always has a clear plan.
Gordon remains objective throughout and crucially, has the courage to tell it how it is. He spends time with the staff, often uncovering a hidden gem. The major problems are invariably with the owner and their senior staff, the head chef or hotel manager. They’re the ones who are failing, often with the owner being completely blind to the shortcomings of the key person they have entrusted their business with.
Gordon clearly has no need for approval. He’s not there to be their friend and doesn’t care if people like him or not. He’s there to do a job. He’s not interested in managing by consensus, instead he explains what needs to be done, how it’s going to happen and by when. Staff are encouraged to be part of it, those who don’t want to change are given an ultimatum and if they choose to leave that’s okay.
This got me thinking about a sales organisation we evaluated a couple of years ago. The assessment reports highlighted a long list of problems that needed fixing. However, the client was not prepared to spend the time and money on making the necessary changes. Recently, I rang the director I had dealt with and asked what, if any new processes they had since put in place. As I anticipated, the answer was none. Keen to help them get something moving, I asked whether he and a senior colleague from the sales team would like to attend a sales masterclass I was hosting.
The response was “I’ll run it by the guys and see what they think”. I didn’t hear back.
Rather than take control like Gordon Ramsay, his plan was to run it by that same group to see what they thought. That type of leadership is worthless. It’s like Gordon knowing the quality of food and service is rubbish and then leaving any decisions on how to fix the problems up to the chef and his staff.
When running a sales organisation, don’t wait, expecting your sales staff to make the changes needed. Because they won’t.
As a business leader, I encourage you take ultimate charge of your sales organisation, because the buck stops with you.
