As a child, I have two distinct memories. The first involved my mom picking me up from soccer practice as I sat on the side of the field crying. My coach had yelled at me for playing poorly (I wasn’t exactly the next David Beckham), and I just wanted to go home. The second revolved around my first few days of t-ball. I was new to the team, had never played before and was the only girl. I was scared and nervous (what girl wouldn’t be? Boys had cooties), but my coach eased my worries and took the time and effort to teach me how to be good at the game. Which team do you think I enjoyed playing for and excelled at?
     Managers and supervisors can learn from their childhood days. No one wants to play for the coach that is constantly yelling on the sidelines, berating his or her players. Sure that coach may see results in the beginning, but I highly doubt that the players are enjoying what they are doing enough to return to that team year after year. When it comes to the workplace, employees want to be in an environment that offers positive feedback and coaching. Great salespeople do not perform as effectively in a place that constantly downplays their achievements. The most effective salespeople are the ones that are satisfied with their job and take pleasure in what they do, and I’m willing to bet that these happy employees don’t work for bosses that are always criticizing and yelling.
      Oftentimes, an employee will make a mistake, and a manager will need to confront them, but there are certain approaches that they can take to make a meeting more beneficial to both parties. Instead of beginning the conversation by immediately accusing the employee of doing something wrong, ask them how they think they are performing and if they believe that they need to improve anywhere. Use positive language when you are talking to them because people will tune you out once you start telling them what they are bad at, and you won’t see any good results from the conversation.
    If you yell at employees and don’t treat them well, then you may as well be saying goodbye to your salespeople and their clients. Take the time to invest in creating a positive work environment and you will begin to see your sales progress.