On Sales Leadership

I think I have started, and restarted from scratch on this article 4 times now. I do find it to be healthy because it has helped me flesh out some thoughts before I hit publish. My feelings are that many of us have been in situations where we are struggling with some kind of sales leadership team, manager, or something of a similar sort. And what fascinates me is that there are countless, and I mean countless; studies, white papers, thought leaders, books, ted talks etc… on effective sales leadership. Yet there are still scenarios where it seems a leader or leadership team is completely unaware of the environment they are creating.

What Do Some Of Those Experts Say?

There is no shortage of “thought leaders,” out there who can offer insights to sales leadership, and how to get the most out of your team. While there may be a lot of fluff out there, some of these guys have changed my life for the better.

Jeffrey Gitomer is someone I have followed for most of my professional career. I might own every single *little book of* and have read them all multiple times.

He has an article on his site that you can read here, where he talks about sales greatness in the 21st century. One of the 22.5 components stands out to me in an epic way.

“Transition from salesperson to resource.”

A simple and understated thought, but one that resonates with me in an overwhelming way. I’ve essentially used this as a foundational piece to my career. Sales people are a dime a dozen. There isn’t going to be a shortage any time soon.

The need to be a resource is true for Realtors especially. Giving valuable information with no expected return is a powerful mindset to possess. At this time, it is still somewhat unexpected for prospects to experience. Everyone already thinks they know everything, right? People think they know what to expect from a sales person.

You stand out in a powerfully positive way when you are the resource that they can go to. For me the idea is to be the known expert in your field, so that the prospect(s) will come to you for the information they need. This is where the relationship is built and you can guide the prospect to a sale.

Over in an article on LinkedIn, Gary Vaynerchuk says the two most importance leadership traits are empathy and kindness. Sitting on that for a few minutes, I can’t think of anything to really argue it. If a sales manager’s job is to increase productivity from his sales reps, those are crucial traits to possess.

In my experience the most important thing is to be a pillar of encouragement for your sales reps. Empathy and kindness towards your team is more encouraging than trying to nitpick and force them into behaviors that don’t work.

Cutting Corners At The Expense Of Ethics

Oh the temptation that salespeople can endure. Numbers are struggling, management breathing down your neck, and you see the opportunity to maybe omit some details a prospect needs to know…but omitting them will help you get it closed.

This is the kind of behavior that an effective sales leader will try to eliminate from their environment. Cutting corners for the short term play has repeatedly been known to blow up in someone’s face, yet it is still a common practice. This covers all industries from real estate, to retail, to SaaS. No matter the realm, it will come up.

I feel that the easiest way to create an environment of ethical sales practice, is to lead by example. If you are a sales leader who performs unethical actions and tactics, your team will likely emulate you and that will cause issues further down the line.

If you are someone who can truly lead by an ethical example, you are not only going to foster a more positive selling environment. You will also encourage better results by removing that potential stressor from the shoulders of your team.

Understanding Each Team Member

This is probably the most important facet in my eyes. People are different, and require different amounts of coaching, encouragement and supervision. The first thing a sales leader needs to do is gather a full understanding of each team member. Keep a set of notes if necessary.

You are selling to your team. As a leader you are selling yourself as their leader, and selling them on success in your organization. So that step of building value and open communication is incredibly important.

If Nancy does not need supervision and really looks to your 1:1s for ideas to increase on a certain metric, let her earn that space. Have a discussion if results aren’t generated for a way you both can adjust, but otherwise nurture her needs.

If William needs more supervision or someone to bounce ideas off of often, be that leader and set aside the time to do so.

If you can’t understand who your team members are as individuals, then you are in the wrong line of work. Just like prospects, your team will perform better when a basic human desire like being understood occurs.

Wrap Up

I appreciate you taking the time to read this post. I had an urge to jot down some of my thoughts on sales leadership. While it took some restarts, I think this gives a bit of a high-level view of where my mind is at.

From my experiences in the past, this is something that has become more important to me. If you are someone in leadership and this helps you, then I’m incredibly happy.

Thank you again for reading, and for sharing. 🙂