There is so much written about leadership on LinkedIn, there would be enough to stock a library. There are more experts than needed to fill a conference hall. I’ve been managed for nearly a 1,000 years and been managing for over two decades. So what makes a great Sales Leader? What makes for great Sales Leadership? Do you need to be a “horse” before you can become a “jocky”? Do you just take the best sales talent and make them a Sales Manager? In the case of the former, sales is one of the few professions where you really do need to have been a field sales person to become a successful and effective manager. From my experience, those that never “carried a bag” were obvious from the moment you engaged with them. With respect to talent, great sales people can make great Sales Leaders, but not very often. Great Sales individual contributors usually have quite different attributes and traits.
So what makes a great Sales Leader?
1. Hire great talent and then delegate to it
The best in their class hire the best they can, regardless of gender, race, or creed and then create the framework, establish the co-ordinates of success and then generally let you get on with it. There is a strong feedback loop, both formally (usually via weekly progress or forecast calls) and informally which will take the form of a “check in” call. These type of leaders will hire on the basis of skill and experience. They then let you get on with it. I never cease to be amazed how often I have been recruited for “my experience” then proceed to get trodden on by somebody less able who cannot delegate.
2. Authenticity
Nobody likes a surprise, but most of all, we all like to be able to trust our fellow humans. In the workplace even more so. Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, politician, and philosopher during the Renaissance period who gave his name to behaviour which could best be described as “cunning and lacking in moral code”. In the modern organisation, it is no surprise that “Machiavellionism” is alive and kicking as a behavioural trait amongst many leaders. Few of us though gravitate towards them naturally and given a choice we steer clear. Deep down, most of us prefer the sheer simplicity of somebody who is as they say they are and lead by doing what they ask others to do. Nobody likes a liar, but unfortunately, most of us will have reported to at least one in our time.
3. Adherence to Sales Process
The best sales leaders will follow a process and it is more likely that their teams will out perform their quotas as a result. This process cannot be too onerous. In large complex sales it is likely to be weekly in the form of forecasting, opportunity review and discussion and typically there will be a sales methodology in place. I have used most that are available (or have been in vogue) over the years, MEDDIC is a personal preference because of the focus on monetised benefits for the client, but there are elements of Strategic Selling and The Challenger model that are also pertinent. It pays to be pragmatic and utilise the elements that are relevant to that particular situation.
4. Being a flexible Coach
It may seem obvious, but different sales people are motivated in different ways and have different needs. When I shared a LinkedIn post recently about “Carrot and Stick” approaches to Sales Management not working, it stimulated some interesting debate from some very senior sales people I have worked with in the past 15 years (link below)
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6516597131023839232
The overall consensus was that compensation does have a correlation on behaviour, and whilst it is not feasible to have a “myriad of different compensation plans” each individual is motivated differently. More importantly, each member of the team has different coaching needs, even where the experience and demographic profile is broadly similar.
5. Intuition
All great sales people have this in large quantities and so do great Sales Leaders. You can teach most of the skills required to be successful in the role, but this is one that has to be present as a natural resource in the first instance. At its most valuable, intuition manifests itself during customer meetings and the ability to provide tactical mentoring and coaching whilst undertaking opportunity reviews.
Over the years, I have been fortunate to see my own mentoring have not just a tangible effect on helping conclude transactions, but also their ultimate value. I have also seen advice ignored or been proven to be prescient when opportunities have failed to conclude as forecasted!
6. Having a Plan
Any team needs to know where it’s headed and what is it’s purpose. A plan is a must for all great sales leaders and this will have been written, alongside their management team with input from other key stakeholders before the sales year commences. It will be based on the target or quota handed down. The strategy will build out from Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Plans and prescribe a number of actions. The plan will be live and reviewed monthly at the leadership team meeting. It will certainly be communicated by that leadership team to their direct reports and the whole organisation will have their own plans designed to deliver that strategy.
7. Being a Strategist
Great Sales Leaders will be visionaries. They will paint the picture of where the organisation is headed and produce a plan of how to get there. A strategist will also seek the “buy in” of their direct reports, peers and other key stakeholders at the onset. Where strategy can be of real value to the sales force is during the management of a commercial transaction. Having a plan is paramount as I indicated above, but setting and agreeing the strategy to close a commercial transaction is vital. Over performing Sales teams will be characterised by strategy, precision in actions and following a plan. However, as Mike Tyson once famously said,
“everybody has a plan until they get a smack in the mouth”.
A great Sales Leader can then adapt their strategy and revise that plan accordingly.
8. Sales Experience
Sales is one of the few vocations where being a “horse” is imperative to becoming a “jockey”. In short, if you haven’t walked the walk, “carried a bag” and effectively done the job yourself, you genuinely won’t be of huge value to the sales people out there in the field. Anybody can read a book and manage Excel, but intuition (as we saw above) is a key requisite and in sales much of that comes from experience. The great Sales Leaders I worked with all had field experience without exception. One has often remarked and indeed been quoted, that
“I would never ask anybody to do something that either I haven’t done or would do.”
The crazy instructions I have received (and largely ignored) over the years have largely been received from those that went straight into Sales Management without being an individual sales contributor first. And boy did it show! Many were left to reside back at HQ to concentrate on their Excel skills and the latest plans to decorate their considerable office.
9. Being a Deal Maker
Constructing a deal is an essential part of Sales Leadership, especially in complex solutions and negotiations. The latter can be taught, the former results from intuition and experience. Many sales people will resort to the “discount calculator” if left unattended and not consider the wider picture.
A senior Sales Leader has to use their experience to construct a commercial proposition that delivers what the prospect needs from a quantifiable benefits perspective but is also within the range of possible and permitted options from the selling organisation. Having the ability to assimilate all options, previous situations and mashing it up with new thinking and creativity is paramount.
As a sales person, I am sure we have all had that sinking feeling when we have asked the question, of a leader: “what should we do?” only to be met with a blank expression!
10. Humilty and Empathy
In a vocation where being an “alpha” personality is overrated and over wrought, humility is a key commodity for any great Sales Leader. The best I reported to all had it in spades. Discussion and debate were encouraged even if decisions remained unchanged at the end of it. The worst have had zero humility and there have been a lot of them! One UK MD I had the pleasure of working with genuinely thought that by blessing a meeting with his presence at a meeting with the CEO of a £200m food manufacturer would result in the transaction being closed there and then.
“This is the 21st Century!”
I reminded him as his considerable ego was pricked on the way back to the airport,
“nobody will sign there and then just because you have showed up”.
Empathy is just as important and goes hand in hand with self awareness. Again, don’t be surprised how often these traits are missing from Senior Sales Leaders out there. Sales teams love leaders who are able to understand them, what makes them tick and what they need “from above”. One leader I had seemed to pride himself on his ability to “tread on my toes” whilst undertaking a considerable number of tasks that were really my domain. What was particularly galling aside from the undermining of my authority, was the tacit inability to “get right” the tasks he was undertaking in the first place. Clueless and lack of self awareness are common bedfellows.
