How to be a real sales leader, and not just a sales manager.
Imagine, just for a moment if you will, that you’re a sales representative.
Now, depending on the industry that you work in, you might call yourself an account manager, territory manager, client service representative, product specialist or even salesperson.
As a salesperson you fully understand that your minimum expected standard of performance is to achieve your sales targets. You know that, and yet typically, you’re being constantly reminded of the point by your sales manager, who at every opportunity keeps flashing the targets and how close or far you are away from achieving them.
As a salesperson, you never turn up to work with the intention of not making a sale, and yet, your sales manager appears to keep focusing on the sales that you’re not making.
As a salesperson, you’re typically struggling with having to operate in an environment of ‘sameness’. Your competitors can usually offer what you offer for around the same price, quality, service and delivery standards. You’re typically struggling with being able to differentiate in the market place, and yet your sales manager just doesn’t seem to understand how tough it is to compete when there’s no obvious point of differentiation in your favour.
As a salesperson, you might also be struggling with some of the following questions:
- How do you balance short-term budgets with long term relationship building?
- How do you sell a product that is more expensive than your competitors?
- What do you do when what you say will be delivered, might not always get delivered?
- How do you survive when your competitors aren’t playing on a level playing field?
- How do you win more business from existing clients?
- How do you find new business when your competitors seem to already have a foothold?
- How do you sell and compete in this type of market and do it ethically and with solid principles and values, that enable you to sleep well at night?
As a salesperson, you’re typically keeping most of these questions and the struggle you might be having with them, all to yourself.
Salespeople today, in all industries, are looking for sales leaders who can help them deal with the tough competitive market that they’re working in.
Attending sales meetings that constantly focus on the numbers can create a ‘budget blow-out’. Salespeople get so concerned with the budget, it’s all they think of. They become budget focused and not client focused. They spend more time worrying, than on developing and implementing success habits and activities that are revenue producing.
Real sales leaders...
- don’t just hold sales meetings to tell salespeople what their sales results are – salespeople already know how they’re tracking–.reminding them can just cause frustration.
- hold meetings where they discuss success habits, effective sales strategies, and personal development opportunities.
- look for ways to help their salespeople discover and pursue their potential.
- have their sales meetings well planned out in advance, look forward to facilitating them, and know that they will be able to create value for their salespeople, work with them to discover new opportunities, reflect and learn from the past, and build momentum to achieve in the future.
- never forget that their salespeople want to make budget, and never forget that we all operate in competitive markets.
- help their salespeople discover reasons why their existing clients should do even more business with them and why potential clients will want to start doing business with them.
- don’t just manage the budget, they accept the responsibility and accountability, and then discover ways to lead and develop their people through effective sales meetings that will increase the salespeople’s capacity to connect emotionally and intellectually with their existing and potential clients.
If you’re a sales manager, and any of the above causes you to shift just a little nervously in your seat, then it’s time to step up, take action on the areas outlined and become the leader that your salespeople need, to help them (and you) achieve their potential.