Tweet

10 Attributes of the CEO Who Drives Sales and More

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: My second conversation was with an effective CEO who is completely unlike those that I described in the other article. My good CEO has the following 10 qualities that have a positive impact on the sales force:

10 Attributes of the CEO Who Drives Sales and More



I had two conversations that were in stark contrast to one another.

The first was with an executive who told me that the company must have their salespeople selling more consultatively to better differentiate themselves in the global market, so they began training on SPIN selling - a year ago. I told him that was a good start and wondered if they experienced the same thing as most companies that train on SPIN selling - it is a great questioning strategy but their salespeople simply can't apply it or execute it.

[Note - SPIN is a questioning strategy developed by Neil Rackham but it is not a sales process. If you are familiar with my sales process and book" href="http://www.dkatraining.com/baselineselling" target="_blank">Baseline Selling sales process and book by the same name, SPIN would take place between 1st and 2nd Base.]

Back to the story...This executive said that their salespeople aren't able to demonstrate any more competance than they were a year ago but he didn't want to upset anybody, anything, any apple carts, any vendors, any salespeople, etc. He believed he had all the answers despite his own evidence pointing to the contrary. I mentioned that he was talking out of both sides of his mouth and he even agreed with that! He was simply too invested in maintaining the status quo and keeping the peace to change anything. A powerful, consistent formula - for failure.

You may have read my article from earlier this week when I described Sales Forces" href="http://www.omghub.com/salesdevelopmentblog/tabid/5809/bid/13871/10-CEO-s-and-the-Impact-They-Have-on-Their-Sales-Forces.aspx" target="_self">10 CEO's and the Impact They Have on Their Sales Forces. The executive above was a combination of #1 and #9.

My second conversation was with an effective CEO who is completely unlike those that I described in the other article. My good CEO has the following 10 qualities that have a positive impact on the sales force:

1. He asks questions and listens when he doesn't have the answers;
2. He has very little patience for incompetence;
3. He holds people accountable;
4. He lets people know where they stand;
5. He demands the best from everyone;
6. He leads the way and drives change;
7. He sets clear expectations and has consequences for failure;
8. He isn't afraid to terminate anyone;
9. He is very decisive;
10. He knows that revenue is King.

He has many more good qualities but these ten stand in contrast to the ten I wrote about in the previous article.

If you lead a company or a sales organization, which leader would you like to emulate?

Related Articles
  Brand Building An Architectural View
  McDonald’s Success is Built on Acceptance & Rejection
  180 and 360 Degree Assessments for the Sales Force
  Five Attributes To Lead You To S.A.L.E.S. Success
  Do I Have What It Takes to Succeed in Sales?
  Use It or Lose It 5 steps to choosing your most powerful and effective personal brand attributes
  6 Attributes of Franchise Systems Worth Investing In
  But I'm a Sales Guy - The Story of Motivation and Compensation
  Simplicity and Elegance: Expressing Your Core Competencies
  Solopreneurs: What Makes You A Solopreneur
  Five Attributes of Entrepreneurs
  4 Secrets to Attracting What You Want
  SELL SMARTER; NOT HARDER: Part 2
  Selling is a Profession that Requires Professional Leadership
  Develop These Attributes For Achievement
  How to Handle the Heat - Insurance Sales Training
  Has anyone applied complexity theory to business in a practical way?
  What Does Leadership Mean
  It's Results That Define Leadership
  How to Identify Your Big Ideas

Article Tags: apple, baseline, ceo, contrary, conversations, failure, global market, images, keeping the peace, neil rackham, questioning strategy, salespeople, stark contrast, target, train



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
Re: SEO... - 1: Find the Best Keywords 2: Discover Your Competitors 3: Optimize Your Title 4: Optimize Your META Tags 5: Use Headings 6: Use Title and ALT Attributes 7: Nomenclatures 8: Create a Site Map Page 9: Include a robots.txt File 10: Install a sitemap.xml for Google MySQL/Oracle:
Hello From Marietta GA! - Hello All! My name is Tim Naylor and I am in Direct Sales! I am glad I have found EC's sites and I hope to learn and share a lot!
taxes in canada - Well in Canada we only have a few provinces and the Sales tax is slightly different. Here in Ontario the Goods & Services tax has reduced to 5% from 7% in the last year due to the promises made by the government in place.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Mistakes Made by New or Inexperienced Sales Staff

Top Ten Feeble Follow-up Attempts to Fathom

Five keys to business success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.