Sales Management and Leadership – They aren’t the same!©
Sales Management and Leadership – They aren’t the same!©
Most Sales Managers are trained in the management and administration skills, but few are taught Leadership. They are simply expected to Lead – a very poor and risky strategy.
I want to discuss General Leadership development first.
Leadership – Setting Visions/Goals and then empowering and motivating others to accomplish those Visions/Goals.
Some people demonstrate Leadership skills naturally. We saw them as we were growing up. They were the student council leaders, athletic team captains, club presidents, etc.
Most managers will need training in Leadership and that takes a commitment from the corporation because it will take time and dedication. But the rewards can be phenomenal. The company will have to:
• Commit to the development of people.
• Commit to developmental programs - the key word for training is developmental.
• Commitment to the long haul, unfortunately, nothing good ever seems to happen quickly. So the corporation must keep driving people development regardless of other initiatives, programs, and events.
From our experience, it takes a minimum of 6– 12 months and you shouldn’t rush it. This is not an event.
There are 3 stages of development.
• Bring the “Leadership vision” into the culture – make it part of the organization and start to get “buy in” from all the future participants. Create anticipation.
• Conduct the development programs company wide – bring in all the departments. This will create Leaders throughout the organization as well as enhance the overall working environment.
• Re-enforce training, support it, and use it. Make the training part of regular personnel assessments, reviews, etc. You get what you inspect.
Leadership is not just the CEO or president; it must be in all levels of a corporation.
Imagine how your company’s bottom line would be affected if all your managers could fulfill a Leadership role when needed and therefore improved performance by just 3% - 8% or more?
Now, Sales Team Leadership can do that and much more.
The Sales Team Leader needs to do two things – develop the teams’ skills and then lead them to success.
• First, the Leader must know the skills and knowledge base that each team member needs to do their job.
• Second, the Leader must rate each team member’s competency in each skill and knowledge base.
• Third, train and enhance skills and knowledge where needed.
Why is this necessary?
We can’t simply allow people to develop on their own. If you want your people to perform the skills and use the knowledge base competently you must teach them the skills and knowledge base you want them to use. If you leave it up to them, they will learn something. Hoping it is what you want is really risky.
No one has a “skill vacuum.” If they aren’t taught, they will create it themselves. Just like children, if you don’t teach them your values, they will create their own. If the need is there, it will be met, somehow.
Now the Leadership role grows. Once the goals for the sales team are set every Leader does the following in some form.
1. Create a Vision for each of the tasks
2. Create the Team to develop and achieve the GPS - that is, the Goal, Plan, and Steps to accomplish the Vision
3. Empower the Team
4. Produce Short Term successes to keep the GPS alive
5. Stick with it for the Long Haul
# 5 may be the most important step. How many of you have been in companies who get all excited about a new program, push it hard for a few weeks, and then get all excited about another program? The first program never has success because it was not given time to develop.
In conclusion, Leadership offers many benefits and most organizations will need to specifically develop this skill for its managers. It takes Leadership to bring it in, however.
The rewards will be well worth the effort.
Sell Well and Often,
Bill Truax
© Copyright 2006 WJ Truax
Sales Management and Leadership They arent the same - To learn more about this author, visit Bill Truax's Website.
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Today Sales Managers usually have two roles. First, they have to manage and administer the sales team. Second, they are also expected to demonstrate Leadership of the sales team. These are two different roles.
Most Sales Managers are trained in the management and administration skills, but few are taught Leadership. They are simply expected to Lead – a very poor and risky strategy.
I want to discuss General Leadership development first.
Leadership – Setting Visions/Goals and then empowering and motivating others to accomplish those Visions/Goals.
Some people demonstrate Leadership skills naturally. We saw them as we were growing up. They were the student council leaders, athletic team captains, club presidents, etc.
Most managers will need training in Leadership and that takes a commitment from the corporation because it will take time and dedication. But the rewards can be phenomenal. The company will have to:
• Commit to the development of people.
• Commit to developmental programs - the key word for training is developmental.
• Commitment to the long haul, unfortunately, nothing good ever seems to happen quickly. So the corporation must keep driving people development regardless of other initiatives, programs, and events.
From our experience, it takes a minimum of 6– 12 months and you shouldn’t rush it. This is not an event.
There are 3 stages of development.
• Bring the “Leadership vision” into the culture – make it part of the organization and start to get “buy in” from all the future participants. Create anticipation.
• Conduct the development programs company wide – bring in all the departments. This will create Leaders throughout the organization as well as enhance the overall working environment.
• Re-enforce training, support it, and use it. Make the training part of regular personnel assessments, reviews, etc. You get what you inspect.
Leadership is not just the CEO or president; it must be in all levels of a corporation.
Imagine how your company’s bottom line would be affected if all your managers could fulfill a Leadership role when needed and therefore improved performance by just 3% - 8% or more?
Now, Sales Team Leadership can do that and much more.
The Sales Team Leader needs to do two things – develop the teams’ skills and then lead them to success.
• First, the Leader must know the skills and knowledge base that each team member needs to do their job.
• Second, the Leader must rate each team member’s competency in each skill and knowledge base.
• Third, train and enhance skills and knowledge where needed.
Why is this necessary?
We can’t simply allow people to develop on their own. If you want your people to perform the skills and use the knowledge base competently you must teach them the skills and knowledge base you want them to use. If you leave it up to them, they will learn something. Hoping it is what you want is really risky.
No one has a “skill vacuum.” If they aren’t taught, they will create it themselves. Just like children, if you don’t teach them your values, they will create their own. If the need is there, it will be met, somehow.
Now the Leadership role grows. Once the goals for the sales team are set every Leader does the following in some form.
1. Create a Vision for each of the tasks
2. Create the Team to develop and achieve the GPS - that is, the Goal, Plan, and Steps to accomplish the Vision
3. Empower the Team
4. Produce Short Term successes to keep the GPS alive
5. Stick with it for the Long Haul
# 5 may be the most important step. How many of you have been in companies who get all excited about a new program, push it hard for a few weeks, and then get all excited about another program? The first program never has success because it was not given time to develop.
In conclusion, Leadership offers many benefits and most organizations will need to specifically develop this skill for its managers. It takes Leadership to bring it in, however.
The rewards will be well worth the effort.
Sell Well and Often,
Bill Truax
© Copyright 2006 WJ Truax
Sales Management and Leadership They arent the same - To learn more about this author, visit Bill Truax's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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