Stack the odds in your favour and ensure that your leadership standards are implemented and acted on all the time, without exception.

One of my clients experience some upheaval in the team, resulting in a couple of key members exiting the business. This was somewhat of a shock for my client as she believed that she had created a great team environment where everyone was happy. They seemed engaged, and for the most part, they were successful, overachieving their sales targets just about every month. Why then, she asked, did 2 of her better performers choose to exit the team in search of better opportunities?

She had invested time into both of them, and whilst she did not spend as much time coaching them as she did some of her other team members, she believed they were loyal, focused and a key part of the team’s culture. When she analysed the events leading up to the 2 team members leaving, it became clear that there were a number of situations or little events that took place, to which the leader did not either handle effectively, or in 1 case, glossed over entirely. The realisation that my client had was how critically important leadership standards are, and when they are not implemented or followed religiously, the consequences can be quite shocking.

For my client, it was a shock to her system when she realised that the consequences of her actions/non actions was the 2 people exiting the team. As we delved deeper though, the 2 people leaving the team was actually a blessing, as it created an opportunity for her to recalibrate and re-instil the leadership standards which would underpin the team’s long term success. It turned out that the 2 team members had been waging a 2 person war, always seeking to place themselves above the other, criticising each other, and making accusations about each other. The leader, my client, wanting to be seen as taking each of the team members seriously and maintaining objectivity, would advise each of them that she would look into the accusations and ‘keep an eye out’ for improper practice. Having been a peer of these team members also created a challenge for my client as she was friends with both of them and had a deep seated desire to want to be liked as a leader, and as a person.

Unfortunately though, she placed that desire before the standards that she had set as a leader, and the consequences were inevitable. As we analysed the events, there were a few key learnings that came out of it, which only reinforced why leadership standards must be uncompromising:

• The Standard Must Be Clear & Easy To Understand – my client realised that a few of her standards were somewhat ambiguous and therefore susceptible to not being followed. She recognised that for a standard to be effective, it must be crystal clear, easy to identify and not difficult to do. And with no conditions or strings attached. If the standard is Commitment To Excellence (which is a great standard), the critical aspect to this standard is to define what excellence is, what it looks like, what it isn’t, so that there are no doubts as to what the standard is. It is also important to identify what ‘commitment’ means as well. Is it commitment all the time, some of the time, between certain hours, or in certain circumstances? Sounds obvious, however, many people have different definitions of commitment – make yours specific and stick to it.

• When A Standard Is Implemented, You Must Uphold It – my client realised that her standards slipped when it came to dealing with these 2 team members, resulting in the standard being compromised, and hence, a new standard being set – that of ‘she doesn’t uphold this standard, therefore it is not important’. What my client didn’t realise, by not upholding a standard, other members of the team observed the standard not being upheld, which meant that they formed the impression that the standard was not important, and hence my clients leadership reputation and credibility was reduced. The big lesson here was that once a standard has been put in place, it must be adhered to, all the time, without exception!

• It Is Important To Be Disassociated – my client understood that, based on her relationship with the 2 team members, she was ‘too close’ to the situation and hence she found it difficult to maintain an objective perspective. I explained to her that, in order to be an effective leader, particularly when it comes to handling challenges and conflict, the more disassociated you are from the situation, often the easier it becomes to find a solution. I shared with her a metaphor of being in a movie theatre, where on the screen, a movie is being played of the challenges or situation. When you are sitting in the theatre, watching the movie on the screen, you are somewhat disassociated, able to see a wide perspective. However, what if you were sitting in the booth at the back of the theatre, looking over the entire theatre, and you could see yourself sitting in the theatre, watching yourself watch the movie on the screen? You have a much wider and disassociated perspective, meaning that you can see all the moving parts, you are less emotionally involved, and can therefore make more objective decisions. This was a lightbulb moment for my client as she suddenly realised that she was spending too much time being in the movie, rather than viewing the movie from a distance.

• Remove The Word “I” From Your Vocabulary When It Comes To Feedback – this was a big one for my client. she realised that her standard when it came to providing feedback was to lead with comments such as ‘I believe this….’ or ‘I think that….’. At the end of the day, her people don’t care what she thinks, and as soon as the word ‘I’ comes into the feedback loop, opinion and possibility of judgement comes in, and objectivity goes out. She thought she was doing the right thing by offering her views, where what she should have been doing is providing feedback based on observation and sharing insights on possible impacts of behaviour, and asking questions.

As I’ve said many times before, leadership is not easy and is certainly not for the faint hearted. It is therefore absolutely critical that you are able to stack the odds in your favour and ensure that your leadership standards are not only crystal clear, but they are implemented and acted on all the time, without exception. This is what build leadership credibility, it builds consistency, and will ultimately lead to sustainable sales and revenue results.

To your continued sales leadership success.

The post Why Your Leadership Standards Need To Be Uncompromising? appeared first on Head Of Sales.

To be able to take complex information, and lots of it, and distill it down into a succinct and understandable message that resonates with their team. To also be able to ‘think on their feet’ when challenged by their team with questions and comments that are perhaps off topic. These are skills which are pivotal to their ability to build engagement and to grow the team. And over the last 20 years, I have been fortunate to either work for some of these great sales leaders, or observe the way they go about it. They have built very tight knit teams, and have created a culture which has enabled the team to prosper, grow, deal with challenges and break into new frontiers. They have also experienced very limited attrition and staff turnover, based on their ability to communicate.

By contrast, I have also observed many sales leaders who did not place a high priority on communication and the results within their teams became equally predictable – attrition and staff turnover was high, engagement was low, the concept of ‘team’ almost didn’t exist, and the end result was the sales and revenue results were significantly lower compared to their peers. It was almost as if their team members were trying to succeed in spite of the leader, and literally going it alone. And of course, this is not sustainable.

So as a sales leader, how would you rate your ability to communicate? For the purpose of this article, let’s focus on verbal communication, although many of the key points below also are equally applicable to written communication as well. Is your team engaged and on the same page? Are they crystal clear on what is expected of them? Do they ask insightful and relevant questions and then take affirmative action? If the answer is yes, awesome, keep doing what you are doing. If not, review the following key points and check in to see whether you are focussing on these, and if not, start! Applying these will enable your communication capabilities to significantly increase :

• Preparation is key – there are very few sales leaders who have the ability to ‘wing it’ when it comes to presenting or communicating their message. And even those who do, they have carried out some preparation first. It never ceases to amaze me the number of sales leaders who do next to no preparation, then stand up to deliver a message and wonder why it falls flat or doesn’t hit the mark. Preparation is critical. Remember, the number 1 success principle is to know your outcome, and hence preparation is all about clearly articulating what the outcome of the communication will be. What is it that you want your team to think, feel, and do as a result of this communication? Once you answer this question, you can more easily frame your communication and then look at the next key area, which is understanding your audience.

• Understand your audience – A key part of your communication will be to ensure that it resonates with everyone in your team. To do this, you must understand the type of people you have in the team and how they like to be communicated to. There will be 4 types of people in your team ; 1) those who are simply looking for what’s in it for them, 2) those who are more concerned about the team and how your communication affects others, 3) those who are interested in a great amount of detail, and 4) those who simply want the bottom line. As such, it is critical as part of your preparation to ensure that your message covers all 4 areas, because otherwise, you will miss the mark and you could ‘lose’ their engagement. So make sure you craft your message to cater for the types of people you have in your team, ensuring that you make the information relevant.

• Rehearse your message – I’m continually blown away by the number of sales leaders who do not rehearse their presentations/communications before they deliver it. Their attitude is that if it reads well, it will sound great. The problem with this is often a message sounds fantastic in our head, but when we actually say it, it sounds completely different and often misses the mark. So rehearsal is paramount. All of the great presenters and public speakers rehearse relentlessly prior to delivering the final communication. They believe that you cannot rehearse enough, which I totally agree with. Where rehearsal can be detrimental is when you are rehearsing to simply remember all of the words – doing this will result in the communication sounding scripted, as if you have ‘learned your lines’ – and this will diminish your effectiveness. The point of rehearsing is to allow you to know and understand the content so well that when you deliver it, it sounds like you are having a natural conversation, rather than delivering a ‘speech’.

• Understand that 1st impressions count – depending on the gender of your audience, you only have between 7 and 60 seconds to create a first impression, even if you already know the people. Whether we like it or not, we are constantly being judged, so it is incredibly important to stack the odds in your favour and focus on creating a great 1st impression – dress well, be confident and use positive and engaging facial expressions. And remember this key point – never commence a communication or presentation until you have confirmed that the audience is ready to receive the message. If this is not done, then the message will not necessarily resonate, as the audience’s attention and focus is elsewhere.

• Use empowering body language, powerful eye contact and commanding voice tonality – we know that our communication effectiveness is more about how we communicate compared to the actual communication – in fact, 7% of your impact is through the words you speak (content) and a whopping 93% of the impact is through your voice tonality & energy, as well as your body language. So whilst it is important to know your content, it is even more important to know how to deliver it. As you are delivering your communication, maintain eye contact with your team – not just a fleeting glance and certainly not a ‘death stare’! For many people, maintaining eye contact with each person for around 5 seconds before moving to the next person works well. And remember to capture everyone in the team – no body gets left behind. From a body language perspective, it is critical that you are symmetrical when you are delivering your message, irrespective of whether you are standing or sitting. There is so much to this that it cannot be covered in this article, however, as a starting point, when standing, ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart and parallel to each other, like they are on train tracks. This will allow you to be symmetrical and balanced, because a balanced stance will allow your message to be balanced. And ensure that your shoulders are back and your back is straight. This equally applies when you are sitting down. And when you speak, speak with a confident tone, a tone known as command tonality. If you notice great speakers, when they speak, their voice ever so slightly goes down in tone at the end of a sentence – this is the command tonality, and will result in an increased level of certainty and confidence in your audience.

So remember, as a sales leader, preparation is key to effective sales communication. Understand your audience, rehearse your message, and when it is time to deliver the message, create a great impression, use powerful body language, maintain good eye contact and use command tonality. Do all this and your ability to communicate will skyrocket – you will be unstoppable!!

To your continued sales leadership success.

The post The Art Of Exceptional Sales Communication appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Very early in my sales career, I was introduced to 2 incredible mentors – these were mentors who I never had the opportunity to meet in person, however their wisdom, advice and perspective allowed me to better understand the fundamentals of sales and how to create and maintain a sustainably successful sales career. These 2 mentors were Dr Denis Waitley and Jim Rohn. Both of these men created incredibly successful sales careers and built their success on 1 incredibly powerful philosophy – the importance of continuously planting seeds of greatness.

This philosophy, once I embraced it and fully understood its power, allowed me to not only create a successful sales career for myself, it allowed me to create a successful sales leadership career and now I have the privilege of working with ambitious sales leaders and their teams on creating and implementing game plans to create sustainable and replicable sales results for themselves and their businesses. And those sales leaders and sales people who either do not embrace this philosophy or fight against it, will be doomed to longer term mediocrity – they may occasionally experience short term success, however, over time, they will be left behind.

One of the key ingredients to this philosophy is to understand that everything works according to the Law of Gestation. We know for example, that the gestation period for a human being is 9 months, for an elephant is between 18 & 22 months. If you are planting carrots, it can take up to 3 weeks for the carrots to germinate, ready for harvesting. Why is this important? Because everything in life that grows, grows according to a gestation period, and this cannot be manipulated and sped up. And this applies especially to sales. I have lost count of the number of senior executives who placed ridiculously unrealistic expectations on sales leaders and their teams to deliver almost immediate sales success, and then when it wasn’t delivered, they would conduct forensic investigations on why the sales team ‘failed’ to deliver. The fact was, the seeds were not planted early enough in order for them to be nurtured, watered and cared for, to then be harvested at the right time. And unfortunately, often the sales executive and/or their sales leader would then be performance managed and micro managed to ‘lift’ their performance. The flow on effect to the culture? Not positive.

My experience and observation over the years has been that senior executives who understand this philosophy, whilst they still set exceptionally high expectations and standards, also recognise that in order for success to be sustainable and replicable, there is a gestation period that must be accepted. And rather than measure the teams performance purely on results, they place greater emphasis on measuring the ‘seeds of greatness’ their teams are planting and nurturing, because they understand that these seeds will reap rewards, as long as they are taken care of.

So, as a sales leader, how can you assist your sales people in ensuring that they are constantly planting seeds of greatness, that will stack the odds of success squarely in your corner? Here are some ideas to consider :

• Maintain a laser focus of creating an impression of increase in every interaction with your potential customers. Great sales leaders and sales people understand that it is very rare for a prospect to purchase following a single interaction. Often, prospects need to interact with you and/or your product or service between 7 and 11 times before they purchase. As such, it is so incredibly important to focus on investing in them and giving them a reason to continually interact with you. The impression of increase is all about them feeling better about themselves and their future after they have interacted with you.

• Focus your attention on giving value, without the explicit expectation of receiving something in return. Now I totally understand the dilemma and challenge of having to achieve the numbers and close sales, however, if you are able to place your focus on how you can deliver value to your customers or prospect, without any caveats, you will always be taken care of. It may not be a sale with this particular customer or prospect, however, it will come back at you, often when you least expect it, and from a prospect who you least expect it from. So give, give, and give some more.

• It is an old sales cliche, however sales is really a numbers game. The more seeds you are able to plant, the more potential opportunity you are able to create. So if you are currently meeting 5 customers per week and you are not seeing the results flow through, double it to 10 customers per week, or even 15 per week. Understand, the more seeds you are able to plant, the more fruit or vegetables you are able to harvest.

• Following on from the above point, it is vital to create a habit around continuously planting seeds, and then ensuring that you are watering and nurturing them. In B2B sales in particular, sales cycles can be anything from 3 months to 6+ months, so what you are planting today, you may not see any result for at least 90 days. But one thing is for sure, if you do not plant seeds today, you will not have an opportunity to harvest crops in 90+ days. Take the Chinese bamboo tree for example (albeit an extreme one!). The Chinese bamboo tree does not break ground for a period of 4 years, and then in the 5th year, in a matter of just 5 weeks, the tree can grow to a height of 90 feet. The critical thing here is that the bamboo tree is constantly watered and nurtured. So too, your customers and prospects must be watered and nurtured.

• Understand that at the beginning, most of your work will be in planting seeds, and over time, you will be in a position to harvest, as long as you stay in the game. Make a decision to stay the distance, don’t focus on instant gratification, because as you continue to plant the seeds of greatness, keep them watered and nurtured, you will be in a position where you can reap the rewards of the harvest. And as all great farmers will tell you, continue to plant seeds from the harvest, so you are able to harvest again. Over time, you should find yourself in a position where you are spreading your focus and attention between planting seeds, watering and nurturing, and harvesting. Being in this position will position you for sustainable success!

When it is all said and done, sales success can actually be 100% predictable, and not hit and miss. As a sales leader, your responsibility is to encourage your team to continuously plant seeds daily and then ensure that they water and nurture them. This will require a level of patience and persistence on your part, especially when you have senior executives constantly looking over your shoulder and expecting the instant result. However, if you are able to withstand the internal pressure and maintain your focus, you will find yourself in a position where success is 100% predictable and even better than that, is sustainable. And that will create a very successful business. Plant the seeds of greatness, and enjoy the harvest!!

To your sales leadership success.

The post Planting Seeds Of Greatness appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Over the years, I have constantly asked sales people and sales leaders why they got into sales in the first place and why they remain in sales? The variety of answers always intrigued me – many people get into sales because of the attraction of earning high income, of receiving recognition and some even to create something meaningful for their customers, although this answer typically represents a small minority. When asked the follow up question of ‘what is the most challenging aspect of sales?’, overwhelmingly the response is rejection and not achieving. This is only human nature, as most people do not like to be rejected and they do not like the word ‘No’. However, what is the single biggest word a salesperson must hear in order to be successful? ‘No’. And lots of it!

The world of sales is one of the oldest professions on the planet and can be exceptionally lucrative, even if only enjoyed by a small percentage. In fact, as I have written about many times, sales is the ultimate form of service and if you are able to match a customer’s problem with a solution that is tangible, you would be doing them and yourself a huge disservice by not selling your product or service.

However, there is one attribute that a highly successful sales person possesses that differentiates them from all of their competition and allows them to exponentially achieve higher results, and more sustainable results. When you grasp this attribute, when you own it and embrace it, and learn to use it to its fullest potential, it could literally help you make millions. And contrary to what many believe, it has nothing to do with your ability to ‘close a sale’. The attribute is RESILIENCE.

In all areas of life, Pareto’s Principle plays out all the time and sales is no different. And it has been my experience that 80% of the sales and revenue achievement is delivered by 20% of the sales team, meaning that 20% of the sales and revenue is delivered by 80% of the sales team. What I have also come to learn is that the majority of sales people want to be part of the 20% delivering the bulk of the results however, they are missing the vital ingredient that prevents them reaching that threshold – resilience.

When the market is buoyant and customers are enthusiastic and optimistic, sales can become a little easier and this can often lead to a false sense of security and achievement, with many sales people merely reverting to ‘order takers’ rather than remaining as true ‘problem solvers’. However, it is when the market turns and people become a little more cautious, that the great sales people rise to the top, because their focus all along has been on solving problems, not ‘closing sales’. And whilst sales at its fundamental level is a numbers game, the great sales people know how to stack the numbers in their favour through their daily focus on resilience.

So if resilience is the core attribute that can make millions, what makes it so? Here are a few areas to contemplate:

• It is not what happens to you – great sales people who enjoy sustainable success understand this fundamental principle. It is not what happens to you that is important, it is how you respond to what happens to you that makes the difference. Successful people understand that not every sales call or meeting will result in a sale, and that many times things will happen which are completely beyond their control. And when these things happen, they have the ability to choose their response and move on quickly.

• Rejection is never personal – great sales people embrace the concept that rejection by a customer or a prospect is very rarely personal, and hence have the ability to disassociate from the situation. They realise that the more disassociated they are, the less emotion is involved. A great example of this is on display at your local McDonald’s restaurant. The 16 year old behind the counter will often ask you ‘Would you like fries with that?’, and when you say ‘No’, do they spontaneously combust or melt into a pool of water on the floor? Of course not, they know it is not personal and they move on quickly. In fact, they may even say or think to themselves ‘Next’. Great sales people do exactly the same – Next!

• Mindset is critical – have you ever had days when you walk into the office or to a customer meeting, and things don’t quite ‘feel right’? If you were to rate your mindset on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being terrible, and 10 being super positive, chances are, on these days, your mindset would most probably be below a 5. And what do you notice about your ability to solve problems and be creative, when your mindset is under 5? If you are like me, you probably find it near on impossible to get the creative juices flowing. Now contrast this with a mindset of 8-10, how easier does it feel to generate ideas and get into the ‘creativity’ zone? Much easier. So mindset is absolutely critical to your ability to be resilient, and the great sales people will constantly check in to identify where they sit on the mindset scale.

• Great sales people maintain curiosity – even when they are in the middle of a difficult sales conversation or they have just been ‘rejected’, great sales people will maintain their curiosity, and hence, perspective. They may even say, as the late Jim Rohn said, ‘isn’t that interesting?’ (not always out loud of course!) – 3 very powerful words that enables the sales person to objectively observe what has just happened, and then plan the appropriate next step, always with a sense of curiosity.

So if you and/or your sales team are currently not achieving the results you are seeking, ask yourself why? It could be that you are allowing yourself to be a victim of circumstances, rather than taking full responsibility for what is happening. The person who takes full responsibility deeply understands the above 4 principles and they consistently apply them. Please help your team develop resilience – as the title of this article says, it really is the one attribute that can earn you millions!

To your continued sales leadership success.

The post What single attribute determines sales success? appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Why are some individuals and some organisations unbelievably successful, as if, everything they touch turns to gold, compared to others in the same industry, where nothing seems to work? Is it the products and services they sell, or how they sell them? Is it the individuals within the business that make the difference or is it something else? In looking at successful sales teams, successful businesses and even successful sporting teams, there is a common thread that runs through each and every one of them that consistently and sustainably delivers outstanding results – and that is a great culture.

Show me any company that has delivered long term results and I will show you a great culture. Sure, there are sometimes exceptions to the rule, where companies may experience a high level of success, however, this success in the vast majority of cases is short lived. And in these organisations, it is often the people who pay the price, with attrition and turnover being the result. When this happens, this result is often a drop in sales and revenue, and the cycle continues.

What these organisations overlook is the critical importance of culture within their business because for a lot of people, ‘culture’ is often a soft target, something that doesn’t deliver the end result. Actually, the opposite is true. In fact, from a sales perspective, a great sales culture is everything. Not only will you see great results being delivered on a consistent basis, you will also see that the engagement of the team is high, the turnover or attrition rate of the team is low, and the overall energy of the team is exceptional.

Teams like this become a destination that others want to be a part of. Yes, these teams have a robust sales process and methodology they follow, and unlike other organisations, this process and methodology does not change drastically over time. It is consistent. Why? Because these organisations understand that it is their sales culture that drives the organisation. They understand that a great sales culture is everything. When studying these organisations, there are a number of components that make up a great sales culture. Here are 5 critical elements that every great sales culture has. Does your team have these?

1. Crystal Clear Vision & Purpose – many organisations and definitely many leaders, pay lip service to this element, to their detriment. Every great sales culture has a crystal clear vision and purpose. They know why they are doing what they are doing and why it matters. These organisations invest time in developing their environment and bringing every member of the team together, aligned to a common objective. And this vision and purpose is bigger than any individual. When it comes to bringing on new members to the team, the vision and purpose is one of the big filters that the leader utilises to select new talent. If the individual aligns to the vision, there is a match. If they don’t, the process ends there. For your team, what is your vision and purpose? Get really clear on this – it is the foundation of a great sales culture.
2. Excellent Positive Attitude – in great sales cultures, the leader and each member of the team maintain an excellent and positive attitude. They understand that attitude drives mindset, which drives behaviour, and therefore results. As Zig Ziglar said “Attitude determines altitude”. The glass is always half full, the team are constantly looking at the positive side of every situation, and understand that the world is filled with opportunities and possibilities. Now the key here is that these teams do not live in ‘Fairyland’ where everything is rainbows and unicorns. They still face challenges and obstacles. The difference is they are better placed to handle these challenges because they possess an excellent attitude and are crystal clear on why they are doing what they are doing. How would you describe your attitude and the attitude of your team?
3. Clear Standards Of Behaviour – all great sales cultures establish and then implement outstanding standards of behaviour, which become uncompromising and non-negotiable. And these standards are founded in excellence. Some typical examples of standards include returning customer phone calls within 24 hours, being early for meetings, treating key stakeholders with high levels of respect, maintaining engaging eye contact when communicating face to face, just to name a few. All of these standards must be sustainable, replicable and non-negotiable, and executed consistently, irrespective of whether the leader is there or not. And these standards deliver consistency for clients and build trust and credibility quickly. When you look at your sales team, what clear and consistent standards do you have in place?
4. Clear Daily & Weekly Activities & Metrics – many organisations and teams focus all of their attention on the end result. It is all about the numbers. Now, understand that the end result is important and successful people will always begin with the end in mind – they know what their goals and objectives are. However, great sales cultures focus their attention on the daily & weekly core activities, more than on the result. They understand that a daily focus on what needs to be done each day and each week, will lead to the end result, if done correctly. Achieving success is a process, a journey. Daily and weekly monitoring of progress enables the leader to alter direction as required, knowing that the end result will still be the same, it just may mean that there is a different path that will lead there. In great sales cultures, if the right things are done well, the end result will take care of itself. As a sales leader, are you focused on the end result or on the core daily and weekly activities? Focus more on the daily and weekly activities than the result.
5. Ongoing Training, Coaching & Mentoring – within all great sales cultures exists an uncompromising focus on training, coaching and mentoring, and with that, a high level of accountability. To stay ahead of the game, it is critical that not only sales leaders but sales people constantly update their skill set and knowledge. This is a priority. When other organisations reduce spending on training and development, especially when sales and revenue are plateauing or dropping, great sales cultures ramp up their focus and investment in training and they make it a priority. This is what separates them from the competition. Sales leaders make coaching and development of their people a non-negotiable part of their daily activity, and through this, they develop an exceptionally high level of accountability. As a sales leader, where does coaching, training and mentoring sit on your level of priorities?

There is a specific difference between teams and organisations which achieve sustainable & consistent success, and those that achieve hit and miss results. And this difference is the sales culture that is developed, cultivated and maintained. Yes, sales strategy is important, however, it pales into insignificance compared to the importance of sales culture. So as a sales leader, focus on developing a strong and vibrant sales culture and brace yourself for levels of success that will blow your mind!!

To your continued sales leadership success.

The post Why a Great Sales Culture Is Everything appeared first on Head Of Sales.

When we look at the critical role that sales leaders play in delivering tangible outcomes for the business, 75%* of the contribution comes from the sales leaders behaviour and how they communicate (* based on research by Human Synergistics). This drives the sales environment and dynamics (i.e.culture) and hence leads to how motivated and driven the sales team is, what specific action they take, and hence what outcomes they achieve. So the responsibility that sits on the shoulders of the sales leaders is huge, and when you then analyse as part of the behaviour and communication of the sales leader, leadership versus management, this can have a huge bearing on the outcome and therefore the sales and revenue results.

The responsibility of the sales leaders is to drive consistent performance, and whether you are building a team from scratch, or have inherited a team, you will start with potential – potential of the people. The challenge is to convert that potential into performance and this is achieved through leading and managing. It is important to understand that a sales leader must both lead and manage in order to drive this performance – the key is whether the majority of time is spent leading or managing. When I asked this question to the sales leaders, not surprisingly, the realisation was that around 80% of their time was being invested in managing, due largely to the demands being placed upon them by their leaders and the business pressures. The challenge for them, and for many sales leaders, is to flip this on its head and focus 80% of their time on leading and only around 20% managing.

This change can be achieved through focusing on high quality activities versus low quality activities. Here are 5 high quality activities we explored to drive higher sales leadership competency:

• Investing Time In Visibility – one of the biggest challenges these sales leaders face on a regular basis is the constant internal requests for reporting and strategy updates that absorb significant amounts of time, resulting in reduced access to and interaction with their team. They all agreed that some reporting is required and important, however, when it starts to significantly impede their ability to be with their people, productivity and effectiveness can drop. One of the attributes of great sales leaders is their relentless commitment and focus on visibility, of being with their people. Investing time with people is critical and it will pay huge dividends. It enables you to observe your people in their natural environment, build high quality relationships, and increase your influence either 1:1 or in a group setting. Often just being ‘visible’ and available is enough to increase performance, because your team know you are there to back them. So, as a sales leader, analyse your diary and determine the amount of time you spend on internal, inwardly focused activities, versus activities that are focused on developing relationships and progressing opportunities.

• Investing Time In 1:1 Coaching – another challenge many sales leaders share is the lack of available time (or the perception of lack of time!) available to get things done. Many of them are ‘time poor’ meaning that areas that will deliver higher return on their time investment, such as coaching, are placed either in the ‘nice to do’ basket, or sometimes the ‘too hard’ basket. When quizzed on this, many leaders advised that there were simply too many immediate or short term demands being placed on them by the business, forcing them to re-prioritise. The outcome? Their team were not experiencing the benefits of coaching. In reality, this is simply an excuse. What the leaders are really saying is that coaching is not a priority, and to their credit, some even confirm that they avoid coaching because they don’t know how to do it effectively, or find it really uncomfortable to do. The fact is, great sales leaders make coaching their team non-negotiable. It is either #1 or #2 on their priority list and they recognise that quality coaching time with a sales person can not only help fast track that sales person’s development and performance, it can also help unlock some time in the sales leaders calendar, because they are able to potentially delegate more, or the sales person is able to develop and implement strategies with a higher level of independence. So as a sales leader, look over your diary for the last 45 days and count up the number of hours you invested in coaching your team. Now look 45 days into the future and count how many sessions you have diarised. If the ‘cupboard is bare’, you know what must be done. This activity alone will fundamentally change your sales leadership influence in a huge way.

• Creating An Empowering Environment – logically the sales leaders understood that creating a great team culture was critical in the ability of the team to deliver on the performance objectives of the company. However, when asked how they go about creating that environment, for some, it was difficult to articulate. At a high level, a great sales leader will focus on creating an environment that people want to be part of. The team becomes a ‘destination’ and when working well, people from outside the team and outside the organisation are asking “how can I become part of that?” A key component of this environment is the standards of behaviour that are implemented and benchmarked. These standards are consistent and they are non-negotiable, and each member of the team, including the leader, will be measured against them. This drives consistency and accountability. There will also be a set of expectations put in place, for example around decision making – a great sales leader will expect his team to make decisions based on a set of agreed guiding principles and know, that if a decision is incorrect, there will be no reprisal or repercussions for making a mistake. The environment created in one where calculated risks are expected, and the leader will fully support the team in the decision making process. What environment are you creating for your sales team?

• Ensuring Feedback Is Compulsory – linked to the environment is an uncompromising focus on feedback. Great sales leaders understand that feedback is the breakfast of champions, so they quickly become feedback seeking machines. They also instil in their team a focus on self feedback and hence spend a lot of time asking the team to self reflect and provide themselves with feedback. This focus promotes constant and never ending improvement and when a team has developed a positive habit around feedback, there is less ‘heavy lifting’ required from the leader, because the capability and competency level of the entire team has been lifted. Another key aspect around feedback is that a great sales leader will never deliver feedback to the team or an individual without first asking for permission to do so. It is not in their DNA. When a sales leader has developed the empowering environment and built the muscle around feedback, very rarely, if ever, will they have an individual reject the opportunity for feedback. As a sales leader, what is your competency level around feedback? Do you constantly seek feedback? Do you ask your team to provide themselves with feedback? If not, start developing this muscle. It is critical.

• Commitment to Training & Development – leaders are learners. It may be a cliché, but it is 100% true. Great sales leaders have a commitment to continuous learning, whether it be formalised learning, small workshops, or seeking new knowledge through books, audio programs or podcasts. These sales leaders understand that you never ‘arrive’ and that there is always another level to climb to, constantly focusing on improvement. The key point to understand here is that whilst the leaders will seek new knowledge, they know that this knowledge is only powerful when it is utilised. As such, they have an uncompromising focus on training and development of their team, and will make this a priority, irrespective of what distractions may be obvious within the business. This also comes back to culture and the expectations of the sales people. When training and development is a priority and most importantly, the sales leader ‘practices what they preach’, by not only attending the training, but also implementing and embedding the outcomes of the training, high quality success habits are created within the team that will further drive performance. How committed are you towards training and development for yourself and your people? Make this a priority.

We know that sales leadership success requires both leadership and management in order to drive high performance. Through focusing on these 5 high quality activities, you will be able to put yourself in a very strong position to invest 80% of your time leading and 20% managing, and this will deliver outstanding performance.

To your continued sales leadership success.

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