A true sales leader drives both the team and business with equal efficiency despite a plethora of obstacles. But generally, when we hear the term “Sales Leadership”, we picture a grumpy boss who doesn’t let his/her team sleep until targets are met. Well, a sales leader has more to him/her than just monitoring other business developers’ jobs.
69% of sales reps who have excelled in their annual achievement rated their sales leader as being excellent or above average. This data indicates that not all sales leaders are grumpy bosses.
What is Sales Leadership?
Sales leadership is a quality that drives a person with a vision of converting obstacles to opportunities. A leader who is accountable for generating revenue by driving the sales team smoothly is called a sales leader. Such a leader goes through a lengthy training process and various challenges exploring different ways to be a leader, in order for the sales team itself to continue thriving.
There are two core aspects a sales leader focuses on.
- Internal aspect
- External aspect
An internal aspect includes team building, team motivation, finding the flaws in a team to solve, etc. But the external aspect includes taking care of customers, improving the process or product, analyzing customer satisfaction levels to improve it, etc.
For example, a customer is satisfied with the product or service and s/he gives excellent feedback. A sales leader doesn’t sit there quietly, he thinks of providing better service so that the same customer will be forced to come back again. He views the opportunity to expand regardless of any situation.
According to Dwight Eisenhower,
The supreme quality of leadership is integrity. You don’t lead by hitting people over the head — that’s assault, not leadership.
There are certain qualities that differentiate a sales leader from a sales manager.
What are the Key Skills of a Sales Leader?
An excellent sales rep or manager may provide quality sales to the business but s/he not necessarily should possess the sales leadership qualities. However, we have mentioned a few key qualities of a sales leader for your better understanding.
- Embrace the Changes – Every sales organization resets its strategy at the beginning of the month. Be it team shuffling or setting up higher targets than the previous month, a sales leader should leave his comfort zone and embrace the changes.
- Ability to drive a team with motivation – Driving a team and keeping every individual on the same page is not an easy task. In order to make it happen, a sales leader should motivate a team by providing timely feedback. It not only coaches the sales reps to increase their productivity, but it also provides an opportunity for individual development.
- Master in Communication – Communication is one of the effective qualities of a sales leader. Especially, having the listening skill, a leader can understand the situation and discern the flaws in the team. A leader should not only speak but also listen. This skill also helps equip the tone while talking to the people ranging from teammates to customers
- Building Team Spirit – If you observe, most of the sales teams are affected by low morale. This is the first factor that causes the poor performance of a team. An active leader motivates the team by finding solutions for on-going problems.
Uniting all the team members on the same page requires high intelligence. The intelligence may be a valuable resource or a motivational speech. A leader always researches and provides input to the team members in order to build a team spirit. They should know of the areas they need to improve, and thats where a good team leader training course can come in.
Conclusion
All the key skills of a sales leader come naturally or from the experience. A leader doesn’t require lessons about it. All the activities or steps of a leader should be taken for the company and the team as if a person is working for his family. This defines true leadership.
