Sales Leader... or Super-Hero?

The following was taken today from an online job posting for Sales Leader, “Responsible for developing sales strategy and company sales procedures, training and motivating sales staff and achieving sales targets and revenue goals.” Wah  Wah! The hiring company wants to find a sales leader that will perform exactly as their competition’s sales leader… no better and no worse. One that will do precisely what the last sales leader did before he was terminated. Yet this is the job description most sales leaders subconsciously execute to daily around the world.

Companies that want to capture breakthrough amounts of market-share want to trade their sales leader in for a “Super-Hero”. Sales leaders wanting better results have “changed things up”. They are viewing their charter with a lot more rigor…

The Sales Leader shall create and maintain a sales team that is disciplined, feared, respected and emulated by the competition. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate expertise in each of these leading concepts and tactics …

• Avoid deployment of resources where your organization cannot count on certain victory, and demand the changes necessary to expand the size of that pool

• Institutionalize a process to ensure that every sales pursuit is preceded by a plan to outmaneuver the competition, and that the team “fights to win” every time

• Hold the sales organization accountable to practice discovery, presentation skills, and negotiations on a regular basis, and assess and document the skill level of each individual at least quarterly, complete with a plan to improve by the next evaluation

• Perform exhaustive review of accounts and opportunities to provide any support necessary and ensure adherence to proven methods, consistency in execution, and mitigation of risks

• Conduct an ongoing process to upgrade the quality of your team with constant recruitment of top sales professionals and removal of low performers from the team

• Conduct yourself with honesty and integrity, garnering the respect of your team not through bullying and intimidation, but by setting and insisting on fact-based expectations and listening and clearly communicating as one professional would to fellow professionals. Create a work environment that is challenging but rewarding… safe but demanding. Have your team's back... always!

If you are conducting a search for a sales leader that will make a difference, you may want to re-think the job description you posted. If you are a sales leader that feels there is a lot more revenue to be had, you may want to consider changing-up your approach to the job and/or institute a few or all of the above activities.

Motum is a market leader in revenue performance consulting, working with clients from large enterprises to entrepreneurial organizations across five continents to create sustainable revenue growth and develop an “unfair” competitive advantage for the long term. Please connect with us on LinkedIn and get services details at www.motum-us.com.