Four Ways to Think More like a Sales Leader
Salespeople think like salespeople, when they should be thinking like leaders and CEOs. Top salespeople know this, and act every day like the CEO of their own business.
Here are four principles to consider:
1. First in or last out?
Every good salesperson knows the best time to reach the C-suite is early in the morning or after 5 p.m., because the gatekeeper isn’t in and/or everyone has gone home. What do your customers say about you? “Make sure to call Laura early in the morning because you know that is the best time to reach her,” or “Don’t call Laura until 9. Maybe she’ll be in by that time.”
Great CEOs know that hope is not a strategy. When the company isn’t hitting revenue numbers, it’s time to practice “no-option” behavior—meaning tighter rules for all salespeople and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. It’s always surprising to watch a salesperson who isn’t hitting his or her quota leave at 4:30 p.m. There’s a good chance that this person’s sales strategy is based on denial and hope. There’s also a good chance this rep won’t be around for very long.
One sales mentor always stressed the power of making one more call, one more stop, one more contact. It was always amazing how many times that one more contact paid off in a sale.
2. Lifelong learning
No prospect wants to be called on by a uninformed salesperson. Most successful CEOs are enrolled at UGS(the University of Getting Smarter). They understand we live in the knowledge age, and companies that compete and win are organizations that have a learning culture.
Alvin Toffler says it best: “The illiterate of the future are not those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and re-learn.”
Experts in the emotional intelligence world call this competency “self-actualization.” People scoring high in this are on a continuous journey to reach their full potential.
Steven Stein and Howard Book, authors of The EQ Edge, report that self-actualization is one of the key emotional intelligence skills found in top sales producers.
Successful salespeople are like successful CEOs. They don’t wait for someone to provide education, mentoring, or advice. They take charge of their own learning and growth. They bug their sales manager for coaching, their peers for best practices, and their mentors for guidance.
3. Humility
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, researched the question of how good companies become great companies, and discovered that successful CEOs were extremely humble. They often said their success was due to luck or gave credit to others. In many cases, Collins found these successful CEOs weren’t flamboyant but very unassuming and modest. They set aside their personal egos and focused on the company.
Top salespeople are humble and give credit for their success to other members of the team: customer service, front desk, and back room. They understand that everyone in the company is important; their job just may get more visibility.
Top salespeople get the big picture and focus on what’s good for the company and not just their own book of business. For example, is it really good to hit your quota by selling to the transactional customer who is going to ask for discounts, be high-maintenance, and expect extra value?
Humility is a good way to add revenue to the bottom line.
4. Accountability
Successful CEOs know they're responsible for putting food on the table for many people. They take this responsibility seriously and are accountable to their organization for their actions and decisions.
Unfortunately, many sales organizations have bought into the myth that top sales producers are always high-maintenance that it comes with the territory.
As a result, some companies accept bad behavior, such as incomplete data in the CRM system or poor attendance at sales meetings. They accept the attitude “Hey, I'’m producing, so don’t micromanage me” from their top performers.
Imagine if other departments were allowed to operate this way. For example, the accounting department doesn’t feel like producing month-end reports because they have other things to do. Customer service doesn’t log in customer conversations because they have so many calls coming in.
The salesperson who thinks like a CEO knows there are parts of every job that are tedious. He or she also knows that the data is important in driving strategic decisions at the company.
If you want to be great in sales, think and act like a leader, a CEO. After all, you sell to leaders. Why not act like one?
Colleen Stanley is founder and president of SalesLeadership Inc., a business development consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training. The company provides programs in prospecting, consultative sales training, emotional intelligence development, and leadership training for sales managers. Colleen is the author of Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success and Growing Great Sales Teams. Reach her at 303.708.1128 or visit www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com.