Leading from the Front

It goes without saying that a high performing sales team is critical to business survival, but success or failure boils down to leadership performance. Are sales leaders strategic? Do they coach? Do they build accountability and trust, and can they lead their teams successfully through change? These are a few of the essential behaviours prevalent in leaders with high performing teams, yet research1 has found that as many as 58% of workers move into management roles without relevant experience. Faced with overwhelming demands and competing priorities, some revert to their strong suit of selling, at the expense of developing their salespeople. To do a job well, sales managers should follow the ten tips below.

1BE A MODEL SALESPERSON Nothing is more persuasive to a team than seeing the behaviours expected of them in action so, to land the big deals, you need to model the sales skills that you want your salesforce to use. These desired behaviours then gradually become recognised internally as the way the organisation sells and, externally, for how it conducts business.

“Those who coach well embed it into the team culture. They build it into their sales and management strategy.”

2BUILD ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRUST Our global research2 has found that the best leaders with the highest performing teams are reliable, honour their word, and take responsibility – even when things go wrong. This builds a climate of accountability, which increases trust. Trust improves engagement and motivation, which enhances performance. Second, they know how to drive accountability through others. They make individuals responsible for their actions, they communicate goals and expectations clearly, and they provide their team with the resources to succeed while letting them know that they won’t be ostracised for mistakes or failure.

3COACH PROACTIVELY According to Forum’s global poll3 last year, coaching was rated as the single most important tool for driving overall sales performance. The same findings revealed that high performance organisations provide 20% more coaching and training than underperforming companies. Coaching, when carried out properly, significantly develops skills and rapidly increases motivation, which together gives a strong boost to a salesperson’s productivity.

4DELEGATE TO DEVELOP Making that transition from salesperson to manager means learning to let go. But delegating is more than just handing over work. It’s an opportunity to develop. Some either throw it over the wall or micro-manage. It’s important to avoid both. Use the work to encourage and enhance people’s abilities. Show trust by handing over tasks while applying support and contact when needed. Lend encouragement, praise and reward success, while increasing levels of responsibility to build confidence and capability. This combination of trust and support will make your team feel accountable for their work, which drives motivation and performance.

5BE STRATEGIC Sales leaders can excel at being a model salesperson, coach and motivator, but if they fail to craft a solid strategy and cannot enlist their sales staff in its execution, all of their other gains are undermined. That’s because the ability to translate the business plan into a salesforce strategy, and then to translate this strategy into clear, actionable directions for each member of the team, is fundamental to achieving a highperforming sales department. Involving salespeople in the creation of the strategy pays dividends, as people support plans and ideas that they’ve helped to develop. 6PIPELINE MEETINGS Regular pipeline or funnel meetings ensure that the salesforce is implementing the sales strategy. But poorly conducted meetings will become the bane of a salesperson’s life. They need to be structured, so salespeople come together to share ideas and success stories, discuss changes in the marketplace, and apprise each other of sales activities. This way, issues and concerns can surface at an early stage, so the manager can provide quick coaching, assess skills and identify areas for improvement.

7BUILD INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SALES PARTNERSHIPS Great sales managers spend time with customers to leverage important relationships and build their salespeople’s credibility. They also identify key stakeholders and processes within the business and work to influence these to the benefit of their sales department.

8FOCUS UPSTREAM Being able to balance upstream sales management activities (actions that generate long-term results) against downstream activities (those geared towards getting immediate results) is all part of being a strategically successful sales manager. Strategic leaders recognise that, while upstream activities such as business enterprise planning and identifying initiatives, may not always make an immediate impact on revenue and profitability, they are critical activities that offer a direct line of sight to financial results.

9LEAD THROUGH CHANGE AND UNCERTAINTY Change can cause uncertainty, anxiety, distraction and isolation, which affects performance. People experiencing such emotions are less likely to take the necessary risks that lead to innovation. The key is to reframe change. Assess the situation positively, yet realistically, to seek out opportunities and in a way that moves the team on from the situation.

10REFINE YOUR REMOTE MANAGEMENT SKILLS It’s likely that part of your team will operate remotely all or some of the time. Be as available to remote staff as much as to local ones. Having an always-open chat room can help. Members can leave messages for one another, share experiences and re-enact those ‘water cooler’ moments. Use tools such as web video but be mindful of time zones, perhaps rotating team call times – and it’s important to bring teams together face-to-face, as often as possible.

GRAHAM SCRIVENER is managing director of Forum EMEA. You can download Forum’s Global Leadership Pulse survey via www.forum.com

References 1 CareerBuilder Survey of 2,480 US employers. In: High impact leadership development: Best practices for building 21st century leaders, Laci Loew and Stacia Sheman Garr, Bersin & Associates Industry Study, 2011. 2 Forum climate survey validation project, 2008. 3 Sales management coaching global survey, 2014. Forum and The Sales Management Association.