Are you Sure You Want to Become a Sales Leader?

While becoming a sales leader at your company might be the logical next step in your career, the move up isn't without its fair share of complications. It is important that you understand what your new responsibilities will be, and what parts of your current role you will lose if you’re promoted.

Here are a few things worth thinking about:

• Sales managers are unable to control over 75% of the metrics they're held accountable for. Having to rely on others for success can be challenging.

• On average, only 60% of sales reps meet their quotas. 

• One of the main reasons that sales reps miss their quotas is due to low productivity. Most sellers only spend 1/3 of their time selling. You'll need to account for this if you become a sales leader and develop systems that make your team more efficient.

• The majority of salespeople are likely to leave their position if their manager doesn't coach them well. Which means, as a sales leader, you have to lead your team effectively, ensure you meet sales quotas, and head up rep development.

How to build a path to leadership:

1. Act like a leader - start leading now, mentor someone, take on a project, share what is working.  Make it known that you want to lead. Show that you're cut out for sales leadership and can shoulder more responsibility by actively seeking out new tasks. Constantly look for new ways to contribute and help your team or company beyond what your job description requires you to do.

•  For example, you could volunteer to mentor new sales reps and show them the ropes. Stepping up to the plate to mentor and coach peers or train new hires is a huge hnuge factor. This shows leadership even when one doesn't hold the formal title of sales manager.

• Another idea is to organize a team-wide training event. How to break into new industries could be one. This will show your company leaders that you're a go-getter and give you a chance to display your expertise.

2. Build your brand - start meeting with your company  leadership to let them know you, your goals and aspirations, see how they can guide you.

3. Map out your path to leadership - what are the possibilities at your your current company?:

4. Ask for the Job - when you're ready, take the leap and ask for the job. I understand if you're hesitant to do this. Putting yourself out there can be terrifying. But if you want to become a sales leader, eventually you'll need to approach the decision-makers in your company and ask them for the position.  I did not get my first sales manager position I interviewed for, I did learn a lot about the process, myself and where the gaps were.  This prepared me for the next time.

Remember, you're prepared and qualified for this! 

You understand what it takes to be a great salesperson, you've been taking on more responsibility, and you've proved your abilities. You're ready for this. So go to company leadership and explain to them why you're a great candidate for sales leadership. Play to your strengths, share valuable ideas, and speak confidently. 

Do that and you’ll have a great chance at securing a promotion.

Transitioning to leadership for the 1st time - my story

The transition from salesperson to sales manager can be tough.  Overnight, you are used to being responsible for only your own performance, now suddenly responsible for the performance of an entire sales team. Priorities must shift with the transition into a leadership position. 

These are the mistakes I made the first time I became a sales manager.

Kept Selling - The rush of a big sale is often what keeps salespeople in the business. When you move into the role of sales manager, it can be tempting to keep closing deals in order to get that rush, and the compensation that often comes with it. This is a mistake because as the sales manager, you are the critical multiplier for your team. If you’re focused on making your own sales, you can’t be focused on helping your salespeople to make their sales.

Fixed Problems Instead of Coaching People - As a salesperson, you became highly skilled at the art and science of selling. You cringe when you see someone making mistakes that could jeopardize a sale. It’s easy to yield to the temptation to step in and “rescue” every situation. This helicopter management approach is a mistake because when you “fix” the problem, you rob your salespeople of the opportunity to learn to do it themselves

Focused on end of the sales cycle vs lead generation - I thought closing deals and the end of the process was the most important

Talked Too Much - I still do this and am currently working on "lean communication". Most successful salespeople know that talking too much in a sales meeting can spell death to the deal. Yet once promoted to sales management, these same people often kill their effectiveness by talking at their salespeople when they should be asking questions and listening harder.

How I evolved to a "leader" vs manager:

• Be myself - I tried to be one type of manager rather than another type of person, I am my genuine self now.  

• Listening - "seek to understand '' - I don't jump to my own conclusions or try to impose doing it "my way" all the time;  now I listen &  learn.  I was always a good listener, even as a sales person, I lost this in the  first time as a sales manager

• Lead from the front - have integrity, "be the best in the company for the company"

• Remove obstacles - nothing gets your team selling like removing hurdles for them, get a group of high performing salespeople and watch them go!  Reps want a leader they will go to battle for.

• Let the team sell - focus on exec alignment, customer sat issues. aligning internal resources to fix challenges.  Invest in training.

• Keep it simple - don't have 10 KPIs, don't have a complicated sales process...what are the 3 things we need to do to make a difference?

• Top of funnel focus - New sales managers pay too much attention to closing deals, enable your team to build  the pipeline,

Building your Leadership Philosophy.

This is from a college professor I follow, Alex Lyon at Brockport University,  aka the Communication Coach.   You probably have some of your own, go-to sales coaches.

Many professionals stumble into a leadership position without enough clarity on how they will lead others.

If you've never yet written out a concise version of your leadership philosophy, the video he just posted will walk you through the key steps. You can take a look here.

The video covers four key items:

1. Why a leadership philosophy is important

2. What a leadership philosophy is (in plain language)

3. How to uncover and clarify yours

4. How to draft a concise leadership philosophy statement

He shares his own philosophy as a running example throughout the video.

Leaders at all levels should go through this process.

Take a look at the video and get to work on your own leadership philosophy.