50 Ways to lead your sales team

We have all worked for different managers in the past, some good, some bad, but now it’s your turn.

YOU are the Leader.

What will you do differently?

This is the question I asked myself with when I first became Manager of a Sales team. I knew what I didn’t want to do.

I didn’t want to focus purely on the task,

I didn’t want to mislead people,

I didn’t want to treat people as an extension of the task,

I didn’t want to view others as the obstacles to achieving my goals,

I didn’t want to be controlling,

I didn’t want to hold people back

and most of all I didn’t want to miss targets!

There were too many managers I had worked for in my sales career that had taken these approaches. Motivation and respect were in short supply, with their management careers tending to be short lived.

There had to be a better way to manage people to achieve results and maintain an enthusiastic and motivated sales force.

In a career spanning 20 years as a Sales Manager I have been awarded numerous National and Regional accolades and equally, if not more rewarding, my people have gone on to achieve great success for themselves in both Sales and Management. In this book I will share with you the beliefs, values and techniques that have been the foundation for a career that has not only been successful but hugely enjoyable.

The objective of “50 ways to lead your Sales Team” is not to discuss sales techniques or how to manage a sales campaign. Instead the objective is to challenge you to test your beliefs on what a great sales leader looks like, how they behave and what they stand for. Your values will shape the type of leader you are, and the key to providing inspiration for others lies in understanding the values and drivers of those you will lead. As a result of examining the qualities of what you believe great Leadership is, you will be able to create the action plan to help you become the Leader you have always wanted to be.

My Leadership style has also been shaped by the leaders I have worked for, with me taking the best elements of each of them and adapting them to my style and personality, and I invite you to do the same with the learning from this book. Hopefully you will find that you already use some of the techniques and strategies described.

What is important is that you use this book to start making conscious decisions regarding the approach you adopt when faced with the various challenging situations that confront you as a Sales Manager.

“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” – Thomas Edison

1. Are you the Leader your team deserves?
2. Which zone are you in?
3. Importance of self awareness
4. Presence and Credibility
5. The JoHari Window
6. The impact of Values on Leadership
7. Saying No!
8. Continuing Professional Development
9. Who motivates you?
10. Time Management
11. Email – friend or foe?
12. Are you listening?
13. Body Language
14. The Reticular Activating System
15. Questioning Skills
16. The Power of Silence
17. Narrative Intelligence
18. What are the qualities you look for in a new recruit?
19. Onboarding Process
20. Empathy
21. Building Trust
22. Roles and Responsibilities
23. Standards
24. The Consequences of your actions
25. The importance of empowerment
26. Taking Credit
27. High Performing teams
28. The Energy Investment Model
29. Managing difficult people
30. What does success look like?
31. Motivation
32. Catching People doing something right
33. Praise and Recognition
34. Appreciative Inquiry
35. What have the Romans ever done for us?
36. How do you manage failure?
37. Knowledge, skills or attitude?
38. Improving Performance
39. Are you conscious or unconscious?
40. Cause and effect
41. One to One Updates
42. Coaching and Training
43. The Support and Challenge Model
44. Prioritising your coaching and training time
45. Giving Feedback
46. SWOT Analysis
47. Delegation
48. Mentoring
49. Develop your successor
50. Make work fun!