The 11 Secrets to Sales Leadership
By Mark Dembo |
In his classic book, “Think and Grow Rich”, Napoleon Hill discussed the eleven
secrets of leadership. Recently, as I was reading the book, it occurred to me
that the attributes of strong leadership and effective selling have a tremendous
amount in common. After all, to be really successful in sales, you need to be a
leader, both within your own organization, as well as to your clients and
customers.
To paraphrase management guru Peter Drucker, a leader is
someone who not only does things right, but who also does the right things,
while helping others do the same. The same holds true in sales: how better to
serve your clients than to really know and understand what they do, and to truly
help them do it better?
With that in mind, here are Mr. Hill’s eleven
secrets to leadership, as they apply to leadership in
selling:
1.“Unwavering Courage”: Selling successfully requires courage;
taking a risk where the odds may seem stacked against you; courage to make that
extra call, to deal with the tough client or prospect, and to not let anything
deter you. As Hill says, courage is “based upon knowledge of self and one’s
occupation.
2.“Self-Control”: The ability to set a course for yourself
and take disciplined action each day is a key attribute of all successful
salespeople.
3.“A keen sense of justice”: Knowing right from wrong -
understanding what is fair and just - allows you to make, wise informed
decisions.
4.“Definiteness of decision”: Deciding on what you want to
achieve, and then doing whatever it takes to get there, even in the face of
obstacles and setbacks, is crucial to your success. For those who don’t quite
make it, failure can usually be traced back to a lack of decisiveness about what
they really want.
5.“Definiteness of plans”: In Hill’s words, “the
successful leader must plan his work, and work his plan. Truer words were never
spoken when it comes to selling. Plan your time, and then take action on your
plan each and every day.
6.“The habit of doing more than paid for”: Want
to sell more? Go the extra mile for your clients. Want to get the respect,
admiration, and cooperation from your internal “clients” – the people you need
to rely on to implement or help you close sales? Go the distance for them as
well.
7.“A pleasing personality”: Is selling a popularity contest? No,
but would you buy something from someone who was nasty and rude?
8.“Sympathy and understanding:” Selling is about understanding what
people DO, and then helping them do it better. Plain and simple.
9.“Mastery of detail”: Ah, yes… The devil, as they say, is in the
details. Ever work really hard to close a sale, only to have it fall apart
because of some small detail that falls through the cracks? What may seem like a
small detail to you can be a crucial one, maybe even a deal-breaker, to your
prospect, customer, or client.
10.“Willingness to assume full
responsibility”: No matter how much customer support your company provides, you
are the prime representative of your organization. If you try to pass the buck
to someone else, you lose respect and credibility. “But it really wasn’t my
fault that the shipment was delayed in customs and then the delivery truck was
attacked a pack of wild dogs…” Doesn’t matter; accept the responsibility for any
problem and all details, and then do whatever needs to be done to make things
right. Your clients need to know that you are their
advocate.
11.“Cooperation”: You can’t do it alone. Sales is a
collaborative effort. Your prospects need to collaborate with you; you need the
cooperation and assistance of others both inside and outside your organization
to make things happen. The best salespeople are those who can work well with
others, and with whom other people want to work.
Think about these
eleven areas of leadership, and ask yourself how you do on each of these items.
Find areas where you can make improvements and chart your course to work on
improving what you do each day; incremental improvements each day become
exponential over time.
About the
Author
Mark Dembo; President, Lexien Management Consultants
http://www.lexien.com Mark has over
20 years of sales, sale management, and business development experience, focused
on improving the performance of individuals and organizations. You can contact
Mark at 914-682-2069, or at mdembo@lexien.com
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