Nearly every time I first begin speaking to an audience, I will say, “Sales is leadership and leadership is sales.”
I’m a firm proponent of the impact both sales and leadership have on each other.
If you have followed me for any length of time, you know I have written quite a bit on both subjects.
A question I get asked oftentimes when talking about this is why is leadership so important in sales.
It’s time for me to share my 10 reasons why:
1. People want to be around leaders. If you are going to sell effectively, your customers must see you as a leader.
2. Demonstrating leadership commands respect. Customers will only refer you to others if they respect you.
3. True leadership results from having integrity. Customers will only deal with salespeople they can trust.
4. Being a leader changes how you look at things. When you are demonstrating leadership, you see things differently and in turn are more capable of truly understanding how to help your customer.
5. Being a leader creates confidence. The level of confidence you have going into a sales call is going to determine the level of success you have.
6. Leaders are continually learning. When you’re a leader, you are far more receptive to learn new things. Sales requires keen insights on not just what is happening today, but also on what could happen tomorrow. Failing to continually learn will quickly put you behind the curve in being able to help your customers.
7. Leaders are less emotional and less likely to be swayed by fads. Leaders are not going to be impacted negatively by shifts in other people’s emotions or in passing fads. Rather, they know how to deal with these types of issues in a constructive manner.
8. Leaders plan and are goal oriented. Customers want to deal with salespeople who are prepared. Conversely, as a salesperson, when you plan and are goal oriented, you will be in a position to optimize your time and resources.
9. Leaders are able to get more accomplished from others. A salesperson’s success is driven by the team they have supporting them. A salesperson who is seen as a leader is going to receive far more support from their customer service team and others than the salesperson who is not seen as a leader.
10. Leaders are more successful. At the end of the day, don’t you want to be as successful as you can? Successful people are attracted to successful people. The more you demonstrate leadership and success, the more you will find yourself dealing with equally successful people.
Finally, living a life as a leader is far more stimulating and exciting than living a life as a follower.
Would you prefer to be the one who takes pride in impacting others or would you rather be the one being impacted?
Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
I truly believe this all is to be true and I present myself as such each day. I feel I get great response and interaction from my team because of it. With that, I am also building future leaders and they are all around me and want it bad! Thanks for sharing, enjoyed the information and it makes me feel confident that I am performing as a leader and providing the best care and support to my clients and employees.