Leadership and business are one in the same. It’s impossible for a business to succeed for any length of time without being seen as a leader.
Regardless of what we do, our goal needs to be in helping others see and accomplish things they didn’t think were possible.
Yes, this is easy to see if you’re a CEO, but it also applies to every employee regardless of title or position.
This is why it’s so important for every business to have a culture that fosters within every employee an attitude of helping others.
Fast forward this idea to the sales profession and ask yourself the question, “Is the salesperson who helps their customers see and achieve things they didn’t think were possible going to be successful?” Sure they are!
“Is the department manager who can motivate their team in this way going to be more successful?” Yes!
I could go on and on, but I think you get the point!
If we’re going to be seen as a leader in our job, we first have to look at ourselves, or as I like to say, we first have to change our outlook on life to change our output in life.
Leadership is not an activity. Leadership is a passion! It is a passion to serve others. This is the way we change not only our outlook, but bigger yet, our output.
Let’s bring this over to the sales profession — a profession many people detest and I too had no desire to be part of until I began to see how leadership and sales fit together.
If you’re in sales and you see yourself as merely a supplier of widgets or whatever you sell, you’re failing to realize your role. If, on the other hand, you view yourself as a leader who has as their goal to help others see and achieve things they didn’t think were possible, it begins to change your outlook as to how you approach customers (and everyone, for that matter).
Below is a quick comparison between a leader and a salesperson. You’ll quickly see how closely the two are aligned:
Leaders seek to have people take action.
Salespeople want to get people to buy.
Leaders seek to uncover problems that are preventing something from being accomplished.
Salespeople seek to uncover the needs the customer has to know how to help them.
Leaders must have credibility if they want to be believed.
Salespeople must have credibility if they want to be believed.
Leaders have to get their people to buy into their ideas for anything to happen.
Salespeople have to get their customers to buy into their ideas before they will buy.
My point is as leaders we have to see ourselves as selling ourselves and our vision in a way that allows those we lead to do the same. The same applies for salespeople.
If someone wants to be a great leader, in essence they’re becoming a great salesperson. If your goal is to become a great salesperson, in essence you’re a great leader.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
