What do others say about you? What do your customers say? What about your peers? What do others in your industry say about you? Sales leadership is not just words, but a lifestyle. It all comes down to how you approach each day and what you choose to do.
During one of my keynote sessions at OutBound, I will discuss sales leadership. I will elaborate on the 6 essentials that I think you need to be a genuine sales leader. The first 3 are trust, integrity, and passion.
Trust is what everything builds upon. Trust drives everything you do. I will go so far to say that trust is actually what allows you to rest your eyes at night and sleep soundly. People have confidence in those that they highly trust. Have you ever been in a difficult situation and need help? Who do you reach out to? You ask the people you trust for help.
Trust is not a word nor is it something you teach. Trust is a mindset that says that you value others and you value yourself. A trusting person holds everyone in high regard. Trust is far more than doing what you say you’re going to do, it’s about setting the right expectations from the start. Trust is seen in how people handle others in good and bad times. If you’re an account manager, trust is how you help the customer through their mistake and not passing blame.
Integrity is another essential of sales leadership. Ask 10 different people to define the word, and you will probably get 10 different definitions. Integrity begins with a mindset and ends with an action. Integrity is about being who you are and holding firm to your values even when those around you disagree.
The best way I’ve seen integrity play out is by watching someone apologize for something. The person with integrity does not blame anyone for their actions. They don’t throw others under the bus to make themselves look good. The integrity-centered person always plays the long-game in both life and business. Integrity is 24/7 and it never takes a holiday. If you’re a person of utmost integrity, you can’t be integrity-centered on Mondays and a jerk on Tuesdays.
The final essential is passion, and this is one that people love to argue with me about. I am a firm believer that it’s the passionate sales leaders that truly stand out. What is passion? Passion is genuinely caring about those around you. It means that you’re committed and not just punching the clock waiting to move on. Passion is about being committed to see things through.
Passionate people quickly stand out in a crowd. They are the ones that people gravitate towards. Sometimes, people aren’t drawn to passionate people at first, but over time it happens, like a snowball going down a hill that quickly picks up speed and size.
Take a few minutes to stop and ask yourself if those closest to you would use trust, integrity or passion to describe you. If the people you know best wouldn’t use these words and your name in the same sentence, neither would others and that means neither would your customers. Your goal is to be seen as a sales leader, so you must begin working on these 3 essentials.
If you’re fortunate to be one of the 1,000+ attending OutBound, you will hear me expand more on these along with the other 3 next week. I look forward to meeting you there.
Copyright 2019, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results
