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.
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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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