There are some great sales lessons to be learned in what NOT to do if you ever want to be a successful leader. I want to share with you an experience I had with a start up company a few years ago. Pay close attention to this leader’s mistakes, and make adjustments if you feel as though your approach is even remotely similar.
At the time of our interaction, the company was less than six months old. They had hired a marketing rep who was then transferred to sales because the team leader felt she was good at building rapport. Another sales rep was hired shortly after, and at the time, no sales had been made.
Here are a few of the expectations that the leader had set for the reps:
– They had to make 100 outbound calls each day
– They had to have the sale closed and contract signed within five days of the initial cold call
– Each contract they signed had to be worth a minimum of $25,000
– They were expected to find their own leads and enter them into the CRM
– They had to develop their own sales plans
– They were forced to pay for their own training
Above all that, he would interrupt his team every hour to check in on their status on daily tasks.
Remember sellers, there is a difference between high expectations, and running your own team into the ground. ← Click To Tweet
An ideal leader works with their team to achieve success, sets out realistic expectations and allows his or her team the freedom to work on daily tasks without constant (and rude) interruptions.
Never get so caught up with the results that you compromise the professional well-being of your team.
If you want to learn how to become a more efficient leader, The Sales Accelerator Program will help you learn exactly what it takes to create results without burdening your team.
What do you think is the most important characteristic that a sales leader must possess in order to be successful?
If it were me, I would want the owner to prove that it can be done – from initial sales cold call to contract signed in 5 days (with the contract worth $25,000 – who spends that kind of money without a relationship being built first?!).
But if they are getting no direction, have to pay for their own training and are being constantly interrupted, I would personally not want to stay in a business like that.
And 100 outbound calls a day? With a one hour lunch, doesn’t that work out to having less than 5 minutes per call to build a relationship? Who does the demos? If it is the sales team, then it is clearly impossible. If the sales team does not do the demos, it is still impossible to build a relationship where someone will spend $25,000 with you in less than a 5 minute conversation at the outset. It needs WAY more time than that…
Makes me happy I am where I am 🙂