{"id":11178,"date":"2018-06-21T19:53:49","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T19:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/sales-managers-become-servant-leader\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T15:57:42","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T15:57:42","slug":"sales-managers-become-servant-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/sales-managers-become-servant-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales Managers: Become a Servant Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Your relationships with the team matter a whole lot more than your job title \u2026 and those relationships depend on you serving the team. So be sure you put the needs of your team first!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a sales leader, your goal must be to make absolutely sure that salespeople know you have their interests at heart and will do what it takes to support them and help them succeed. After all, you win when they win! Most traditional organizations have a hierarchal, top-down org chart where the person at the top of the chart is able to say, \u201cI am in charge \u2013 so do what I say.\u201d The most effective leaders, however, invert that org chart. They say, in essence, \u201cHey, regardless of what the job titles say, you don\u2019t work for me. I actually work for all of you. What can I do to make you lives easier, and what can I do to support you?\u201d In other words, they make an attitude of service to the other members of the team the cornerstone of their management style \u2013 and they mean it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are comfortable in your own skin, if you are willing to do what it takes to support your team in the most effective way, you won\u2019t be tempted to hide behind your job title or \u201cpull rank.\u201d On the other hand, if you\u2019re not<\/em> willing to support the team, and you\u2019re more interested in exerting authority based on your position, the team will pick up on that \u2013 and they will lose respect for you as an individual. Too many managers manage with their ego, rather than taking on an attitude of service. This is a big mistake. Your management role should not be where you get your ego needs met!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your #1 job is to make sure that your individual team members are succeeding. You have to set up a plan to get that done. In setting up that plan, it\u2019s important to bear in mind that the number one reason why people leave the company is that they don\u2019t respect their manager.<\/em> Notice: It\u2019s not that they don\u2019t respect the institution of management \u2013 they don\u2019t respect the specific individual!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not where you want to land. So: Think of the three people on your team you would most like to hold on to \u2026 and then start asking yourself a tough question: how much do those people respect you, right now? Do they respect you enough to stick around for another year \u2013 or is every passing day a day that you get a little closer to losing them? Do they each know, on a personal level, that you are supporting them? If a competitor came along and tried to recruit them, what would happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a step back the next time you\u2019re inclined to give an order without any kind of consultation, issue an ultimatum, or end a sentence with \u201cbecause I said so.\u201d That\u2019s not supporting the team. That\u2019s not being a servant leader. That\u2019s fixating on your own spot on the org chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sandler takeaway for sales managers: <\/strong>Just as buyers and customers need to be paid attention to and supported over time, salespeople <\/em>need to be paid attention to and supported over time. Send each salesperson the message that you really are there to serve him or her. Mean it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Make sure you\u2019re paying attention to each member of your team as an individual. <\/em>Schedule calendar time for this if necessary.<\/li>
  2. Ask each person directly, in a one-on-one conversation, what you can do to help him or her succeed. Listen to the answers that come back, and do your best to take action on what you hear.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    1. Avoid the temptation to use your position as a shield against criticism, or as justification for decisions you make without talking to others whom those decisions affect. Managers who use their position on the org chart to pump up their own position, or to win arguments, inevitably end up losing good people they could have held on to. They\u2019re leading with the title, instead of leading with the relationship.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Excerpted from the book, The Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders: 49 Timeless Principles<\/em>, by David Mattson. \u00a9 2017 Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Click here to get your copy of\u00a0<\/a>The Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders: 49 Timeless Principles<\/a><\/em>\u00a0to learn more!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Your relationships with the team matter a whole lot more than your job title \u2026 and those relationships depend on you serving the team. So be sure you put the needs of your team first! As a sales leader, your goal must be to make absolutely sure that salespeople know you have their interests at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":11179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1120],"tags":[1033,1035,1136],"class_list":["post-11178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-leadership","tag-management","tag-sales-success"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSales Managers: Become a Servant Leader | Sandler Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your relationships with the team matter a whole lot more than your job title \u2026 and those relationships depend on you serving the team. 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