{"id":13035,"date":"2022-03-18T12:46:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T12:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/five-critical-skills-a-sales-leader-needs\/"},"modified":"2023-07-17T19:59:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T19:59:43","slug":"five-critical-skills-a-sales-leader-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/five-critical-skills-a-sales-leader-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Critical Skills A Sales Leader Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

In recent months, I’ve explored various topics such as advisor sales and other specific tactics that contribute to the success of sales leaders. Today I want to take a different tack by focusing on what I believe to be the five most important skills a sales leader can develop over time while acknowledging the significance of advisor sales<\/a> in building strong client relationships and achieving long-term success in their role. They are listed and discussed below.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1. Be engaged. <\/strong>\u00a0This heads the list.\u00a0 I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to sales managers and their sales leaders and learned they haven’t even spoken to their people in days or weeks. They say things like \u201cI manage them through email.\u201d Or: \u201cI manage them through CRM.\u201d Or: \u201cI manage them through a spreadsheet.\u201d\u00a0 Or: \u201cThey know I am available if they need me.\u201d That\u2019s not leadership! You’ve got to be engaged on a personal level. When you’re engaged, you talk voice-to-voice with your people on a regular basis. You know exactly what’s going on in the pipeline.\u00a0 You know where people are likely to be having problems.\u00a0 You can see the trends occurring before they begin to have a major impact on someone\u2019s performance. You know what to do, and you know how to coach the person, because you can see it all happening.\u00a0 You’re in it.\u00a0 You hear it. As a result, you\u2019re seen as a personal resource, as someone who offers value to the individual salesperson on a personal basis.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I’ve reported to different types of sales leaders and sales advisors in my career.\u00a0 The ones who just wanted to make sure I was in compliance, just wanted to make sure I had my reports done \u2013 I would give those people a D for leadership.\u00a0 Then there were the ones who were really engaged with me on a personal level, the ones who helped me strategize calls and went on calls with me and knew the pulse of what was going on in my book of business, all of which increased my confidence. Those were the people I had the utmost respect for and worked that much harder for. I wanted to make sure that I met the expectations of those people. They get an A.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In today\u2019s situation, I get that it’s sometimes going to be difficult to earn an A for engagement. Everybody is remote.\u00a0 We’re all zoomed out. I understand that. But the fact remains: This is a core skill for leaders. We must be engaged in the business, and we must be engaged on a personal level with what\u2019s happening in each salesperson\u2019s world.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

2. Be inquisitive<\/strong>. Let\u2019s face it. Taken as a group, sales leaders are not particularly curious. Why is this? Well, very often, we’re pressed for time. When somebody brings up a problem, we may be tempted to just jump right to what we<\/em> think is the solution. Have you ever heard these words from your spouse? \u201cI don’t need you to fix it, I just want you to listen.\u201d<\/em> There\u2019s a lesson there for sales leaders. Of course we want to fix whatever the problem is. But to get to the right solution, and to empower the salesperson to solve the problem for themselves whenever that\u2019s possible, we want to get better at two things: asking the right questions and listening with authentic interest to what comes back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Most of us could get a little better at not assuming we already know what the salesperson is about to say or means to say. The truth is, we don\u2019t always know what’s going on within an account, and even if we do, simply solving the problem doesn\u2019t give salespeople a lot of room to grow. So, we want to learn to ask better questions \u2013 including what I call assumptive questions. For instance: \u201cWhen you asked the ultimate decision maker about X, Y, and Z, what did they say?\u201d That type of question allows the sales rep to understand where the gaps are in their own sales process and empowers them to do a little bit of self-discovery, which is very important.\u00a0 Remember: People don’t argue with their own data.\u00a0 When they reach their own conclusions, that matters more than us telling them what the right conclusion is.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The big issue when it comes to being genuinely curious is how interested you are in getting to understand your sales rep.\u00a0 What is their thinking? What conclusions are they making? How are they getting from point A to point B to point C? Asking good questions from a position of genuine curiosity allows you to be a bit of a psychologist, which is a good role to play. You always want to get a better understanding of how they got to a particular point or reached a certain opinion.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

3. Roleplaying.<\/strong>\u00a0 Roleplaying has a bad rep among some salespeople, but if you call it modeling <\/em>or practice<\/em>, you can get over that prejudice fairly easily. Call it whatever you’d like, this skill builds confidence and conviction within your team.\u00a0 Use it!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Roleplay what they\u2019re supposed to do and say in specific situations. You will want to identify the top issues that salespeople are likely to run into in each of the separate stages of your sales process and you will want to make sure they have, and can deliver, a fluid, compelling talk track when the moment comes to discuss that issue with a buyer. Roleplay what they need to ask. Roleplay what you want them to qualify. Roleplay the process they can follow for getting good, clear commitments.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Why roleplay all of this? Because people need to hear what their mouth is saying. Without roleplay, what happens is they say, \u201cYeah, I know that, I understand that, I\u2019ll do it that way.\u201d
And they do believe what they are telling you. But when the moment of truth comes, and they\u2019re supposed to say something out loud, it doesn’t come out sounding anything like what they thought. They wing it. They fall short. And the only way to turn that around is through practice.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Roleplaying gives your salespeople the internal strength and the poise they need to execute at a high level of proficiency when it counts: in real time, during discussions with buyers. They don\u2019t want to practice with buyers. (That\u2019s why so many best practices never get implemented.) And be honest: You don\u2019t want them practicing on buyers, either. You want them practicing on you. <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Your salespeople may not like roleplaying initially, but if you do it right, they will come to love it. I roleplay three to four times a day with our people.\u00a0 It\u2019s part of our culture. It\u2019s always a positive experience. And it doesn’t take a long time.\u00a0 During one-on-one meetings, I\u2019ll say \u201cWell, how does that sound when you do it in a meeting?\u00a0 Let me hear that.\u201d\u00a0 Or I\u2019ll say: \u201cWant me to take a shot at it?\u201d I will actually model the best practice for them, whatever it happens to be, and then they will repeat it back.\u00a0 That\u2019s a great way to get salespeople into roleplaying: go first and show them how you want to see it done. Then let them have a turn. Who knew? It\u2019s fun.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Roleplay does not have to be uncomfortable, and it does not have to be done in a public setting, but it does have to happen. Be prepared to jump into a roleplay at a moment\u2019s notice, so you can give each member of your team the advice, the words, and the confidence to move forward.\u00a0 Make role-play a daily reality for each member of your team!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

4. Pre-call planning.<\/strong>\u00a0 Pre-call planning is a critical sales leadership skill that involves leading a special type of planning conversation. This skill produces positive outcomes in two realms at the same time: yours as sales leader aiming to support a self-correcting team, and the salesperson\u2019s as a revenue producer aiming to close a given deal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This conversation establishes and reinforce all the things that you want your sales rep to do \u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n