The world of sales is one fraught with pressure. As a sales manager who manages a large sales team, you probably already understand this. Being from the trenches, you know what it’s like for those in sales and the pressures behind it.
As a sales leader, though, you’re probably still learning how to become more effective in your job. Let’s look at leadership styles you can learn from, including a real-world case.
Using Intuition
As Harvard Business Review notes, intuition is one of the top styles to imitate. Understanding people is the key to knowing what their motivations are. The longer you work with clients, the more you understand the psychology of consumers and their whims.
Using intuition requires leading by real-life experience. As a sales manager, you already have some of this needed experience. You also need a lot of experience managing salespeople to fully understand how intuition works.
Taking On Change
A successful sales manager and author named Dave Anderson gave an interview to Selling Power telling about how he didn’t know what he was doing when first hired in his managerial role. One thing he discovered is you have to learn to communicate well with people rather than merely handle administrative tasks.
Above all, he gives some noteworthy pointers on leadership style. One of the top ones is taking on change and guiding sales staff on how to deal with those changes.
The sales marketplace is consistently evolving, and a good sales manager doesn’t fret over change. They help their staff transition through changes so they don’t become a burden. In your own role, you should embrace change to keep from becoming complacent.
Being Real and Transparent
It doesn’t pay to hole yourself up in your office and not communicate often with your sales team. Being open, honest, and transparent about everything are the best attributes you can exhibit as a sales manager.
When you generate trust among your team, you have higher productivity overall and a better aim on your sales mission.
Take it from Kevin Eikenberry’s Leadership & Learning blog: Transparency means making things clear. This requires sharing as much information as you possibly can, and answering all questions from your sales staff.
As you can see, many sales leadership styles often require going outside the box in order to survive. If you feel you don’t have enough sales manager experience, it’s time to hone your skills in intuition, adaptability, and transparency.
