Leading Sales Today
strategies and tips to lead your sales team to success in today's climate
Hey there -
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve talked to several sales leaders at various levels and companies.
In my conversations with them, something stood out to me. They ALL (like myself) struggle with very similar things.
Things like hiring the right people, leading through downturns in the economy, staying ahead of shifts in the market and competition, imposter syndrome, how they can ensure they hit their number, managing internally, and many others.
The most common thing shared? The WANT or DESIRE to get better as a leader.
So as luck would have it, I had some very timely content to share. Don’t take my words for it…
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
David Priemer discusses 5 Strategies for leading sales teams through times of uncertainty.
Chris Orlob shares his 25 sales leadership tips he learned the hard way.
PLUS… strategically sliced sales snippets to help hone your craft as a sales leader.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
5 Strategies for Leading Sales Teams Through Times of Uncertainty
I’ve been a fan of David Priemer for a while now. Check out his book - (Sell the Way You Buy) and give him a follow.
With so much going on in Tech Sales right now, this article about leading sales teams through times of uncertainty hit home.
David says that typically in time of crisis, two things can happen:
Fear, uncertainty, doubt diminish revenue production/quota attainment.
Leaders lead with conviction and bring teams through stronger.
Here are his five strategies to lead your team through uncertainty:
Assure them this is normal.
To enhance your team’s resiliency in the face of adversity, it’s important to empower them right tools and tactics, to maintain an agile mindset, and remind them that “this too shall pass”.
Create certainty where you can.
Just as your clients crave certainty, so do your people. Share with them what you know, what you don’t know, and what you’re doing about it as a company.
Re-align your sales motion to the market.
If your messaging or positioning is tone deaf to the current time or falls into the ‘nice to have’ category, the sale won’t happen.
Practice “extreme firmographic focus”.
With clarity comes confidence, both as a leader, within your team, and ultimately, in your clients.
Remember, good (and great) comes from bad.
Indeed, some of the world’s best teams and brands were born out of uncertain times.
Check out the full article HERE
25 sales leadership tips I learned the hard way:
Rarely do I share an entire article (or LinkedIn post for that matter) in this newsletter. But this one from Chris Orlob talking about the 25 sales leadership tips he learned the hard way is too good to try and summarize.
25 tips:
1. Your job is to get things done through your people. Not do it yourself.
2. Get out in the field. A lot. Spend 50% of your time w/your people.
3. Your reps should be able to write down your sales process in unanimous agreement.
4. Focus more of your time managing inputs than you do outputs.
5. When you're a rep, prioritize tasks. When you're a manager, prioritize people.
6. Become a master of time management. You'll need it.
7. When you set standards and expectations with your team, don't use "minimum acceptable." Define greatness.
8. Your current lowest producer is the de facto minimum acceptable standard you have set for your team. Do not tolerate mediocrity. Address it swiftly.
9. The power of taking full responsibility for the entire company’s results cannot be overstated. If you are the sales manager, you get the blame when things go wrong.
10. Be the thermostat, not the thermometer. A sales manager enters an environment, and people adjust to his or her presence, rather than him or her just telling what the temperature is.
11. Your people know when you are in it for yourself or when you genuinely care about them.
12. The results of your actions and decisions three to six months ago are coming to fruition today.
13. When you’re behind on your numbers, force yourself to think through “how.” You have no hope of making your sales numbers if you hold on to the reasons why you can’t.
14. Take responsibility for arming your team with what they need to win
15. If there is no sales process, putting one in place should be your highest priority.
16. Stay the course with your initiatives. Don’t roll out something major unless you’re committed to it.
17. The real work begins when the rollout ends; organizational habits take 1-2 years to take hold.
18. Become the person at the company who knows the customers better than anyone else.
19. With a few exceptions, never talk about comp, quota, or account issues during team meetings. Save these topics for 1:1 discussions.
20. When you’re driven by the process, you’re managing the future. When you’re driven by results, you’re managing the past.
21. The leader's role is to reach inside each rep and release his or her unique talents into sales performance.
22. Great people leadership demands a willingness to individualize and treat each person differently.
23. Make very few promises to your people, and keep them all. Since you never know what leadership might spring on you next, you might not be in a position to follow through if you make too many promises. And that will erode trust from your team.
24. As a manager, you’ve got to remember that you are on stage every day. Your people are watching you.
25. When salespeople bring problems to you, the goal should be to help that person figure out a way to deal with the problem on their own.
STRETCH SNIPPETS
🖐 The Top 5 Habits of Successful Sales Leaders, according to Kevin Kruse in Forbes: 1 - Giving Feedback, 2 - Weekly One-on-Ones, 3- Coaching conversations, 4- Leveraging Strengths, 5 - Show that you care.
📝 Increasing sales begins with building a strong sales team, and doing that begins with establishing effective training strategies. 15 members of Forbes Business Development Council share their favorite techniques for sales training.
🗣 5 Habits of Leaders at the Top of the Ladder? Tanner Simkins says: Time Management, Being Present & Transparent, Listening, Getting to work early, Looking for learning opportunities.
🤔 How can we? Kevin Dorsey offers insight into one of his favorite sales and leadership questions. This does three things: 1 - Gives ownership and control. 2 - Makes them THINK about an idea vs just saying “no”. 3 - When it’s their idea, they are more likely to follow through.
🤞Kyle Asay gives us three things he wished he knew as a new sales leader: 1. Disagreement does not equal disrespect. 2. If I’m mad about a deal, the rep feels worse. 3. Not my job to replicate my but to magnify them.
🧠 Mindset
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
Are you a VP, Director, thought leader, or content producer in the SaaS space? We’d love to have you contribute. Just reply to this email and I’ll be in touch.
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