Lead Lines

Helping Others Lead: Fostering leadership in sales reps

For sales reps to become successful in their field, they have to develop a certain level of leadership skills. In his sideroad.com article “Sales Leadership: Eleven Secrets to Sales Success Through Leadership,” Mark Dembo highlights attributes managers should foster in their employees, as well as themselves.

1. Courage. “Selling successfully requires courage; taking a risk where the odds may seem stacked against you; courage to make that extra call, to deal with the tough client or prospect, and to not let anything deter you,” Dembo writes.

2. Self-control. Discipline and planning are important to reach sales goals.

3. Fairness.

4. Decisiveness. This includes decisions on what goals to set, how to overcome obstacles and smaller decisions that we make every day.

5. Confidence in one’s plans. “Plan your time, and then take action on your plan each and every day,” Dembo says.

6. Initiative. Going the extra mile will gain sales reps respect, admiration and cooperation.

7. Charisma. Although sales is not a popularity contest, a pleasing personality and amiable disposition makes customers more willing to speak with and eventually buy from sales professionals.

8. Understanding. “Selling is about understanding what people do, and then helping them do it better,” Dembo explains.

9. Mastery of detail. Often even the smallest details can cause problems with contracts or deals.

10. Responsibility. Just as managers must assume full responsibility for errors, sales professionals should accept their blame for any mistakes. Accountability is important.

11. Cooperation. Reps must learn to collaborate with one another and their superiors to get things done.

“Think about these eleven areas of leadership, and ask yourself how you do on each of these items,” Dembo concludes.