By Jeff Beals
One of the first values a good sales leader must establish is the belief that team is more important than the individual. This is tricky, because salespersons tend to be very independent personalities. They tend to be self-confident and like making decisions for themselves without a lot of management oversight.
In such an environment, the sales leader needs to respect each salesperson’s individualism and extend a level of trust and autonomy to each of them. At the same time, the leader can’t allow a salesperson to go rogue. The good of the organization ultimately must be placed above the selfish desires of any individual no matter how talented he or she may be.
Exceptional sales pros, motivated and talented individuals who produce results, don’t grow on trees. They are NOT a dime a dozen. While not necessarily rare, outstanding sales pros are special. It takes a lot of effort to find them and keep them. Because of that, it’s easy to be blinded by talent.
Don’t let that happen.
Sales leaders sometimes get so enamored with a potential rep’s sparkling personality and jaw-dropping talent that they fail to notice the flaws. Many sales leaders have hurt their careers because they couldn’t see past a rep’s talent and realize that his ethics or work habits were lacking.
In the long run, no business will come out on top if it hires ethically questionable salespersons even if those salespersons look great on the outside. No business will come out on top if it hires lazy sales people.
Blinding Clients
Blindness is not only a problem when hiring sales professionals. You can be blinded by prospective clients too. Some sales professionals have essentially sold their souls in order to attract a single too-good-to-be-true prospect who turns out to be a bust.
Look for prospects that will actually boost your business, not those that will end up costing it more in the end. Those clients that look too good to be true most likely are.
Truly one of the keys to success as a salesperson or a sales leader is to avoid blindness and see reality.
Jeff Beals is a professional speaker and award-winning author, who helps companies increase their profits and associations achieve their missions through effective sales, marketing and personal branding techniques. He delivers energetic and humorous keynote speeches and workshops to audiences worldwide.
To discuss booking a presentation, go to JeffBeals.com or email info@jeffbeals.com or call us at (402) 637-9300.
Click here to subscribe to Jeff’s weekly articles!http://bit.ly/1l86RC6
Click here to see sample videos of Jeff speaking to live audiences! http://bit.ly/1gZqcoA
