When two worlds collide, business leaders often make the obvious decision. It’s not always the right decision.
The colliding worlds are
- We need a sales leader.
- We have a clear top sales rep.
The obvious decision is to promote the top sales rep to be the new sales leader.
Top sales rep performance
The performance of the top sales rep leads to the promotion to sales leader for the following reasons:
- Consistently hitting targets – monthly, quarterly, yearly
- Working with the team to help them to consistently hit their targets
- Build trust with customers to help them make the right decision
- Driven to success with hard work
Looks like the ideal candidate to lead the sales team.
Here’s some other characteristics of a top sales rep that may not be ideal for sales leadership transition:
- All focus on my target – my deals are the most important
- Love of the chase, the kill, the personal adulation that comes with success
- Not afraid to step on toes to get what is required to hit their target
- Works harder than others but uncompromising in pushing others to meet their deadlines
The result is more a player-coach role
When the obvious decision is made, two stages follow.
Initial challenges
The most apparent challenge for the business is that the direct revenue delivered by the top sales rep suddenly disappears.
The next challenge is the rest of the sales team end up with a less than ideal leader because of any number of the following issues:
- The new sales leader has been too self-focused for too long and struggles to move to a more benevolent posture.
- The rest of the sales team resent the promotion of one of their peers and struggle to accept their former colleague’s new role.
- The new sales leader is not aware of what worked for them in their sales role so resorts to “teaching” the team to work harder, work longer hours, do what I did (without really knowing what that was).
New steady state – the Player-Coach
The newly promoted sales leader resorts to what worked for them as a sales rep. They become a player-coach. They fail to coach and fall back as a player. The new sales leader gets busy doing the job of multiple reps because it is the only way they know how to be successful. The reps coast more, then leave. The sales leader burns out. Revenue, after and initial increase, drops right off.
Sales Leadership Transition
It is incumbent upon the business leaders to support the new sales leader through the sales leadership transition process. The coach must be shown how to be a coach and how to manage team dynamics through effective sales coaching. Management training is essential.
The proven approach for us has been to embrace this transition and to establish a proven sales leadership framework.
Sales Leadership Development
New sales leaders need to be trained on how to be a good sales leader. They need to understand the transition from individual contributor to sales leadership takes a completely different skill set. The coaching and training required for a new sales leader (sales leadership development) must cover:
- How to coach, mentor and manage a team of high performers
- Accountability culture
- Becoming a fishing teacher, not a fisherman/fisherwomen
- How to use a sales framework to maintain standards without increasing you involvement in every step of every deal
Sales Framework
Ask a sales rep what makes them successful. Ask a sales leader what makes them successful. Most answers indicate that they don’t really know enough to be able to share it/teach it to others. This is where a proven sales framework helps in the sales leadership transition process.
Sales Leadership Development
Whether you are looking for a sales framework (sales operating system) to put structure around you sales team, or you need a guiding hand for coaching your new sales leader, contact Sales Director Central for an obligation free discussion on how one of our experienced Sales Leadership Mentors could help you team progress to the next level.
