Leading a sales team can be rewarding, exciting, and at times, very challenging. As a sales leader you have to wear four different hats: Supervisor, Trainer, Coach, and Mentor.
- SUPERVISOR: Manages the numbers and behaviors [Your conversion ratio is low.]
- TRAINER: Instructs how to complete a specific task [This is how you handle price objections.]
- COACH: Develops their team [What will you do differently next time to create value?]
- MENTOR: Challenges sales person [Raise your perception of what you bring to the table.]
Where are you spending most of your time?
Some sales leaders are really good at supervising and training, but they find it challenging to coach. Other sales leaders are really good at motivating their team, but they don’t have the tough conversations. And many sales leaders think they are coaching, but they are really training.
All four of these roles are important and necessary. In fact, when you hire a brand new sales person you will spend a lot of time supervising and training. However, your goal should be to become a coach and mentor.
Force your sales people to take ownership of their success and personal growth.