The 8 Characteristics of Sales Leaders That Make the Difference Between Success and Underperformance
The average tenure of a head of sales today is approximately 18 months, one of the shortest durations in history. In large part, this high turnover is driven by an aggressive search for top-line growth. When a sales leader isn’t delivering acceptable growth, CEOs are quick to seek someone who looks better able to do so. Roughly a year and a half later they are searching again, leaving many frustrated CEOs grappling with this fundamental question: How does a sales leader create a high-performing sales culture?
Clearly, having hard analytical skills is critical. In today’s world, you simply can’t lead a sales organization well unless you bring to the table certain hard skills. Some of these include:
- Understanding the strategic dimensions of markets (profit pools, segmentation, premium pricing opportunities, etc.)
- High data-centricity and facility with analytics, knowing that sales leadership is more scientific and quantitative than “art”
- Operational skill, including in-depth knowledge of go-to-market models, organizational design, roles/responsibilities, effective establishment of quotas and comp plans, and so on
These are the kinds of traits CEOs should seek in a sales leader as they are essential to effective leadership of a sales organization. Essential – but not sufficient.
It takes a broader set of skills to create a high-performing sales team. The business world is full of companies whose sales leaders are masters of the hard skills, yet they don’t have an effective team behind them because they’ve created an environment in which no one wants to work. So, while the hard skills are necessary, we have found that it is a sales leader’s ability to build a performance-driven sales culture that differentiates great leaders.
Most sales leaders last less than two years not necessarily because they lack hard skills, but often because they struggle to build an effective and sustainable sales culture in which every level of the organization is on board, bought in, and excited to be able to work in a challenging, tough, fair environment.
After nearly two decades working with over 500 companies, including hundreds of CEOs and sales leaders around the world, we have found there are eight traits that underlie culture-building and distinguish sales leadership excellence. These eight traits are the difference-makers. In companies where sales leaders possess all eight and drive them down through the sales organization, there is strong revenue growth. In the companies where some of the principles are missing, we see underachievement of growth potential. Here are the eight core principles of sales leadership that drive long-term growth and set superior sales leaders apart from the pack:
- Professional. Sales is an honorable profession and demands respect. The best leaders view it as such, recognizing career sales people as no different from doctors or lawyers who have built great expertise over the years and who provide an important and necessary skill to the people they serve. These leaders recognize the incredible complexity and nuance of the sales professional’s job – and they accord the people in this role great respect, along with the education and support that the profession deserves. This trait is an attitude that starts at the top and should permeate the entire company. Sales leaders who possess it carry themselves as professionals, behave as professionals, treat others as professionals and with respect – and create a culture in which every seller does the same.
- Ethical. An ethical character is the foundation of professional organizations and relationships, great leadership and outstanding sales cultures. The best leaders are highly ethical and demand the same of every person in their sales organization. They have a deeply ingrained moral compass that guides every interaction. They have a very clear understanding of right and wrong – and they create a sales culture in which the right, ethical choice is viewed as the only choice.
- Passionate. Great sales leaders bring genuine passion to their organizations – passion for customers and passion for selling – and they instill those cultural pillars within the organization. They lead by example, spending significant time with sellers in front of customers and demonstrating the same excellence in customer service that they expect from the entire team. At the same time, they understand the reality of sales; they know firsthand that the sales profession extracts a huge amount of energy from sellers and they seek to counteract that energy drain by infusing their passion for selling down through the team. This isn’t surface-level, rah-rah enthusiasm; it’s a deep and authentic excitement to face the challenges of selling every day.
- Celebrates Success. This is all about making the wins count. Everyone appreciates a pat on the back, so great leaders give it. It could be as simple as a hand-written note or a phone call. Or it could be stopping by a seller’s desk to give them a literal pat on the back and say, “well done.” Or it could be hosting an Oscar Night in which people dress up, bring their spouses and are feted for their wins. Or enthusiastically ringing a cowbell every time someone closes a sale above a certain amount. Great leaders know that the celebration of success breeds more success.
- Engaged. Top sales leaders let their people know they truly care about them by getting to know sellers as individuals through frequent one-on-one interactions. They engage with people, communicating to them their role in advancing the mission of the organization so they feel valued and appreciated as individual contributors. Engagement doesn’t stop at the door, either: one sales leader wrote a note to a seller’s spouse to say what a good job the sales person was doing. This trait comes from a place of true caring for people and is tough to fabricate.
- Transparent. Come Monday morning, everyone knows exactly how Tom Brady or Stephen Curry performed in the game over the weekend. In the same way, everyone on a sales team should know who is winning and losing in the sales game. Great sales leaders foster a culture of transparency that motivates sellers to succeed, putting pressure on those who aren’t performing and recognizing those who are. One highly successful sales leader published individual rankings of sales performance every Sunday night. The list came to be known as the Wall of Shame as no one wanted to find themselves on the bottom. Many organizations find it hard to do this because of push-back from sellers who don’t want their numbers visible. But the best sales leaders make a convincing case for transparency and establish a culture in which it is not only accepted but acknowledged as a key driver of performance.
- Accountable. Great sales leaders drive accountability down through the sales organization, making it a core attribute of the sales team that starts at the top and permeates the entire culture. They set expectations, support their people in meeting those expectations and consistently hold people accountable for hitting the established performance targets. Leaders who get results know, as one standout sales leader once put it, that “people will do what you tolerate, not what you preach.” Great leaders do not tolerate anything less than meeting expectations – and they do not hesitate to move out people who are unable or unwilling to meet them.
- “It’s Okay.” The final characteristic of great leaders is one that recognizes that a performance-driven sales organization is challenging and acknowledges that not everyone will make the cut. Excellent leaders create an environment in which sellers know they will work hard and be rewarded for it. But they also know the job is not for everyone and that’s okay. When someone isn’t a good fit for a sales position, great leaders enable the person to exit with grace, feeling they were on a great team where they were well supported and respected for their effort. There’s a widespread understanding that failure to meet the expectations of a tough sales job doesn’t mean someone is personally a failure; simply that the job wasn’t a fit for their skill set. And that’s okay.
These eight traits are tough to find and tough to measure but they are the whole key to building a high-performing team. Yes, the hard, analytical skills are critical; they are foundational in a sales leader. But they aren’t enough to create a sales culture in which people are passionate about coming to work, exceeding goals and helping customers. This is what drives performance and long-term growth. And for that, you need a sales leader with the ability to build a performance-driven sales culture that thrives from top to bottom.
Comments (11)
These core principles are not unique to salespeople, but rather universal across all professions. As a student beginning to enter the workforce, I am tempted to put up a facade of success—or at least what I believe success looks like. In truth, honesty is always the best indicator of true performance. Making ethical decisions, practicing accountability, and supporting others through times of perceived failure are basic attributes of sound character.
Very interesting read, I like how the article focuses on sales leaders not only having the hard and technical skills but also creating a culture that makes the sales people feel comfortable, and enables them to perform at a high level. Having an ethical sales leader is definitely a positive influence for the organization given that it promotes those to always do the right thing, without following a guideline of principles and ethics that could lead to the sales organization adopting immoral behavior that could hurt performance. Being passionate is definitely key as well for the sales leader given it will influence others in the organization to put hard work and passion into their career which increases the likelihood of the organization becoming successful. Overall, these principles all are very essential for the sales leader, as well as any other employee no matter the industry they are in.
I feel like somebody who is going into a business profession should think about these eight traits. In my opinion, I think these traits can extent beyond just sales job as well. When it comes to any business it is important that ethical decisions are made and it is easier to sell something you are passionate about. Engaging with people/buyers is important when you make them feel wanted, they are more inclined to make a purchase when they feel respected. All and all, I think this article is useful information that can help anybody in the business profession.
Definitely agree with the author and this article. All traits can be successfully mastered with some practice but with each skill has developed it can be easier to attract new leads and close those leads as new customers. Having a leader with these skills is a great way to curate a team of high preforming sales representatives. I personally feel the best skill on this list is in regards to passion. Those that are passionate about their sales and achieving the end-goal are more likely to be the leaders helping their team achieve success. Great Article.
The first thing that shocked me was how often a company searches for a new head of sales. Consistently looking for a new position every year and a half seems ridiculous to me, but understandable after reading this article. I agree that a great sales person should be profesonal in every aspect, but I think being ethical should be high on the list first so that one can be professional in a respectful and ethical way. I would definitelty agree about the need for a person to be passionate and engaged in what they do and that would clealy show in their work ona day to day basis. My favorite characteristic of this article is the last one mentioned. I think this hits home and I really like how he talks about not being a faliure as a person but not being a good fit for the position at the point in time, which is okay.
I agree heavily with the eight traits proposed in this article. I have seen these traits in the team leaders at both my marketing/sales internships. For example, transparency was a big one. We would have weekly meetings that would show case what the BDRs were working on and where in the pipeline they were. The meeting would also show the goals they had hit that month. It was motivational for the BDRs they were winning and weren’t winning. It held a healthy competitiveness among the sales team.
I found this article very useful. I will definitely apply these tactics to improve my negotiation skills.
After reading this, it is clear that many attributes discussed above are what a great sales leader. However, these attributes are all good for people in all areas of the work force. Most people in the business world have developed many of these traits and are using them to their advantage. I believe that creating this high-performance sales culture is not necessarily about the people, but the team as a whole. It is not up to the manager to be the sole reason that this team succeeds, but each one of them doing their duty and setting up clear goals in order to achieve their desired goals.
I definitely agree that these eight characteristics are true, but i do not think that they apply only to sales leads. These characteristics can be applied to any business person. They are all traits that blend well with many professions. This article speaks on how some sales leads have hard skills but do not have the ability to create a performance-driven sales culture and vice versa. Creating this culture in the work place is very hard because you have to have a mix of good people, good skills, and good work ethic. All of which are perfectly attainable, but creating this culture while being focused on everyone you oversee can be a bit of an issue in terms of creating the culture as quickly as possible. Sales leads have to get to know their associates and they have to see what works for them as a whole in order to create the culture that will benefit the company the most.
I definitely agree with the eight characteristics that the author has presented here. All of these characteristics are the type that are contagious. These qualities are ones that if your leader demonstrates them, the rest of the team will pick up on their behavior. These qualities follow the idea that you should treat others the way you wish to be treated. If you are respecting, teaching and encouraging your team, it is likely that they will in turn respect you and WANT to perform their best.
I couldn’t agree more with the traits presented in this article in regards to what salespeople should have in their own personal tool kit/skill set. As for myself, I believe the two most important traits a salesperson should have is to be engaged and transparent. Being in sales means being willing and able to work with people- numerous people- all day, everyday. That being said, one MUST be engaged in a number of ways. Engaged in the conversation because every buyer is different and requires different strategies. Engaged in the deal itself; things can get mundane if you’re selling the same service or product repeatedly, but have to ever keep in mind that it’s your buyer’s first time potentially hearing about said product/service. And you have to be engaged in the buyer as a person- to ensure you are being customer-centric and making your potential buyer feel especially valued, understood and respected. Next, I believe it’s incredibly important to be transparent. Salespeople get a bad rep. for being mischievous, dishonest, and only caring about creating deals rather than honesty, relationships, etc. That being said, it is equally important to be transparent with your customers, sales managers and team to ensure that all cards are on the table and an overwhelming feeling of honestly is showcased in order to truly conduct business in an ethical and efficient manner.