To be a sales leader you have to go above and beyond selling in order to create a sales team that will be successful. You will have to give more of yourself, but you will also get to take more out of the career. Your team is looking to you for guidance and leadership.
Motivation
One of your job responsibilities as a sales leader is to keep you team motivated to sell. There are many ways you can motivate your team. You can offer bonuses and rewards for excellent achievement or give weekly pep talks. Keep in mind that not all tactics work with every team so you may have to experiment with different motivational tactics to get your team to respond.
Time Management
You will no doubt have an overload of information and requests coming through your desk. It is your responsibility to sift and sort through this information and categorize it from most important to least important in regards to the team and the company. You will have to decide what areas you need to spend the most time on and what requests you can handle very quickly. Let’s face it; you will not be able to carry the success of the team on your shoulders alone. You will have to delegate tasks and assign duties to your team members in order to get everything done and for your team to be successful. This also means that you will have to trust your team and show them you believe they are capable of handling the job. If you try to micromanage their every move, you are going to be met with a negative response and lack of motivation. Reward them for the extra effort and guide them when it is appropriate.
Never Settle for Less
Being a sales leader can be tough. You will be faced with hard decisions and have to constantly ensure that the team is on point and doing their job. Working so closely with your team and cause you to become emotionally attached to them. While this is a good thing, it can make decisions tougher for you. No matter how much you think the people on your team are your friend, you need to let them know what your expectations are and never settle for anything less. Doing so could cost you your job and your credibility as a sales leader. If you are clear about your expectations and have outlined their job responsibilities clearly it should not be very hard to see who is excelling and who has room for improvement. Sales coaching is a big part of leading and training your team for success is top priority. If you feel like the job at hand is something that is easily accomplished, than let the team know you expect it to be done well and nothing less is acceptable.
