The Major Goal of Great Sales Leadership

Are you ready to take your sales leadership to the next level? Well, buckle up, my friends! I’ve talked to 7 sales leaders, and they’ve shared some golden nuggets of wisdom with me. 

Your major goal is to care about other people’s success, according to Mark Haas, VP of sales at Incorta. And to do that, it’s important to ensure to watch your teams and how they are aligned across their goals and repetitive tasks, as Sean Hogan, CRO at CodeScience, points out. He also emphasizes the need to let sellers make more decisions since they are the ones closest to the customers. The CRO should be there to support the sellers and their connection to end customers.

Michael Hoy, AVP of commercial sales at Pendo, believes that first-line sales managers are crucial to coaching and implementing successful sales strategies. And, as a sales leader, he owns two numbers – the amount of money his team brings in and the number of people they promote. These are the KPIs all sales leaders should adopt.

David Atmaram Satterwhite, Chief Revenue Officer at UserTesting, has a goal to make sure his team does the best work of their lives. He also knows that people do what you do, not what you expect them to do. So, if you’re implementing a new methodology, start with sales manager training, or it’ll be a waste of time.

The best sales leaders carry the stress from their higher-ups without letting it trickle down to the sales team to ensure their focus remains on the customer, advises Nick Feeney, AVP of Enterprise & Strategic Sales at Mural. He also advocates for creating a “user manual” for every team member to help understand their communication preferences, feedback style, and more.

Basil Murray, RVP of Enterprise Sales at DHI, says that vulnerability is the most important skill in sales and leadership since it creates trust with teams and buyers. He also recommends getting to know the personal goals of your salespeople and supporting them in achieving them.

Finally, Roger McConville, VP of Global Renewal Sales at Elastic, emphasizes the need to move sales managers out of forecast managers and into coaching roles. Otherwise, you just have a bunch of super sellers telling reps what to do. “Companies that invest in manager training are the ones that benefit in the long run since they have a next level of leadership that runs the business.”

So, there you have it! The major goal of great sales leadership is to care about your team’s success, align their goals and tasks, coach them to success, and create a supportive environment that encourages vulnerability and personal growth.

And if you’re not doing those things already, well, now you know what to do!