Be a Transformational Sales Leader!

Transformational Leadership in a Changing World

Today’s business environment requires sales leaders to not shy away from change but rather to embrace it and to become champions of change.  Turbulent change is all around us. It is caused by forces such as technology, the economy, globalization, innovation and more. These forces drive change and push sales managers to adjust, adapt and plan strategically. Sales Managers are constantly innovating to increase sales and to increase sales, improve profit and connect with people. Sales Managers and their teams continue to think creatively and plan to overcome challenges and create positive outcomes.  

Motivating Sales People   

Most models to motivate a sales person are designed to increase the sales person’s motivation. In theory, these models are an exchange process. They are designed to increase effort and improve performance. It is a transactional leadership approach and financial rewards, recognition, and a sense of accomplishment are linked to greater performance. Sales quotas are set that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound - the process begins. Sales meetings are also an important motivational tool as are meeting and talking with marketing personnel and top management. 

Leadership Activities Influence Positive Outcomes
     

Leadership styles and choices do matter and make a difference. John Maxwell, leadership expert and bestselling author, says leadership is influence. He tells us that great leaders inspire their followers to have confidence in themselves. Reilly, Minnick and Baack in their book, The Five Functions of Management, tell us that in a business context, leadership consists of all the activities undertaken to help people achieve the highest level of performance. They point out that effective leaders influence behaviors in positive ways and that ineffective leaders also influence behaviors, but do not achieve desired results. 

Conceptualize and Apply Transformational Leadership  

In addition to the motivational models and leadership styles designed to motivate and lead salespeople, how can a sales manager further influence a sales person’s motivation? The answer is simple: practice and master transformational leadership. 

Transformational leadership is a leadership style that compliments transactional leadership. Transformational leaders have a unique ability to reach their people by creating new visions, strategies and structure which help create needed results. By being a positive role model, transformational leaders talk the walk and walk the talk. They realize that their teams are watching more how they walk the talk versus how they talk it. They understand that the men and women reflect the tempo and tone of the leader.  

Transformational leaders provide idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. They model the way. They inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, and look for ways to improve, enable others to act.  They encourage the heart. 

Transformational leadership is a style that can be used in a changing and challenging business climate. When an organization is going through change, it is a style that adds value to employees, departments, and customers.    

Be a Transformational Sales Manager

Simply by having an understanding of transformational leadership, conceptualizing the theory and applying it, sales managers can learn and practice transformational leadership. They can hone their skills with practice. Sales managers can still keep their measures and metrics used in their management process to monitor performance and trends, but now they can focus on the elements of transformational leadership to build people further. Sales managers can make an impact simply by understanding the importance of being a positive role model and source of inspiration to their teams. By caring and providing individualized consideration, sales managers can further connect with their people and teams and help move them forward. 
 

Transformational leaders are self-aware and self- managed. They have excellent social, emotional and cultural intelligence. They provide encouragement when needed and are optimistic about the future. Being optimistic does not mean they are not objective; it simply means they prefer to take a positive outlook on present and future situations and events. They are resilient. They understand that our minds can be either a barrier or bridge to the future. Being resilient is a great trait for transformational leaders. Here is a great site to learn more about resiliency: http://www.resiliencycenter.com/articles/5levels.shtml

Sales managers, grow, serve and be a positive role model for your teams. Be a transformational leader. Work to understand the context and culture in every leadership situation and then execute and lead with transformational leadership. Watch your teams respond and move forward with increased motivation and effort. This will all lead to greater performance and job satisfaction. Transformational leadership reinforces their motivation. 

Bill Davis, MA, CM

Faculty – Forbes School of Business at Ashford University

                                                                   Author/Educator/Consultant/Speaker

My articles cover topics on management, leadership, business, marketing, professional selling, organizational change, motivation, adult learning and development and personal and professional career success.  

How to Make Headway in Your Career?

Careers are built over a lifetime. Some look back over their careers and feel like they have accomplished many things while others look back and feel they were just supporting themselves without accomplishing much. To gain the successful career and achieve what you want it you can no longer afford be directionless. Give up short-term strategies and focus on what works for you.

Define what You Want to Achieve

People in life should have something they want to accomplish beyond just eating and watching tv. Some of the happiest people in life have a purpose and a direction. They hope to contribute to society in some way that can help both themselves and others. Knowing what that is can act like a guide for your day-to-day business.

Knowing what you truly want to accomplish isn't about defining an objective based on tv, friends, family, or your social networks. It is about finding a personal sense of expression in the world and going after what is important to you. You must know yourself before you know what to accomplish.

Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses

To find the best way to achieve your goals you will need to know your strengths and weaknesses. Some are great at managing lots of projects while others are better at working alone. Strengths could be creativity while weaknesses could lay in details. The strengths and weaknesses are unique to each individual.

Determine Your Most Effective Strategy

Some people might try and get as much done as others because they are work horses. Others go into the details and find things others were too lazy to look at. Still others might be creative and use that creativity to find a new way of looking at things. Knowing yourself and your strengths will help you determine which strategy is most likely likely to lead to success in a way that fits your personality.

Fell free to share with appropriate attribution. Dr. Murad Abel http://www.academic-capital.net 

Save Time and Be Successful

Time is limited. We have only so many seconds, hours, and days to spend. Before we know it we look back and realize that we have wasted lots of time. Time that could be used to be productive and time that could be used for important products. Defining what is most important to you and aligning more of your time to those activities is beneficial for being productive and maximizing enjoyment in your life.

 If you think about the amount of time we spend in activities we don't enjoy or that are not necessary we might be astounded. On any given day we are driven by our habits to complete certain rituals and actions we believe are important but ultimately make little difference in the quality of our lives or career aspirations. Aligning our activities to our dreams can make a big difference in our achievement.

 Know what You Want to Accomplish

This is a big issue for a huge percentage of society. Lots of people move through life without real goals or ambitions. They take each day as they can which is great but then fail to find a greater meaning and purpose in their lives. Unless you have some goals you want to achieve you will forever be stuck in the wasted time trap where activities are lack direction.

Review Your Time

Just because you are busy doesn't mean you are wasting your time. Work, family, and extra curricular activities all have their place in creating balance. Yet understanding which activities are contributing the most and which are not is important. Sometimes we are busy to be busy and one activity in that arena is fine for our needs. Getting a good grasp on your time and where you spend it is important for mastering it.

Remove the Waste

Get rid of the activities and wasted time that doesn't contribute to your life. If cleaning your house is slowing you down hire someone to come in once a week, if laundry is too much consider dropping off your clothing, or if others demands are too much consider saying "no". You only have one life to live so ensure that you are spending the time you want as wisely as you can.

Realign Your Time

Now that you understand where you waste your time and removed those activities that are not beneficial you will need to realign your time in a way that leads to greater accomplishment. If you need to accomplish some big project or enjoy some activity schedule more time with these events. The more you can adjust the more goals you will accomplish.

Enjoy Your Time

If you don't enjoy your time you won't be consistent. Make sure that the time you are spending is very enjoyable and has meaning to you. Someday you will look back at all that time you spent and how you spent it better have some value for you or you will regret it. Success and happiness can come together.

Developing Gifted Scientists Through Student Exploration

A great mind is a terrible thing to waste. Thousands of gifted people fall through the educational cracks and do not contribute fully to the world in which we exist. Future scientists and great discoveries are left unpackaged and unturned because we have failed to foster their minds in a way that breaks the mold of our defunct education system. To be a great nation and support the spreading of our way of life means we need to ensure the best and brightest come forward to take their rightful place as contributors to society.

 Our gifted are not the ones you think they are. They are the hidden nuggets among the masses that are unchallenged, engaging in esoteric pursuits, contemplating the meaning of life, and developing in a way that many do not understand. They are not the most socially connected, the best looking, the richest or even the one's who get the best grades. They are the unknown .01 percent of society that are pushed aside in a the stream of self-focus.

This problem of pushing aside those with the most potential has been going on for a long time. According to John Stuart Mill, society often buries their geniuses under dogmatic pathology. "The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time."

Highly intelligent people are unique because they view the world through a different lens. They gaze deeply into things out of curiosity, might have more refined nervous systems that retain more information, and act in ways outside of the norm. They are qualitatively and quantitatively different which makes them eccentric to many who do not hold the same capacities and traits that force them to see the world in a different way.

Giftedness is associated with a person's intelligence and innate ability to learn, develop and understand. They may be a genius in one or more areas as their minds develop and integrate information. According to Gardner in his book "Frames of Mind" (1983) there are seven, updated to nine, distinct types of intelligence. Areas where genius may succeed in logic, linguistic, visual-spatial, musical, kinaesthetic, interperspersonal and intrapersonal. They may also develop global and naturalistic mindsets that understand the bigger systems and the nature of things.

One might be a great dancer and another a skilled scientist; some might be both. There could be some who excel in multiple areas and are capable of pushing the envelop. Succeeding in these areas means the gifted person must be exposed to new opportunities. A "hit or miss" opportunity arises where innate skill matches some activity in their environment and they begin on the path of interest and development. Some skills may never develop because of a lack of exposure.

When the environment matches skills gifted individuals excel in higher order thinking skills. These skills are related to logical, critical, and creative thinking (Demirel et. al. 1998). This means that they can use solid logic to think through information, critically analyze that information in a way that offers new insight and are creative enough to develop new ways of doing things. In essence, they are the innovative and strategic thinkers we want them to be.

Modern curriculum seeks to pour knowledge in a linear fashion into student's minds. This is great for basic working knowledge for positions that rely on repetitive work but is not the best manner for discovering new ideas or seeing the deeper meaning of things. Gifted students want to create as many neural connections to the information as possible by touching and manipulating objects to understand their fundamentals.

The more connections they create the better and in more depth they understand a subject. Eventually, the dept of their knowledge leads to new insight and discovery that can be reapplied to create new meaning that society can use to advance in development. Enhancing gifted education requires changing the basic make-up of how curriculum is developed.

Instead of teaching in a linear fashion the student should be able to explore all sides of a topic by integrating information up and down and horizontally. They should be able to explore in all directions until they come to a satisfactory understanding of the issue. They may then move onto parallel branches of knowledge that add to their overall understanding.

Creating stronger scientists requires a more exploratory approach to education. The student becomes the master of their own education while the professor encourages and guides them to deeper understandings. The professor helps with the thought processes while the student picks the topics based on personal interest. The guide and the guided will eventually lead to a path of development where scientific exploration contributes to discovery.

Gifted students need enhancement to ensure they use their unique gifts to the fullest potential possible. One of developing scientists is to help them explore their interests but the other part is to help them understand their uniqueness to ensure they have the confidence to continue to try out new ideas. The student's psychological development is directly rated to their scientific mastery and career confidence.

Demirel, O., et. al. etc...(1998) İlköğretimde çoklu zekâ kuramının uygulanması [Applications of multiple intelligence theory in elementary grades]. VII. Ulusal Eğitim Bilimleri Kongresi, SelçukÜniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi, Cilt I, 531-546.

Gardner, H. (1983), Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Recognizing Objections in the Selling Continuum

Effective sales people understand the selling continuum. They work to add value and build positive relationships with customers and gain their customer’s commitment.  Sometimes this happens quickly and other times objections occur during the sales process which increases the time it takes to gain the commitment of the customer. Moving customers through the selling continuum so they can make a well informed decision is what successful sales people do.  It is not always easy. An important factor in gaining the customer’s commitment is the ability of the sales people to understand and effectively respond to customer objections.

             

What is an objection? Simply put, an objection is a question or concern.  You may experience objections when you are prospecting for new business, during a sales call and in a presentation. You may see objections when you try to close and gain commitment or even after you have closed a sale and the customer has experienced the product or service.

             

Customers will object for many various reasons. The most common objections usually fall in the area of pricing, product, need, source, and time (Weitz, Castleberry and Tanner, 2001). Objections occur during the selling process and they can occur in everyday life. For example, you are presenting an idea to a group and during the presentation someone rises up and presents an objection. They state they do not have the time to implement your idea and they do not see a need for it right now. This is a time and need objection.

           

Responding to a customer’s objections is a responsibility of the salesperson. Here are some examples in these areas that I have experienced in my sales and marketing career to help you see more:

·          

      Price Objection:  We negotiated terms and conditions of a major sponsorship agreement for a sports venue. In the middle of the selling continuum the customer presented price objections. We listened and did not interrupt the customer as they shared their concerns. We focused on unmet needs and evaluated concerns. It was discovered the customer had unmet needs for advertising and customer traffic. We made adjustments, innovated and designed a value-added discount coupon on our packaging that drove traffic into the venue. This simple promotion was easy to execute and we further enhanced our relationship and trust, to further strengthen our partnership. Plus, we were able to improve our overall net pricing.

·         Product and Need Objections:  We were trying to gain new business from a large chain of fast food outlets that sold our competitors’ products.  When we attempted to set up an initial appointment we heard many objections. They felt our products were not needed and our products would not do any more for their business than their current supplier’s product. They seemed satisfied with their current supplier. We did not try to force a situation nor spend time trying to convince the customer to consider us. We listened to the customer, evaluated the situation, and we remained professional and consistent. Occasionally, we would stop by to present an idea or two to keep the customer in our selling cycle. The end result was after a six-month period our efforts paid off and we were given the opportunity to present our innovative ideas, programs, and were successful in matching our capabilities to the customer’s needs. A great partnership evolved and eventually we gained the business and the customer’s commitment. In turn, we gained incremental sales which came directly from our competitor.

·         Source Objection: Providing high quality customer service and care is a key component in building successful relationships and trust. When a company does not provide quality customer service and care and does a poor job following through on service-related issues trust can be damaged and lost. It can sometimes lead to losing the account. We were always proactive in this area and any service- related issues that happened and were not to standard we thoroughly evaluated to find the cause. We evaluated each one closely. We developed feedback tools, improved standards and provided training to ensure our customer service and repair averages were kept at the highest level.  This prevented source objections. 

Responding to objections is an important part of what sales professionals do. When on sales calls and in the selling continuum, we need to remember objections may arise and we should be prepared to handle them by being helpful and positive. Objections are simply questions or concerns. They are a normal part of the selling process. Successful sales professionals should always listen attentively and work to understand their customers’ point of view and address their customers’ questions and concerns. They need to prepare effective responses that will help their customers move forward in the selling continuum so they can make well-informed choices. Being positive and handling objections professionally builds credibility and trust. This helps us gain the customer commitment and builds successful relationships and partnerships. 

Here are some additional insights and tips on objections from Selling and Persuasion Techniques.com:http://www.sellingandpersuasiontechniques.com/sales-objections.html

 Weitz, B. A., Castleberry, S. B., & Tanner, J. F. (2001). Selling building partnerships (4th ed.). New York,, NY: Mcgraw-Hill Irwin. 

Bill Davis, MA, CM

Faculty – Forbes School of Business at Ashford University

                                                                   Author/Educator/Consultant/Speaker

My articles cover topics on management, leadership, business, marketing, professional selling, organizational change, motivation, adult learning and development and personal and professional career success.