Golden Rule of Sales Leadership

Do you remember the golden rule you learned in 1st grade? 

Does this rule work in sales management?  Of course not.  While doing unto others as you would have done unto you is a great lesson to teach our children, it doesn't work so well in sales management because everyone on your team processes information differently:

• The questions and tactics that worked when you were a successful sales person may or may not work for each individual sales person on your team.
• What motivated you to get on the phone and make prospecting calls may or may not motivate each sales person on your team.
• The optimal way for you to receive information and draw conclusions may be very different from how each sales person on your team gains understanding.

Successful sales people quickly learn they can be more effective when they adjust and adapt their communication style to match the prefered style of their prospective client.  Talking with a busy, results-focused, bottom line CEO...... get right to the point and delivery your message in crisp bullet points.  Talking with a cautious, detail-oriented CFO..... be precise, answer their questions with facts not opinions, do not force a quick decision.

The same concpet applies to sales leadership.  Everyone on your team has a different communication style and manner of processing information, so match your message to fit what they need.  Do unto others as they would have done unto themselves.

Dave Kurlan's "Are Your Salespeople Jerks or Just Different From You?" post sums it up nicely.  Kurlan writes:

"People are different.  Your salespeople are different.  Their prospects are different.  The more we understand their differences and learn to work with those differences, the more effective we can become."

Well said.  This is really the golden rule of sales leadership and the faster you embrace it the faster your results will improve.