Sales leadership is hard. That is particularly true today when the relevance of sales is sometimes questioned, and many hypothesize that the power of the buyer invalidates all professional salesmanship. I disagree with the latter. For me, "professional salesmanship" has always been about a customer-first entrepreneurial mindset, valuing the wisdom of the past but bringing a personal perspective informed by experience, and inspired by innovation. 

I was recently asked to describe what makes a good sales leader. I am not sure I know how to do that, but it prompted me to record some thoughts that I think apply to entrepreneurs, to sellers and to their leaders.

1. A great sales leader is a pioneer, sometimes in a lonely place; but a pioneer can build a community, and communities are enduring.
2. The impact on a customer of a bad buying decision is typically greater than the impact on a sales person of a lost deal.
3. Being a customer can be hard. It’s not always easy to be confident in a buying decision.
4. Even if your sales forecast says so, deals don’t always close on the last day of the month.
5. Gartner’s Magic Quadrant isn’t in fact "magic."
6. Sales people sometimes think they lose on price. Buyers always buy on value.
7. There are only two reasons why you lose a sale: either you shouldn't have been there in the first place (i.e. not an opportunity you could win) or you were outsold.
8. Effective leaders look to develop other leaders, not followers.
9. When you ask someone to do something, helping him or her to understand the why is more powerful than just explaining the what.
10. Trust is not transferable. It is hard to earn and easily to lose.
11. Mutual respect is the foundation for good coaching.
12. There is no prosthetic for loss of motivation.
13. Sales people are not only or primarily motivated by money. Recognition and winning are often equally or more important.
14. The only way we can realize the worth of our own opinions is by valuing the opinions of others.
15. Strategy with execution is hallucination.

About the Author: 

Author of Amazon #1 Best-Seller Account Planning in Salesforce, Donal Daly is CEO and Founder of (his fifth global business enterprise) The TAS Group, the global leader in Smart Sales Transformation. Combining his expertise in enterprise software applications, artificial intelligence, and sales methodology, he continues to revolutionize the sales effectiveness industry. Feel free to download The TAS Group's latest publication, Battling the 57%: Deconstructing the Buyer Seller Dance. 

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