Congrats. You’ve successfully brought in a sales leader who is going to propel your sales team to greatness. Not so fast. You’re job is not done.
As I’ve learned firsthand in my dozen-plus years in the Salesforce sales organization, it is essential you continue to coach your hire on the characteristics they need to develop and the expectations you have of them.
Below I’ve broken out the 10 categories I emphasize when coaching my direct reports:
We ask every sales leader to immediately and consistently meet with each of their team members to understand their core values, motivations, strengths, areas of development, and career aspirations.
Our leaders should aspire to be great listeners and seek to understand before trying to be understood. And they need to lead from the front by rolling up their sleeves and getting involved in the business. This includes regularly hitting the road with account executives.
Our sales leaders must take responsibility for their team’s pipeline and coach the sales process around it. I encourage my hires to live, breathe, and eat our next-steps-driven culture. This encompasses proactive, mutually agreed upon actions we are working on with our customers to earn their business.
“Owning it” takes on a variety of definitions when it comes to our sales leaders. It starts with setting the bar high and building a team of proactive, solution-oriented, strategic, driven, motivated, and accountable people.
They are also expected to encourage collaboration that makes everyone better at what they do. Leaders need to execute today and plan for tomorrow, while also thriving and excelling with change. It’s wise for them to get comfortable with shades of gray.
To read the full article, How Salesforce Coaches Its Sales Leaders, visit Quotable.