The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Being a great manager is tougher than being a great salesperson.

Think back to when you were a new manager, what was one piece of advice you wish you knew back then, that you now know?

Here’s what a few of our experts at The Center for Sales Strategy said.

Recruiting top-performing sales leadership for your organization is harder than ever. The quality of the sales organization is directly associated with the quality of sales leadership.

When looking for top-performing sales leaders, you can’t just look for great salespeople. You need someone who can coach, go in the field, watch, and understand the sales process. Here are nine qualities to consider when you’re evaluating sales management talent. 

Tom Brady is one of those figures that draws emotional responses ranging from adoration to outright disdain, often depending on whose team has had their playoff hopes crushed by him during his long tenure in the NFL. 

But, say what you want, there is plenty for all of us to learn about how to be an effective leader by observing what Tom Brady does. 

What he accomplished on Sunday is indeed one of the most profound successes in professional sports as he transformed a young, talented team in Tampa Bay that had been underperforming for years into world champions in one season, learning a new team and a new system all without the benefit of mini camps and preseason games. If you look beyond the hype, here is what you would see.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

John Quincy Adams

1 out of 3 employees say that the boss doesn’t care about the staff. Until recently, leadership has always been about position and power rather than empowerment.

A simple secret to leadership that no one ever talks about is that if you genuinely care about your people, everything else will take care of itself.

Showing empathy and compassion doesn’t classify you as a pushover. It doesn’t mean you’re not focused on results, sales, and company growth. What genuinely caring for your team means is that you prioritize your time to ensure you focus on communication.

It takes time and attention, but the impact is worth it.

Highly engaged employees describe their company as authentic because they are who they say they are. They live their core values, rewarding those who demonstrate them and not tolerating those who don’t.  

It’s no secret that when your employees are engaged, they are emotionally committed and willing to give their best at work. That’s because engaged employees feel as though they have a stake in the game and a sense of purpose which makes them willing to give it everything they’ve got to achieve success. Employee engagement has a major impact on business success, proving to reduce turnover, increase performance, and retain key customers. 

Given the sudden health and economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase, “Never waste a good crisis,” has surfaced quite a few times. Noted public figures ranging from Machiavelli and Winston Churchill to Barack Obama have all invoked the phrase in times of trouble.

It’s often viewed as an opportunist looking to advance an agenda during an unfortunate circumstance. The reality is the phrase is more accurately a challenge to commit to doing things differently and better as a result of what we experience. And that’s the challenge we have for you.

“People don’t leave jobs; they leave managers.”

“I quit.” It’s what a record-breaking 4,478,000 workers told their employers in August 2019. The reasons for quitting varied from compensation to lack of engagement, but one in two employees left their job to get away from their manager.

At one point in our life, we’ve all worked under a superior that could make or break our day. When it comes to sales leadership, there’s a big different between being a boss and a leader. Which one are you?

If someone has the “gift of gab” they're often told that they should go into sales. Which often, just gives salespeople a bad name. Think about it. None of us like the salesperson who just keeps talking. The one that knows everything and is willing to tell us every detail. Are you talking about something the other person expressed interest in?

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in 2016 and has been updated.

At least once a week, I get asked by a sales leader if there is a business book I would recommend they read that will help them improve their game. That is a tough question to answer, because there are so many very good books out there, and depending where you are in your career (or your current business situation, or what you have already read), the right book for you could be one of several. So instead of picking just one book, I thought I would provide a list of five books that would make for great reading this summer.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, or Independence Day. It's a day that we as Americans reflect on our freedom, our heritage, and our history. In honor of this, we asked a few of the CSS team to chime in for this post. We asked, "If you could pick one historic American leader that would make a great sales leader today because of their strengths and talents, who would it be?" Here's what they said.