The Sales Leader in YOU!

By Mark Hunter The Sales Hunter

Making a Difference When It Matters Most

Why Leadership?
No other trait has a wider affect on sales success than leadership.
Leadership is not reserved for those in official positions, but is found in anyone who envisions big goals and has the tenacity and integrity to accomplish them. This eBook highlights some of the most vital steps someone can take toward becoming a sales leader.

Our customers are buying confidence. Its up to us to show it.

Whether you are a CEO, a sales manager or someone just starting out in the sales industry, you can strengthen your skills and move confidently toward more influence, more sales and more satisfaction.

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

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L.E.A.D.E.R.S.H.I.P
10 Traits of Effective Leaders
Listening: Leaders take the time to listen to
what is being said and more importantly to what is not being said. Create an environment that fosters dialogue at all levels. Create an environment that encourages people to share their opinions, instead of complaining to others. Empowerment: High-performing teams make their own decisions. They know the organizations vision and goals. Theyre encouraged and supported in making their own decisions. Attitude: Leaders understand how attitude impacts the performance of the team. The skills of a team will never be fully realized unless the team has a success-oriented attitude. Organizations adopt the style of the leader. When leaders fail to embrace a people-oriented, growth attitude, they become managers of a process. Driven: Leaders do not allow setbacks to become permanent. Rather they use setbacks as stepping-stones to accomplish goals. Leaders know people are watching them during difficult times to see how they should respond. Its during difficult times when the leaders true spirit comes through, and its this spirit that becomes part of the organization. Encourage: Leaders never underestimate the power of the team and are always drawing out the best in people through their encouragement and support in large and small things. Encouragement is an intangible, yet leaders who visibly and verbally encourage other people genuinely understand the power of encouragement

Relate: Great leaders understand the personal

and professional sides of their organizations and they understand how both interact with each other. Leaders allow themselves to become exposed on their personal side. Nunc cursus magna quis Simplify: Nowadays, information is overloading everything and everybody. Leaders know how to prevent information from complicating tasks and they work to streamline processes. Just as important is the simplification of the tasks at hand. This is achieved when everyone knows and understands the objectives of the team. Helpful: Leaders are never too busy not to help, nor are they too proud not to help. True leaders help people in all kinds of situations. However, leaders also know when not to help and allow the team and the individuals to achieve the satisfaction of accomplishing the task themselves. Imagination: Leaders dream and, more importantly, they allow others to dream with them. Through this process, they allow the organization to move to a higher level through the use and application of imagination as a leadership tool.

Passion : Nothing determines the level of output Donec sit amet arcu. more than the passion exhibited by the team, and

this starts with the leader. Without demonstrated passion from the leader, there is no hope of the team ever achieving greatness. The level of output is directly related to the passion of the organization and each member of the team.

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

Sales is Leadership. Leadership is Sales.

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Those who demonstrate leadership will succeed in their careers in tangible ways and intangible ways. Sales leadership cannot be reduced to simply being the top performing salesperson in terms of numbers. Sales leadership is being the type of salesperson and sales team that is seen by not only your customers, but also your competitors, as the source to turn to for answers.
Sales leadership is being able to ask customers and prospects questions that both you and the customer are not going to know the answer to.
Tradition-bound salespeople would never think of asking a customer a question they wouldnt be able to answer. Leadership in sales is just the opposite. Its being comfortable and personally confident enough to ask tough questions. The more you grow in your ability to do this, the more likely you will uncover the type of crucial information that will equip you to close the profitable sales that other salespeople regularly miss.

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Asking the Right Questions

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Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

20 Must Have Leadership Traits for Success

1. Although
managers are concerned about a result, leaders are also concerned about why a result occurred.

7. Strong leaders are able to impact

performance as much by what they do not say as by what they do say.

8. Leaders create both formal and informal

communication networks within their organization.

2. Belief and attitude

modification are as much of a concern to a leader as skills modification.

9. Leaders recognize that establishing and

nurturing mentoring networks is essential in high-performing organization.

3. Short-term results
can be driven by a managers words. Long-term results are driven by a leaders actions.

10. Leaders utilize the informal

network of an organization to receive feedback and monitor the health of the team.

4. Leaders understand that values and ethics

play a much larger role in the effectiveness of a long-term relationship than most people typically think.

11.
Successful leaders create organizations comprised of individuals who have a desire to continuously improve.

5. Successful leaders realize the importance

of not just the major moves they make, but also the small ones.

12. Leaders work to

create an environment among the entire organization that encourages dialogue among peers in an effort to improve themselves.

6. Successful leaders have teams that are

unified in knowing both the goals of the organization and how each persons actions affect the achievement of those goals.

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

20 Must Have Traits for Success 13. Leaders are comfortable with Leadership 17. Successful leaders realize you cannot
communication flowing back up to them and how to deal with it once its received. totally separate a persons work life from their personal life.

14. Leaders keep the focus of the

organization on the true objectives and do not allow the energy of the organization to be spent.

18. High-performing leaders are ones who

do not merely pass along information. Rather, they filter the information to ensure its what the organization needs to know and that its communicated in an appropriate manner. This does not mean leaders keep their teams in the dark. A good leader will analyze the information to determine whether or not it helps the organization achieve its goals.

15. Leaders continuously review the way

things are being done and work to improve them by fostering within the organization a spirit that is not threatened by change.

16. Successful leaders realize the personal

impact they make on the people they come in contact with every day. By understanding the sacred role they play in the lives of people, they are more cognizant of how they choose to interact with them.

19. Leaders accomplish their tasks through

other people, not themselves.

20. Leaders understand how a persons

output is impacted by their attitude.

With each person we meet, our goal is to earn the right, privilege, honor and respect to meet with that person again.

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

How

is you

r e-Re putat ion?

One aspect with regard to sales leadership is to pay close attention to your e-reputation.
I ran across this phrase and was struck by it. Your e-reputation is what others may find out about you and your company via the web. Maintaining a reputable status on the web is a worthy endeavor. With Google, its easy to see what people are saying about you or your company. All great leaders will always have people who are in disagreement with them. Take the time to see what is out there so you can then respond should something negative come up in a conversation. I know plenty of warnings have been given that you should be conscientious of what you share personally on social networking sites. Surprisingly, some people still do not heed these warnings. They share questionable comments or photos on Facebook or Twitter, forgetting who is connected to them on those sites or simply forgetting that its not too difficult for anyone to come across the information. If you want to keep a high level of profits and sales motivation and if you want to have ample time to focus on your selling skills then be sure you are viewed as a leader. Carry yourself with integrity and confidence wherever you present yourself, including out in cyberspace.

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

Are You Ready to Meet with the CEO?

Its the meeting for which youve been waiting.

Finally, youve been able to secure a meeting with the CEO of the company you know you can help. For the past year, youve been researching the company and developing relationships with as many people as possible. In particular, you have gotten to know the two gatekeepers who have been up to now blocking your way to the CEO. Last week your call to the administrative assistant finally hit home and youre on the CEOs calendar in three weeks. Now is the time to make sure your leadership skills are as honed as possible and to get ready for this important meeting. The degree to which you prepare will directly impact the success of your meeting.

Below are 6 key things you need to do before your meeting:

1. Set up Google Alerts to receive any updates that may appear on the internet for the company, the person youre going to meet and the other top people in the company with whom the CEO interacts. If the company is publically traded, read their annual reports and their quarterly filings, and listen to the of their quarterly investor calls. Benchmark the company with their major competitors to determine how they compare. Continued
Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

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3.

 4. 5. 6.

Identify the strategic objectives on which the company is working. In particular, learn all you can about the key initiatives with which you have reason to believe the CEO is most concerned. Monitor the news to determine if there are any political or newsworthy events that could impact either the CEO or the company. Monitor the trade journals and industry websites that pertain to the companys industry. Know the educational background of the CEO and identify any key alumni and school events with which the CEO may be connected.

Use the information you obtain from the activities listed above to help you develop a list of peer comment/questions you can share with the gatekeeper or CEO if the opportunity arises. Peer comments/questions are those things you can share briefly with the CEO or gatekeeper that allow them to see that you are aware of the environment in which they operate and that you are comfortable talking about those things. By positioning your peer comment as a question, you not only have the ability to share something with them, but you also will engage them in conversation. Making a peer comment/question part of your opening dialogue with the CEO will reassure the CEO that they are not wasting their time with someone who does not understand how valuable the CEOs time is. It also demonstrates that you comprehend their level of decision-making responsibility. Remember your peer comment/question is not the opportunity for you to share your 5,000 word opinion on a topic. Your comment/question should be brief and framed as an opening to get the CEO to share their opinion. It is not necessary for the peer question/comment to relate directly to your meeting topic. In fact, is better if it is on a completely different topic. You will show the CEO that you do not have tunnel vision and you have a broader understanding of the world in which they operate. Continued
Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

 If youre wondering why I use the term peer, it is because the topic youre bringing up is designed to be a topic the CEO may very well be discussing with their peers. This allows the CEO to naturally begin to see you as one of their peers, thus increasing their comfort in sharing information with you. Earlier in this article, I mentioned that you shouldnt hesitate to share your peer comments/questions with the gatekeeper as well. The gatekeeper is really an extension of the CEO. When you make relevant comments or pose peer questions, you increase the gatekeepers comfort level. If the gatekeeper feels comfortable with you, this contributes to the CEO feeling comfortable. If you have managed to land that all-important meeting with a CEO, dont delay in your preparation. Invest the effort and time now so you can experience the valuable dividends later. Be the leader you are capable of being. Be the leader the CEO will remember.

We influence each person we meet. Our goal is to influence them positively.

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

What do your eyes and hands have to do with sales leadership?

Your eyes communicate confidence. Your hands demonstrate leadership.
Salespeople lose control of many sales calls and their own sales motivation due to their lack of eye contact and how they use their hands. Its important to note, though, that the eyes and hands serve different purposes.

Your eyes communicate confidence.

If the salesperson cant give the customer eye contact, then clearly the salesperson is not confident about what theyre talking about or worse yet, the customer intimidates them. In either case, the salespersons ability to close the sale is going to be severely jeopardized. This is especially true when communicating price or dealing with objections raised by the customer, as its at these critical points of a sales call where eye contact is absolutely essential.

Your hands help you convey leadership in several ways.

First, its with your handshake. The firmness of your handshake is going to go a long way in communicating your confidence and in essence your ability to lead. The main reason I believe your hands help demonstrate leadership is in how theyre used as a communication tool.

Leaders use their hand motions to move at a pace consistent with the words per minute they speak at.
Overly fast and jerky movements communicate a sense of panic. In contrast, deliberate hand movements that flow in sync with what is being said demonstrate the salesperson is in control and has an ability to lead. Continued
Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

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Another way your hands demonstrate leadership is how theyre held in relation to the body.
The further the hands are extended from the body, the more it shows leadership, due to the space the person is looking to control.

Finally, the hands demonstrate leadership because they can show someone that you are listening.
When the hands are still while the other person is talking, it conveys you are listening. Obviously, listening is crucial to leadership. True leaders show this not just with their ears, but also with their posture and with their hands. When you hold your hands still while the other person is talking, it is a very visible contrast to your hand movements when youre talking.

Your eyes and your hands two communication tools that help demonstrate confidence and leadership. Be intentional and conscientious in how you use your eyes and your hands. They are saying more than you realize.

The level of profit you make on a sale will reflect the level of confidence you had going into the call.

The level of trust you build today will determine the level of profit you achieve tomorrow.

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

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Best Information Comes from SHORT Questions

Sales leaders learn how to get the best and most useful information out of customers.
Theres no better way to improve the quality of information you receive from a potential customer than by asking short questions. We all can recall far too many times when weve sat across the table from a customer were trying to help and we know we can help, if they would just provide us information about their needs and goals. Our problem in dealing with this type of customer is we need to find a better way to engage them and to get them to think about what they want and need and then share that information with us.

The answer to this dilemma? Short questions.

I believe that short questions get you long answers (while long questions get you short answers). What too often happens is we are talking to a customer and asking them what we believe are simple questions, but in reality, those questions are simple only to us. To someone unfamiliar with our product and services, the questions are complex. For example, we ask a question that has a couple of facts wrapped up in it. As a result, it winds up being more of a statement for which we are simply looking for feedback or agreement. No wonder customers can give us the cold shoulder and the blank stare. What we want to do is ask short questions. In their simplest form, they are questions like why and how. Or possibly they look like these questions:

Could you give me an example? Could you explain that again to me?

Continued
Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

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The shorter the question, the more likely we are to get a long answer. The next step is to ask them another short question, following up on what they just said.
The beauty about this is it allows the customer to do all the talking. By doing the talking, theyll tell you their needs and desired benefits. Theyll tell you their goals and will reveal a level of information you need to determine how to best serve them.

When using the short question approach, there are only two things you need to remember: First, ask the customer a soft easy question to which you know theyll respond.
Second, after they have given you a response, continue with the short questioning approach by asking, Could you give me another example? You then pause and allow the client to give you more information, upon which you follow up again with another short question such as, How? or Why? Basically, you want to do whatever you can to get them talking more. If you do, youll come across as an inquisitive 3-year-old rather than the professional salesperson you know you are. You can avoid this best by picking up on a single item they shared with you and drilling down on just that one item. When you drill down on a single item, you demonstrate your listening skills and your ability to truly discern information. The beauty of this approach is when it works, the customer will many times share with you exactly what they want and will begin asking you questions about features and benefits. Short questions get you long answers. Long questions get you short answers. It is up to you as to the approach you want to take.
Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

Second, dont keep asking the same short questions.

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Do You Talk About Your Products? Or Do You Talk About Your Customers Business?
Sales leaders know that the limited time they have with a customer should be spent talking about what the customer is most interested in.
If you are spending time discussing with your customers their business, then youre behaving in a way that most salespeople fail to comprehend. Its not that you dont talk at all about what you sell. What it means is youre placing the interests of the customer ahead of yours, and when you do talk about what it is you sell, youre doing so in a way that wraps it around how it is going to help the customers business.

Too many salespeople who sell in the B2B (business to business) sector seem to forget about the fact that if the customer theyre selling to is not successful, there is no way they as a salesperson will be successful selling to them. As a sales leader, you have to recognize and embrace that your customers have to be strong and healthy. The last thing you want to do is to sell to a customer who cant pay you. Take a few minutes to ask yourself what you know about your customers business. Ask yourself, When was the last time I had a solid discussion about their business?

Continued
Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

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Im a firm believer that unless youre having serious discussions with your customer about their business and how they can improve it, there is little chance you will ever be a great salesperson, let alone a sales leader.
The beauty in having this type of discussion with your customers is the information youll learn. Very quickly youll learn insights and strategies that will help you maximize opportunities, not only with the customer to whom you are talking, but also with other customers. This knowledge will quickly work its way into all of your discussions, which in turn will have customers sharing with you even more information. The end result is simple youll be seen as somebody valuable, and they may actually look forward to meeting with you.

You will stand apart from other salespeople, who the typical customer can usually do without.

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

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Sales Leadership is possible for anyone dedicated to the profession of sales and the goals of their customers. Decide today to walk with confidence, integrity and a life-long commitment to continual learning.

You wont regret where that decision will take you!

For a Free Weekly Sales Tip and other resources, visit

www.TheSalesHunter.com

Mark Hunter
The Sales Hunter mark@thesaleshunter.com (402) 445-2110

www.Linkedin.com/in/MarkHunter www.Facebook.com/TheSalesHunter www.YouTube.com/TheSalesHunter www.Twitter.com/TheSalesHunter

Copyright 2013 Mark Hunter www.TheSalesHunter.com

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