What Type of a Sales Leader Are You?

by on March 17, 2011 in @Peak, Sales Leadership, Sales Management

We have all seen the different types of sales managers and probably even worked for a few. When we looked back over our own experience, we identified seven different types of sales managers, which we have affectionately named below. Which one are you?

  1. The Fire Marshall – This type of sales manager can trigger immediate results but they have no long-term sales plan, and focus on different deals and challenges from week to week.
  2. The Dreamer – This type can create exciting plans that upper management love, but sometimes lack a grasp on realities and risk the support of the reps.
  3. The Dealmaker – A sales person at heart, this type cherry picks the best incoming leads and drops into of the team’s accounts to personally close big opportunities. Can secure big wins, but usually can’t scale the sales function.
  4. The Dashboard Director – While they know all the metrics cold and can allocate resources efficiently, this type rarely spends time with customers, so doesn’t appreciate the hard work that goes on in the field and often fails in building true customer loyalty.
  5. The Dictator – This type doesn’t care for input from the team, but can drive direction and is very decisive (unfortunately they are often wrong).
  6. The Microprocessor – This type needs to review every detail of the sales team’s work, which prevents the reps from getting sufficient time for selling and, in turn, stifles growth.
  7. The Prodigy – Reasonable decisions, a good sense of reality, team support and strong sales results are the hallmark of this type, which is why they will likely get promoted to CEO at some point.

To your success!

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No Responses to “What Type of a Sales Leader Are You?”

  1. Michael March 29, 2011 at 2:37 pm #

    Regardless of the type of Sales Leader you are, it is important to keep your sales force informed of the administrative roles you carry which directly affect them. For example- commissions reporting becomes heated when each sales rep can not identify each and every revenue stream created during the period.

    It becomes your responsibility as a sales leader to research solutions such as http://www.oneclickcommissions.com/psr.html which communicates the earnings much more clear and effectively.

    FYI- I tend to be what you categorize as a “Dashboard Director.” But I still find time to make calls with every single rep, at least once a month.

    I enjoyed your article- bookmarking now!

    Reply

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