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The Three Roles of the Sales Leader

Daily Nuggets | | Nick Fellers

Following up on my post about the ‘Sales Driven Funding Operation.’

A critical position on a Sales Team is the Sales Leader.

IF you are committed to a Sales Team then you should identify the Sales Leader – the person who fulfills these duties:

  • The ultimate PLAYER/COACH: This person has the street cred and is usually the organization’s BEST sales person. This person has also accepted the role of COACH to the team.
  • Has ultimate ACCOUNTABILITY: This person is 1) accountable for the Sales Team results, and 2) the person to whom each Salesperson is ultimately accountable.
    • There are also cases in which the Sales Leader can use others to support this function. Example, let’s say your team has ten Salespeople – they can report to a deputy but ULTIMATELY report to the Sales Leader.
  • The ultimate PLAY CALLER (or referee): If three Sales Team members want different changes to the engagement tool (for instance) the Sales Leader is empowered to LEAD and make-the-call, end-the-dispute, or unite-the-team around a clear decision.

Just having this vocabulary has been powerfully clarifying for organizational leadership responsible for building Sales-Driven Funding Operations.