How To Become A Talent Magnet

Welcome back!

Ready for the third installment of the "New To Being A Front Line Leader" series? I’ve got you!

A question I’ve heard leaders echo is, what’s the line with my team? How do I show them I care about them…where is the line drawn…and is this even my job?

First, caring deeply for your team isn’t, in fact, your job. Your job is to guide them, grow them, and help them succeed, making them better sellers (or insert job title) than when you found them. But…in order to do that, you need to earn trust, loyalty, and respect, and that often starts with showing these people who are tasked with following you that you give a shit about them.?

The worst, right?! ??

I’ve spent my career aspiring to be that kind of leader, the one that is a talent magnet, and who hopefully has a long line of people that would jump at the chance to work for me again.?

Here are a few things I’ve built into my leadership style.?

Take the time to learn about your directs.

I know, this is 101, right? Across my corporate career, I’ve had nearly a dozen direct bosses, all men, and I can count two who took the time to learn about the people reporting up to him.

I also remember getting champagne delivered from one boss, congratulating me on a deal (so nice!), and the card said, “For you and your significant other to enjoy”. I had worked for this person for a year and had been with my SO for the entire time. EVEN if he didn’t know their name, a simple two seconds to ask my peers would have netted the name and not put a damper on the kind gesture.

Take the time to shoot the shit on calls, learn what motivates them, understand what gets them up in the morning, hear what goals they have professionally and personally, learn about their partner/spouse/kids/pets and write it all down. There’s only so much room in our heads, but what an awesome way to learn about them and show care by checking notes every so often.

Active listening questions aren’t just for sales calls.

Take a peek at some of your recent Slacks and look for places where someone on the team shared something personal. Maybe it was a trip they just planned, reminiscing about an old trip, or sharing something that happened at a kiddo's sporting event.

What happened next??

Tons of “Cool!”, “That’s awesome, James!” “Thanks for sharing, Kim - go Gannon!”, right?

This is where you can make a difference. Ask just one more question and afford that person the opportunity to keep sharing, to keep the spotlight on them just a little longer.

“Thanks for sharing, Kim - go Gannon! Is this the first time his team has won a championship?!”?

We want our sellers to ask great active listening questions and be good conversationalists, right? It starts with us.

Create exceptional moments for your directs.

I had a rep once who was exceptionally close with her family. Massive group text blew up all day, they saw each other most weekends, thick as thieves. I even got to know her mom a bit while I managed her.

So, when it came time to promote her, I knew her family had to do it. I reached out to her mom, and asked if the family could hop on our video tool to do it. I went into the conference room early, flipped the TV on to connect with her family, and then turned the TV off. I was also in cahoots with one of our IT guys, who I convinced to interrupt our meeting and pretend he needed to check something so he could flip the tv on for us mid-meeting.?

We sat down and started to go through her 1:1, and our IT friend came in moments later, apologizing for the interruption. I mouthed “Can you believe this guy?!” to her.?

He flipped the TV on, her family was there, her jaw dropped, totally confused, and then they all said, “YOU’RE GETTING PROOOOMOOOOTED!!!!”.

It’s been years since it happened and I still get goosebumps telling the story.

What a PRIVILEGE to get to create exceptional moments and memories for your people - don’t squander this gift.?

Fall on your sword.

The mantra I live by at #samsales is that mistakes are going to happen - we’re going to make a hundred of them this week. The mistake isn’t the mistake - it’s repeating the mistake that’s the mistake.?

Own your errors - big and small. Share them publicly. Get comfortable with screwing up and talking about it. You’ll empower others to feel comfortable owning their errors, talking about their learnings from it, and you’ll also show that you’re just as human as they are.?

Being a leader doesn’t mean you don’t screw up or that you have all the answers - be vulnerable and show your team how to be open, accountable, and honest.

New to #samsales? Here's how we can help!

Free: Monthly webinars, podcasts, articles, women's leadership group with 1,000+ community members here!

Not-So-Free: Join 4,000+ people who have purchased our playbooks and video subscriptions here!

Bring Your Corporate Budget: We focus on two things - Top of the funnel sales training/social selling + curating a LinkedIn strategy for C-Suite execs and celebrities.