The Sales Leadership Stack

All of us sales leaders have been reading about, talking about and pitching about the perfect sales stack. In most cases, the sales stack applies to selected technologies for sales acceleration. I've read some articles even referencing the educational sales stack where books made up the stack itself. What about the sales stack of the actual sales leaders themselves? What ingredients make up the best sales leaders within SaaS companies. I've done a ton of thinking around this topic and here is what I came up with.

1.) Recruiting - The best sales leaders are stellar recruiters, period. They are self-sufficient in the process of identifying top tier talent and always make time to proactively seek out their next sales star. If you're a sales leader reading this and you don't have a LinkedIn Recruiter account, it should be the first thing you sign up for after reading this post. Having this tool in your recruiting stack (yes, I went there and will most likely write an article about the Recruiting Stack at some point), gives you a monstrous advantage when building your sales team. For me personally, I've built my last two sales teams from the ground up. I've hired over 60 sales reps made up of AE's, AM's and SDR's, with at least half those hires being made through my own solo efforts. Recruiting is the most challenging and most important job you'll ever have as a sales leader. The days of posting a job opening on your careers page or on some job board are not going to cut it anymore. Talent will rarely find you. The best salespeople are employed. They are not on job boards. They are on discovery calls and giving product demos. Finding the best sales talent is simply just a matter of dedication on your part. By dedication, I am referring to you making the time for it. Just like your sales reps block out time to prospect, you should block out time to recruit. Don't believe me? Then why have companies been built around the sole purpose of recruiting sales reps?

The best salespeople are employed. They are not on job boards. They are on discovery calls and giving product demos.

2.) Coaching - At the core of a well-oiled sales machine, exists a coaching methodology. This methodology is based on experience, proven sales techniques, practice, execution and a belief system. Coaching is most effective when your audience (your team) was recruited by you. The process of building confidence around your belief system begins during the recruiting phase. There is a reason professional sports teams draft players and sign free agents who represent the best fit for their systems. It makes coaching that much easier. The same goes for your leadership experience. Sales reps gravitate towards leaders who come with years of experience and proven sales techniques. Coaching, however, is much different from sales training. Coaching needs to be consistent and scheduled frequently where sales training is either delivered during the onboarding process or during some annual training event. I also have a rule when it comes to coaching, never coach during your 1:1's with your reps. Instead, use that time to listen to your reps. Use separate coaching sessions to teach, practice and deploy. The best coaches have read at least a dozen books on the topic and are perpetual students themselves. Lastly, coaching keeps leaders fresh and sharp rather than becoming disconnected from modern selling. 

At the core of a well-oiled sales machine, exists a coaching methodology. This methodology is based on experience, proven sales techniques, practice, execution and a belief system.

3.) Candor - Throughout my short leadership career, I've adjusted my approach to management several times with the exception of one quality - brutal honesty. Even as a sales rep, I've been accused of being black & white, very direct, passionate or even abrasive at times. This aside, I've never been accused of being dishonest or misguided. My intentions will and always have been to lead via candor and use candor as the glue to unite my team. So many leaders today are focused on keeping information from their teams or painting a picture that doesn't articulate the state of the union. Either the leader is clueless, disingenuous or inexperienced in communicating with their team(s). Believe it or not, bad news can sometimes be motivational. Why? Because bad news is most often the truth and delivering the truth to your team builds trust. My advice to all sales leaders - share everything. How much money is in the bank, how many leads marketing generated last month, top performers, resignations, new hires, product inefficiencies or improvements, customer churn, sales targets and a clear path to exit whether IPO or acquisition. Building a great company culture begins and ends with candor. 

Believe it or not, bad news can sometimes be motivational. Why? Because bad news is most often the truth and delivering the truth to your team builds trust.

4.) Alliances - All great sales leaders form alliances with individuals in their company. For me, my alliances have always been genuine business relationships with mutually beneficial exchanges. Essentially, both parties gained from these alliances. This type of relationship is critical for a sales leader because the execution of objectives and agility between decisions requires that you have allies. Allies can be your most valuable assets when you're in need or support for a new idea or business initiative. You can also learn by forming alliances. Currently, a few of my favorite alliances are with our Director or Training, our VP of Revenue Operations and our Director of Operations. These alliances provide me with a foundation of support I could never build by flying solo. My new hires need to receive world-class training, they need compensation plans that drive the right behaviors and the output of our products and services have to address the needs of our prospects and customers. Leaders are only as strong as their alliances and your team's success will hinge on your ability to form meaningful, give/get relationships.

This type of relationship is critical for a sales leader because the execution of objectives and the agility needed between decisions requires that you have allies.

5.) Direction - You must provide direction to your team. You literally have to be one big walking compass. There is micro direction and there is a macro direction. An example of micro direction is when you provide clear KPI's to your team that are measurable on a daily basis. A deeper execution of micro direction could be calculating a number of touch points needed to gain your first discovery call with a new prospect. This would be a combination of emails, calls and social engagement. Providing direction also requires that you provide a map. Our team map is a dashboard in Salesforce called "The Daily Accountability Dashboard". Each rep on my team, whether AE, AM or SDR knows if they are traveling in the right direction simply by checking their daily progress via The Daily Accountability Dashboard. A macro direction is much different. An exit strategy with a shared plan organization wide is a prime example of macro direction. Building a clear SLA (service level agreement) between your marketing department and sales department is another solid example of macro direction. 

You must provide direction to your team. You literally have to be one big walking compass.

6.) Thought Leadership - Thought leadership means exactly how it reads - Leadership offering their Thoughts on topics of influence with the intention of having a positive impact on the industries they serve. Am I the best writer in the world? Heck no, far from it. I am just super passionate about sharing my experiences with other sales reps. If you're a young sales professional just starting out, I hope my words can provide you with a forecast of what's to come. Let my mistakes serve as a history book, safeguarding you from the early pitfalls so many new sales reps fall into. If you're a new sales manager just starting out, the above are my expectations for and from leadership. Thought leadership doesn't mean you have to write articles, but it does mean you HAVE TO READ and share your findings on social media. Find 5-10 leaders in your space you greatly respect. I will bet at least half of them regularly write and post content. Read their content, offer a little commentary and share it. Congratulations! You've taken your first step towards being a thought leader. 

Thought leadership doesn't mean you have to write articles, but it does mean you HAVE TO READ and share your findings on social media.

You know I love those comments, so let it rip!