Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Why Every Sales Manager Should Read This:

Start with Why is good for any sales manager or sales leader to read because it discusses how many organisations explain what they do, some explain how they do it, but not nearly enough can discuss why they do what they do.

And this then, in turn, applies to teams and leadership. Imagine working for a leader who details the what and the how but never spends time linking these to a purpose? As a sales manager it is vital to share what each person’s role in achieving the team or organisation goal is. What goal is our true north? Where are we going boss? And how does this link to what you expect me to do?

Using a model called the Golden Circle, Simon explains that there are three layers with the WHY layer in the middle, the HOW layer next and the final outer layer is the WHAT.

Simon shares how a leader is “able to create a following of people who act because they are inspired. And a manager inspires people by making sure the WHY is at the centre of their communication. A sales manager should explain: - this is what I expect, I will coach you if you need to understand how to do what I expect, but most importantly this is WHY it matters (this is the goal or outcome).

The One Thing I Learned from This Book:

The one lesson I took from reading Start with Why is that having a why is important for the people we lead to feel like they belong. And Sales Professionals often suffer from isolation (one of the top five demotivators of any salesperson), and “Our need to belong is not rational, but it is a constant that exists across all people in all cultures”.

Top 3 Takeaways for Sales Managers from this book:

1. Be transparent: To lead others effectively, we need to demonstrate our authenticity and when you start with why it gives transparency to behaviour. If Sales Managers share their WHY and seek to understand each person’s, WHY it can help build trust in the team. This alignment of values is key because we all perform better when our values align with the team or organisation's values.

2. We must link expectations to objectives to goals: When building accountability agreements, I believe it’s vital to slowly explain the link between what I expect someone to do (expectations), what will change by them doing it (objectives), and why it matters (goals). Doing this increases buy-in and motivation because the purpose is clear.

3. We still need discipline: Getting clear on the WHY is not always the difficult part. What is often more difficult is having the disciplined habits to stay true to the purpose or goals. When times are hard do, we have the commitment and discipline to continue doing what will make the difference, what will get us to the goals?

ONE thing I disagree about in the book:

Simon is a strong believer of always trusting your gut instinct, and whilst the message we get from our gut (our gut feeling) is often right – it is not always right. As an example, for Sales Managers doing recruitment, this is something important to remember. There are cognitive biases that are play havoc with our hiring clarity, and often our gut feeling compounds this – so it’s very important we remember not to always trust our gut instinct.