Creating a Servant Leadership Sales Team

“Good People Make Good Companies.”

The quote is from Ken Jennings, author of The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions that Will Transform Your Team, Your Business and Your Community, and a consultant who has helped to bring servant leadership to electronics firm Entegris, and many other companies. The natural next question is, how do we make good people? How can being good become a Servant Leadership; Sales Process Improvement transformational leadership tool in your sales organization?

In a more competitive environment, misguided sales organizations have driven their sales teams harder and harder in an effort to meet sales performance goals, ultimately leading to burnt out and demotivated salespeople. These disengaged employees often lead to disengaged clients. If you are guilty of taking a bottom-line approach, servant leadership can help realign your moral compass and put you back on the path to higher sales performance.

The proven path to servanthood is easy to follow. Start by putting serving first. Turn your salesforce into “passionate advocates” of supporting, advancing and meeting your goals. For the real transformation to take place you must practice servant leadership, setting an example for others to follow.

Servant Leadership and Sales Management Process

One of the servant leadership heros is Zig Ziglar; primarily because he’s the first professional speaker I heard (1982 in Bismarck, ND! Ask me about the story of my first interaction with him.) He succinctly captures this servant leader philosophy: “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Adopt this mantra throughout your sales management processes and soon enough helping people get what they want will become a reward in its own right. Doing good will put your sales team back into alignment and focused on the greater good. Loyalty to a service-oriented culture will lead to higher sales performance.

The Sales Management Lesson: Relationships always come before results, also sales results.

The Sales Question: Do you set an example and inspiration in servitude for your sales team?

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