Does your sales culture support sustained and predictable revenue growth?

I recently shared the podium with Michael Gerber, author of E-Myth Mastery (“E” refers to entrepreneur) for the second time, at the Miracle Ear national sales meeting. He was the keynote speaker, and I led a workshop, “The Discipline of the Management Leader, The Processes of a Sales Management Leader”.

Here are a few nuggets from his speech that I found stimulating:

• Great companies are not built on what you know; they’re built on what you’re determined to do even if you don’t know how.
• Leaders don’t solve problems; they seize opportunities.
• Your worst problem is your single biggest opportunity.
• Leaders go where no one else will go. That’s why they are called leaders.
• Go to work “on your business” by developing systems.

Of course, his words were a symphony to my ears—especially the last point. Strong sales management systems and processes are critical for sustained & predictable revenue growth.

I also found his book a very valuable resource for developing leadership, including sales management leadership. He refers to the four most important strategic drivers, two of which are:

1. Consciousness of the enterprise—

   • how people are regarded
   • how they are compensated
   • how the core ideas that are important to them and to the enterprise provide meaning to what they are expected to do every day
   • how that is reflected in the look, feel, and function of the enterprise

   My take: This is what I call a Culture of Clarity™ which engages employees, clarifies expectations, and creates a sustainable energy in employee performance. The unique, rich, hidden contribution of each person is the basis upon which sales management coaches each sales person and nurtures high performance.

2. End game—
   what it is, when it is expected to happen, what has to happen between now and then to make sure it does, how much capital is needed to assure its success.

   My take: This is what I call a No Excuse Sales Culture™, which requires clear expectations, tapping individual strengths, and nurturing shared visions. It’s a philosophy that fosters a new breed of sales manager who intentionally taps the values of the whole person in order to optimize performance of legacy and emerging generations.

   It abandons the traditional view of the sales force as a production machine for the contemporary insight that salespeople want to fully experience value and purpose-driven lives.

Thank you to those who participated in Sales Growth Specialists’ second annual Growth and Sales survey of Twin Cities business leaders. I’ll be publishing those results in the August e-letter.