Discover the art of leading the sales function and driving impactful results across the entire organization through effective influence and strategic leadership.
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Sales Leadership: Proven Best Practices for Success
Drive immediate results and set the foundation for long-term growth.
Sales leaders face significant pressure to dismantle organizational silos and reimagine revenue generation strategies. Gartner research reveals that top-performing sales executives harness their distinct abilities and influence to enhance sales leadership effectiveness and drive exceptional sales outcomes.
Download our Sales Leadership Guide to learn how to:
Engage and collaborate with C-level executives, including the Board, CEO, CFO, CMO, and CHRO, to drive organizational success.
Get your sales team to be 1.8 times more likely to exceed customer acquisition goals with decision-driven analytics
Identify your organizational growth strategy to help inform a successful sales strategy
More about sales leadership
The role of a sales leader continues to grow in complexity as economic uncertainty and expanding responsibilities persist. Sales leaders who focus primarily on daily execution just to hit the next number will struggle to lead and achieve continued commercial success. Great sales leaders examine how to balance hitting current revenue goals while staying ahead of the economy and changing buyer dynamics in an ever-evolving labor market. They are assessing how they can refine and develop the knowledge, skills and expertise required to succeed in the short and long term.
Download our guide to see how great sales leaders lead the sales function and influence the broader organization to maximize commercial results.
FAQ on sales leadership
What key skills make a successful sales leader?
To grow revenue in today’s sales landscape, sales leadership must expand their view of how, when, and who to lead. The onus is on the sales leader to develop and refine the necessary skills and knowledge to meet these new demands. Progressive leaders have updated their skill toolkit and approach to match the requirements and expertise of today’s expansive sales leadership role.
Sales leaders should ask themselves:
- How should I lead the sales function through transformational change?
- How do I better collaborate and align with other executive corporate functions to improve results?
- How do I communicate to the C-suite about the impact the sales organization has on the broader corporate enterprise?
- What are other functional areas looking for from the sales organization?
- What personal skills or competencies should I prioritize to be a better leader?
What strategies can sales leaders employ to drive motivation within the team?
Sales leadership is responsible for driving and motivating their team. Ongoing social, economic and geopolitical disruptions and changing customer behaviors are leaving sellers frustrated, exhausted and overwhelmed. In fact, nearly 90% of sellers report feeling burned out from work.
To boost seller performance and retention:
- Diagnose and address unique sources of drag within the sales organization through a collaborative investigative process that incorporates multiple sources of seller and leader input.
- Expand career development opportunities and collaborate with HR partners to publicize roles and encourage sellers to explore those roles.
- Coach managers and sellers on the value and intent of seller empowerment efforts, how to accurately identify promising empowerment opportunities, and the core principles of assessing the viability of opportunities.
What are the key principles for successful sales leadership?
The complexity of the sales leadership role requires three key imperatives to ensure future success:
- Build skills and knowledge necessary to lead the commercial organization — Acquire new skills to drive commercial collaboration, digital transformation, change management, enterprise wide stakeholder management and adaptive planning.
- Leverage analytics and insights to optimize business decision making — The expansion of advanced analytics, technology capabilities (e.g., generative AI), and sales tools provide CSOs and their teams with an overwhelming amount of information and resources for planning. CSOs must prioritize when and how these analytics and insights are used to make better decisions to drive revenue performance.
- Develop a GTM strategy aligned to corporate objectives that equips the commercial organization to outpace competitors — Changing buying dynamics and market conditions push sales organizations to reconsider their sales and GTM strategies. CSOs must ensure their sales strategy and priorities are well-aligned with their corporate value drivers and agile enough to meet emerging needs.