So if you’re a salesperson and the opportunity of becoming a Sales Director for your existing company or a new company has come up, you might be thinking, oh I want to go for this role.
What are some of the key things that I advise CEOs and Business Owners that I work with on appointing a Sales Director?
1. Experience
Point number one is this, experience.
If you want to become a Sales Director and have never sold before, I don’t think you’ll get the job.
Put simply, without experience why would I give you the job?
The reality is if you want to become that sales leader and inspire a team of other people, you’ve got to show me that you’ve done the work before. You’ve got to show me you’ve got a track record.
I’m going to want to see experience of either being in a role or achieving sales success in the past. That’s the first thing, simply.
2. Savvy Commercially
Point number two, and this is maybe a different one that you wouldn’t have expected, is I want you to be savvy commercially.
What do I mean by being savvy? When you become a Director you should have the ability to think in a bigger picture way for the rest of the business.
I see a lot of salespeople who think just in sales terms but don’t understand maybe how marketing or HR or accounts or other areas of a business might work. Most business owners or CEOs want to appoint good sales directors, want people who are savvy commercially.
They get what the business is about. They understand the bigger picture. They understand it’s not just about their role, but how they fit into a bigger jigsaw puzzle.
Boards want the senior people they appoint to be able to understand that there are other factors such as profitability, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction that matter in that whole sales and buying process.
So if you want the big role, show that you understand the bigger picture for the business you’re talking to. If you’re going to work for an organisation, understand their corporate objectives and what’s happening, what’s driving their agenda right now and be savvy and be in tune with that.
And if you can show you can do that but also be an expert in what you do (which is to bring sales in!), it’s going to make that CEO or leadership team think you are the right person for them.
3. You Can Handle the Pressure
So point number three, if I was going to appoint a Sales Director, would be looking for someone that can handle pressure. The reality is in business, especially for CEOs, they have got enough things on their plate with finance, funding, operations and strategy. The job of a CEO is tough and therefore knowing that someone else is going to take ownership for the numbers of the company is vital. And a relief.
Sales Director, VP of Sales, Chief Revenue Officer, it doesn’t matter. The reality is a CEO or Board of Leaders want to know that the person they appoint can handle the pressure and take responsibility for owning the companys revenue number.
That’s what good Sales Directors do, they handle the pressure. They take that on themselves, they understand that’s part of their job and they don’t get floored or flustered by it.
They know that part of the role is to just deal with the stress that comes with sales and winning deals.
The great thing about selling is we get success and we enjoy the feelings that it gives us. When we bring deals in, we feel invincible!
But, the downside is we’ve got to take the pressure on board and be able to handle it.
Good Sales Directors are like the image below!
If you can show that you’ve done that in the past and you can show that you’re not going to let pressure get to you too much, CEOs are going to want you on their team. Growing companies are hard. They want people working with them who can be accountable and own their role.
Show a history of this and people will think ‘this could be a good appointment for us’
4. You’ve Made Some Sacrifices
Point number four is this, show that you’ve made some sacrifices in the past.
Why is that so important? Sacrifices are really key because they show that that person was willing to endure some short-term pain in the pursuit of a long-term gain.
And the reality is when we are a Sales Director we’ve often got to take that bigger picture thinking.
We’ve got to understand that when we’re in sales we might do something for ourselves or we might have to work with our team and do some other things that take a bit of time. We’re going to have to sacrifice some things ourselves to get the end result.
And good Sales Directors understand they’re going to have to make some sacrifices. They understand that it’s not just going to be their time that they have to focus on, it’s the time of the team and the people they work with.
So be able to show where you’ve made some sacrifices or where will you make some sacrifices in order to get the end result for the business.
5. Time Management
This is a really crucial one, the ability to manage time effectively. Great sales leaders know the value of each working hour. They know they will have several people (in their team and in the company in general) who all want their knowledge, input and time. So great sales leaders know they’ve got to be really clear about the meetings that they’re in and the conversations that they’re having.
I work with a sales leader at the moment and we talk about how he splits his diary into 4 different categories.
Really important meetings internally, mentoring his team, meeting prospects and clients and staying very visible in the industry that he works with. We ensure we focus his time on spending 90% of his working week on the things that make a difference in the business.
He knows that it’s nice to get involved in wider discussions and conversations but if they don’t change the number then they are wasted hours. So he has become really, really focused on managing his time effectively and its something you will need to also do if you want to succeed as a Sales Director.
Make sure you focus on the things that can turn the dial.
That can bring business in. Whether that’s large partnerships or big deals be disciplined with the 24 hours you have in a day. Don’t just focus on the things that won’t give you the best chance of a great return, whether in the short term or the long term.
Manage time like a demon. Good sales directors do that and when they do, they show they can get the results that boards love.
6. You're Able to Understand People
So point number six is learn to understand people. I have seen many, many Sales Directors who shouldn’t really be sales leaders because they generally just don’t understand the people they work with. I worked with a lady once who unfortunately couldn’t build rapport with her team. She was so focused on the results that she wanted to get that she couldn’t understand the dynamics of how her team operated. If she had understood this, it would have allowed her to get the results she wanted.
There are times when you need to be hard and push for results but the reality is if your team have got stresses and challenges and things going on in their life, they’re not going to give their best work.
Some Sales Directors also are one-dimensional. They’ll use the stick all the time to shout and to demand whereas that doesn’t work for some people.
Some people need the incentive or the arm around the shoulder. Some sales people need the carrot, some people need the stick.
So if you want to become successful within sales, you’ve got to be able to understand people and the dynamics of individuals that we work with to be able to get the right results.
If I was appointing a Sales Director for my business right now, I’d be looking for someone that really understands people. Someone that can get beneath the skin of the people they work with, so they can get the best out of them.
Great sales directors understand people really well. Show that you have skills in this area and that you can develop those working for you to achieve more and you will become a leader that companies want to hire.
7. Market Knowledge
Point number seven is a simple one but it’s a really vital one. Can you show that you have Market knowledge?
Boards and CEOs who hire Sales Directors want to know that the people they hire know their marketplace. They want their leaders to understand the bigger picture and have a view and position on where the market is going.
They want to know that they have knowledge and insights to be able to add value to the customers they’re going to buy from them.
This works both upwards and downwards in the organisation though. Sales reps that want to bring a Sales Director into a meeting, want to bring someone in that really adds value. Someone who hits home, who knows the space, who can create insight and curiosity within the buyers minds. Rather than be someone who comes in, doesn’t know the industry and pretends to wing it.
Knowing the market or maybe even knowing the type of market or where the market is going is a critical factor to be able to add value in the process. The company leadership team are going to want to see this because they want to know how the revenue profile of the business might change in the future.
So knowing your market, knowing your offering, knowing your situation and knowing how your marketplace is changing is critical for any new sales leader. Demonstrate this and you put yourself in a great position to take the job.
8. Develop Leadership Skills
The 8th point is to develop leadership skills.
Do you as a Sales Leader have a hunger to grow and develop? To get better? The first thing great leaders do is understand themselves and how they can develop and grow.
There are books you can read, videos you can watch, podcasts you can listen to and courses you can attend but if you want to be a brilliant Sales Director then you need to understand how you can become a better leader.
When you’re appointed as the person that’s responsible for sales and revenue in a company, people want to know that you can really lead from the front. They want to know that you value leadership and you see the importance of this. It’s not just about hitting a number but it’s about cajoling and bringing together a team of people to achieve a bigger vision. Part of the problem that a lot of sales people have is that they’re very good at hitting the number but they don’t have the management skills and the leadership skills to manage upwards and downwards.
Great Sales Directors understand this. They spend time, they listen, they want to learn, they want to always improve themselves. So if you can show evidence of how you’ve developed yourself and built your leadership skills, it’s going to make someone think yeah that’s the right person for us.
9. Be Consistent
Point number nine is a simple one but many people forget about it. And that is to be consistent. I’ve talked and worked with lots of sales directors over the past who are like politicians.
They flip-flop from one thing to another. They change their plan on a regular basis. They alternate just by depending on how they feel on the day and what that does is create so many problems for their sales team.
It means people aren’t sure what to do and how to do it. They don’t know if the actions they took this week are going to need to change the following week.
Great Sales Directors have a clear plan and have a clear strategy. I have 2 videos on creating effective Sales Strategies and Sales Plans which you access above, but its vital that you are clear about the path you’re going to take and stay true to this. This doesn’t meant that you shouldn’t evolve your thinking or adjust your approach. But it does mean staying consistent for a period of time.
The best leaders know that results don’t necessarily happen straight away.
They understand that it takes time. It takes effort over a consistent period to get results. You’re not going to win deals from taking one action but if you do the great sales work (share value, build connections, ask great questions, position your service effectively etc) then over a period of a time it will get results. And the best know this.
They understand that at the end of the day, it’s consistency that wins rather than just the one-off lucky events and accidents. So be consistent and show you’re consistent yourself. Maybe ask yourself, what can you show to the leadership team something you have done which is consistent and which over time has generated results.
Whether that’s in a personal capacity or on a business front, great sales leaders are consistent. They do the same things and they know that their team knows what they’re going to get from them which also builds trust and familiarity.
I always ask a question to Sales Directors which I want them to be honest about.
If you’re ringing someone in your team and they see your number appear on the phone are they going to think yeah I know I’m going to get from this call or are they thinking what the hell is going to happen. If it’s the latter one you’ve got a problem.
Focus on consistency, be genuine, be decent and make sure people know what to expect from you and it’s going to help them build relationships with you. You’re going to build relationships with the leadership team and it’s going to make the CEO or Board want you for that role.
10. Link Performance to Results
The final point for me is to link your performance to results. Within your interview discussions with the CEO, say that you are happy to have an unlimited commission conversation or a share option opportunity based upon the results that you believe you can achieve.
If I was a CEO thinking of appointing someone, I would be thinking, wow this person’s got belief in themselves and what they can do. They’re not just expecting the money right now. They believe in adding value to the business and therefore benefitting in return.
They’re not just looking for a position where they’re looking to coast with a flashy title and have an easy ride. They want to know that when they get great results, they benefit personally.
They want to know that from their increased levels of performance so come reward. They understand that to achieve big rewards, they need to deliver big results.
So those are the 10 points of what you need to demonstrate in order to become a Sales Director.
I’ve directed sales teams in my own businesses and other companies. I know the challenges you face with this but let me know in the comment section what are the things you think make a great SD?
I’d love to know what you think and if you think I’ve missed something here let me know.
But I think if you can show these elements, create a solid plan and strategy to help your team get to where you want to get to and take responsibility for the numbers you’re going to put yourself in a position to make yourself appointable.
You will become a person that the CEO and the board look to for advice and who they want to lead their revenue generation function. Deliver here and it’s going to help you build your career, and your potential for the future and enable you to achieve trappings of success that you should deserve as a brilliant leader.
But what every Sales Director MUST have is a Bulletproof Sales Plan. Do you have one?
Download my 20 Point Sales Plan Checklist here and ensure the new role you have (or that you want) gets the results you want!
