A STEP 1:


DEFINE SUCCESS Organizational leaders must sit down to define leadership success in the context of the organization’s sales strategy and go-to-market strategy. They must define four areas: 1. What kind of knowledge should the new leader bring? 2. What kind of experience does he/she need to have? 3. What kind of behavioral capability is required? 4. What personal characteristics and motivators are important?


“If your whole focus is growing new business and opening new channels, you need someone with those capabilities,” the expert explains. Too many organizations promote people who are the best at executing last year’s strategy; effective organizations promote with future strategy in mind.


recent survey of sales leaders found that 37 percent felt they were pre- pared for their first leadership position when they received their promo- tion. That sounds pretty good – until you flip it around and realize that means 63 percent of sales leaders felt unprepared to handle their new leadership challenges. What’s more, the vast majority of that 63 percent said they learned on the job through trial and error. Imagine the cost to


companies of that “error” percentage. The bottom line of one sales leadership forecast was that organizations cannot afford


to roll the dice and assume today’s top performing sales reps will make tomorrow’s best managers. In most cases, they don’t. Instead, companies should implement a comprehen- sive sales leader development program to ensure that sales leader vacancies are filled by people who are trained and ready – and possess the necessary leadership skills to step into that leadership role. According to one expert in sales optimization, here’s how to create a successful sales leader development program.


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