SALES EDUCATION
Teaching a Sales Leader to Fish A Case for Graduate Education in Sales Leadership
MICHAEL MALLIN
As the old proverb says: “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” Today’s sales leaders realize that achieving long-term sustainable results requires learning and practice. Rapidly changing com- petitors and technology, more demanding and knowledgeable customers, diminishing customer and employee loyalty, and mounting pressures to deliver results are but a few of the challenges in today’s sales landscape.
Sales managers, the primary directors of critical business decision making, are responsible for leading one of the firm’s most important business development assets – the sales force.
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Facing and navigating substantial challenges requires a sophisticated knowledge base with greater profes- sional skills and managerial compe- tencies than was required in the past.
Tasked with the accountability of satisfying the demands of multiple stakeholders, where is the time to invest in the activities Stephen Covey cited in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? Strategy develop- ment, planning, understanding tech- nology, sales analysis, and sales-force efficiency/effectiveness are among the critical managerial competencies high-performing sales leaders need. Yet sales organizations tend to invest most of their training dollars in salesperson effectiveness – with little development focus on sales managers and leaders. During a focus group to under- stand challenges facing today’s sales leaders, Brad – a sales director for a design firm providing solutions for in- dustrial precision applicators – hinted that any training directed toward the sales manager was too broadly focused and that turning to MBA/ EMBA programs for development op-
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