10 Must-Have Qualities Of A Great Sales Team Leader

By the definition of Wikipedia, “A team leader is someone who provides guidance, instruction, direction and leadership to a group of individuals for the purpose of achieving a key result or group of aligned results.” The leader oversees the quality & quantity of the team’s tasks & achievements. Then they report those results to the manager or supervisor. A good team leader is especially crucial in sales management. The leader’s guidance & motivation plays a significant role in the team’s maintenance.

Importance of A Sales Team Leader

Leadership is a key function of sales & team management. It maximizes the group’s efficiency and helps reach their organizational goals. To help you understand why a sales team leader is important for any company, here are a few key points: 

1. Initiating Action

The sales team leader handles initiating the task given to them by the client. They communicate the plans & strategies to the members. Also, they are the main link between the customer & the team members. Without the leader, the team will face difficulties initiating proper action.

2. Providing Guidance

A team leader is accountable for supervising & helping the team members with guidance. They guide the team about how they can competently finish their task.

3. Providing Confidence:

The leader needs to motivate the team & build their confidence. This will lead to the best performance out of the members. If the leader listens to the needs & complaints to act on them, they’ll be able to output better results.

4. Coordination:

Proper synchronization between the members is essential for optimal performance in the workspace. The leader makes sure of the maintenance of their team’s effective synchronisation. 

5. Building Work Environment:

An efficient work environment is essential for the stable growth of the team. The leaders are the anchor of the team. They make sure that the workplace environment is friendly & optimal for their task.

10 Essential Qualities of A Great Sales Team Leader

Some characteristics & qualities will help you to be a successful sales team leader. Below are the 10 must-have qualities that you need to be a great team leader and guide your team towards success:

1. Having Self-Esteem

The most important quality of a leader is his integrity & his self-confidence. As a leader, you have to live by example. You have to say what you mean & do what you say. More often than not, your team members will look up to you for guidance. And they will act & perform in the same manner as you do.

A distinguished leader is always aware of this situation and acts to maintain their team. If you wish to be a great leader, you must be self-esteemed & live by example for your team members’ sake. Doing this will ensure the best sales performance out of you & your team.

2. Being Inspiring

Every sales team leader aspires respect & trust from their peers. While these are easy words to say, they are much harder to earn. To inspire your team, you must be willing to help them with your time & effort.

You should be a mentor who challenges & guides the whole team towards growth. This is achievable by pushing hard work, offering constructive feedback & developing their skills. You must not hesitate to push your team & walk towards greatness if you want to be a successful leader.

3. Being Strategic

To become great at leadership, you need to be more than a team that hits their quota on a regular basis. In this market, you must work up your team’s strategies to defeat the competitions. You have to be strategic, come up with ways to grow your business & bring it to greater heights than ever before.

You can take a few steps to improve your position in the market. For instance: upgrading tools, technologies, workflow, gaining new knowledge and rewarding high-performing members.

4. Being Adaptive

A successful sales team thrives in environments where they are eager to learn. As their leader, you have to understand the needs of the sales market & your team to cope with any sort of changes. You must push & encourage everyone’s ability to adapt.

5. Being Time-Oriented

The sales market is an ever-changing place. So, to keep up with it, your team needs to cope with the necessary changes. But this duty falls on your shoulder, as you are the team leader. You need to adapt to the situation and improve the team’s skills to bring out the best outcome from them.

The quote, “Time is money” -is quite literal for any sales team. The leader of an effective sales team knows how to manage their time. In other words, you have to plan for days in advance, organize & focus on tasks. Additionally, you must always find new ways to streamline the work processes.

To stay relevant & successful in today’s sales market, you can’t slack off with time. You, the team leader, will be responsible for the outcome of your team. Thus, you have to assign the task to the member who’s right for the job. You also need to assess & maintain the time limit of the given task. You must block out distractions & negative news that might sidetrack your team.

6. Being Communicative

The best sales team needs to have great communication skills. And it’s up to the team leader to maintain effective communication among the team. The leader has to communicate & learn about the tasks, conditions & problems of the team. And you should act upon them to make it easier for them to finish their tasks. These types of activities will help you build a good relationship with the members.

On top of that, you should maintain communication with your team & senior management. You have to ensure that everyone is on the same page on any tasks and has all the updates & information needed for it. You also need to communicate outside the team to get effective support for your members. A successful team always shares ideas about any given task. This will help to get different perspectives of any particular tasks.

7. Being Sales-Intuitive

A team leader must have an understanding of the current situation of the sales market. They have to maintain a level of predictability of all the sectors. The sales market is a mentor-oriented place. Both the upper management & the team members look at the team leader about the performance. To be a great team leader, you need to achieve a keen sales intuition.

The major differentiator between an average team & a great team is their leader’s ability. One of the duties of a leader is to supply tactical advice to the members. And the other one is to maintain a good relationship with the customers. In short, the success of your team depends on the depth of your sales intuition.

8. Being A Critical & Creative Thinker

A great sales leader knows how to make critical decisions for their team’s performance. They can understand an individual’s impact, who needs more training or rewards. You must be observant & not afraid of making any critical decisions.

Furthermore, you must always think of ways to get the best out of your team. Look for, train & reward those who come up with innovative ways to tackle given challenges. This will ensure the creativity inside the members to grow & encourage them to give their all to the work. Remember, a great leader assesses their team’s goal & searches for improved ways to sell.

9. Being Able to Coach The Team

Great sales team leaders are mentors & advisors to their team. They must work to build up the strength of their team members and improve their weaknesses. For you to become a great leader, you must be able to train your team members. You must learn & teach the latest tips & tricks to the members. This will help your team & ensure them being able to reach your targeted quota,

Besides, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to training an individual in sales. You must adapt to each individual’s styles while teaching them.

10. Celebrating Achievements

More often than not, everyone sets goals for themselves and works hard to achieve those goals. As a leader, you might always be busy thinking about result & sales data. But, celebrating success is a very powerful motivator for both individuals & teams.

Celebrating achievements reinforces the meaning behind all that hard work. Also, it shows appreciation for the achievements. This helps boost everyone’s self-esteem. Most of all, it motivates them to take another step towards the next goal. 

Conclusion

The position of the sales team leader is unique and unlike any other in a company. The most successful sales teams have strong leaders who exercise control. Likewise, they establish a code of behaviour which all team members must abide by. Their experiences help to work out strategic directions for guiding the team members. In short, they know how to keep the team on track and focused on winning. To sum up, every team leader has a unique personality and guidelines to guide their sales team’s success. Even so, these 10 characteristics are essential for any great leader.