One of the questions I am most frequently asked is what are the key differences between a leader and a manager and this is the best quote I have ever read. It succinctly describes those differences.

“There is a difference between leadership and management. Leadership is of the spirit management is of the mind. Managers are necessary, but leaders are essential. We must find managers who are not only skilled organizers, but inspired and inspiring leaders.” Field Marshall Slim

I believe that you can buy someone’s physical presence, but you cannot buy loyalty, enthusiasm, or devotion – these you must earn.

Successful organizations have leaders who focus on the future rather than cling to the past. Leaders bring out the best in people. They spend time developing other people into leaders.

In my view, these are the qualities of a true leader:

Leaders have a clear vision of what they are working towards. They don’t keep their vision a secret – they communicate it to their people.

Leaders are consistent. They keep their principles and values at all times.

Leaders can and will do what they expect of others. They are prepared to walk the talk.

Leaders are not threatened by competence. They enjoy promoting people and are quick to give credit to those who have earned it.

Leaders enjoy developing their people into leaders, not followers. They train people to take on more challenging tasks and responsibilities – they develop people’s confidence.

Leaders don’t’ betray trust. They can treat confidential information professionally.

Leaders are concerned about getting things done. They don’t get embroiled in political infighting, gossip and backstabbing. They encourage those around them to do likewise.

Leaders confront issues as they arise. They do not procrastinate. If something needs fixing, they do it right away, even if it is uncomfortable – the longer things are left, the more difficult they become.

Leaders let people know how they are doing. They reward and recognise performance that is above expectations and they help people identify ways of improving poor performance.

Leaders are flexible. They welcome change. They do not stick to an old position simply because it is more comfortable.

Leaders are adaptable. They see change as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Leaders are human. They make mistakes. When they do so, they readily admit it.

Leaders reflect on and learn from their mistakes. They see errors as a chance to improve their skills.

Leaders enjoy challenge. They are prepared to take risks and encourage others to do likewise. If they fail, they treat the exercise as a learning experience.

Leaders focus on the future, not the past. They anticipate trends and prepare for them. They develop a vision for their team and communicate it to them.

Leaders are open to new ideas. They demonstrate their receptiveness by supporting change.

Leaders treat staff as individuals. They give closer attention to those that need it and lots of space to those that deserve it.

Leaders encourage and reward co-operation within and between teams.

Summary: 
Without managers the visions of leaders remain dreams. Leaders need managers to convert visions into realities. For continuous success, organizations need both managers and leaders; however, as most seem to be over-managed and under-led, they need to find ways of having both at the same time.

Perhaps the best way to handle this paradox is for managers to aim to be managers when viewed from above, leaders when viewed from below and to remember that the need for leadership grows as we move up the organization.

This is only one of the challenges that can make working life fun – don’t you think?

Unfortunately, most salesmen and women believe that a successful career in sales culminates in sales management, and yet there are of course far less management positions up for grabs than sales positions.

As a consequence, salespeople with this attitude concentrate on making sales rather than investing in themselves in order to become Top 5 % players and eventually most become disillusioned, resulting in a significant dip in achievements levels.

The knock-on effect of this is that many salespeople who move into management, take with them an underdeveloped view of selling – a “traditional” orientation and as consequence they help to create or maintain an unrealistic and short-sighted vision of what will be needed to develop their teams.

Because they lack Top 5% experience themselves, and an insight into the skills needed to make it at the highest level, the environment that they help to create fails to recognise the need for outstanding performers, and this is particularly noticeable in the compensation structures they build, which neither supports nor encourages their teams to break through that final glass ceiling.

As I have said often enough, both here, and on numerous other occasions, the single most common mistake that organizations make is promoting their number one salesperson into the role of sales manager, thereby depriving themselves in a single stroke of their best producer and hamstringing their sales force with an ineffective manager.

The skills required for managing, mentoring and developing a sales team are totally different from those required for selling. As a result, it’s not uncommon to find newly promoted sales managers who regret having taken a management position and may even leave to get back into sales – that is if they are not pushed first!

The majority of sales managers – new and experienced alike – say they do not have sufficient time to train and develop their sales teams. They are so focused on sales results – and so accustomed to achieving success through their personal pursuit of those results – that they overlook their greatest potential source of power, the power to increase sales performance by developing their people.

The sales manager’s role is transforming from evaluator to developer, from expert to resource, from teller to questioner. This change is no mere tweaking adjustment, it is a 180° shift from how most sales managers manage and how they are managed. Most organizations profess to want coaching, but they don’t really do anything about it. Just as students are lucky to have one or two special teachers in a lifetime, most sales professionals are lucky if they get one real coach. Organizations don’t have role models for coaching, they don’t train for it, and they don’t hold people accountable for it

You see, today, the role of sales manager is pivotal. It is the vital link, and ineffective sales leadership is the main reason why so many sales teams are failing.

All the current excitement surrounds lead generation – it seems that everything I read everywhere, is totally focused on finding, qualifying, and weighting leads. But what is the point of continually creating new opportunities and passing them to sales managers who are unable to cope?

At the end of the day, the sales leader needs to be a “model of excellence” – only then will the pack faithfully follow.

If you would like to read an abbreviated version of the Sandler Research Center report, “THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS FOR SUSTAINING OVERACHIEVING SALES PERFORMANCE” in which we further highlight the paucity of genuinely qualified sales managers please download your copy here