What drives you to take on new challenges, work hard to overcome obstacles and achieve your goals? You may already have a good understanding about how to get leverage on yourself so that you make the necessary sacrifices and put in the effort to achieve long-term success.  If so, you may be able to easily apply that same approach to leading others.  If you want to make sure that people you manage work toward their goals, consider what it is that drives them t […]

A sometimes brilliant response to a question beginning with "Why" is: "Why not?" If that is your answer to: "Why lead?," you may want to rethink your response. I found rare wisdom in a fortune cookie once. It said something along the lines that a leader is someone who takes people to places they don't want to go themselves.  Taking a leadership role requires courage. Courageous action without awareness of the consequences is […]

Anybody who has ever been involved in sales has heard this one before: "Sales is a numbers game."  After losing a deal, at the end of a long day, when the prospect of getting new business seems to be difficult, it's repeated over and over. It has become almost like a modern-day mantra, reinforcing the notion that all that it takes to succeed is to keep on doing the same thing.  Make more phone calls, visit more customers, submit more proposals. More. Mo […]

We may be all too familiar with the types of tactics that some "old school" sales managers use to motivate their teams.  If you saw the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, I'm sure you remember when Alec Baldwin's character announced a sales contest where the first prize was a Cadillac. "Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired!" Promising future rewards for success while threatening punishment for failure may be cal […]

Many managers are able to communicate quite effectively with certain types of people -- typically those whose personalities are similar to their own -- but may struggle to be clearly understood by everyone on their team. For example, a no-nonsense sales manager may have a very direct approach that works with the top performers but rubs some of the more junior members the wrong way.  As a result, the manager's message may not get through to everyone as intended. C […]