Professional Documents
Culture Documents
S 16 Leadership
S 16 Leadership
Chapter 9:
Leadership
Leadership Overview
Effective
Sales Management
Leadership
Leading Versus Managing
Managers Leaders
Administer Innovate
Maintain Develop
Control Inspire
Ask How and When Ask What and Why
Short-term View Long-term View
Accept the Status Quo Challenge the Status Quo
Do Things Right Do the Right Things
Personal vs. Organizational Needs
Intuition Empowerment
Leadership
Value
skills Vision
Congruence
Self-understanding
“HAVING A LITTLE CHAT”
“Jennifer, I thought we’d have a little chat. I don’t get the
pleasure of just talking with you very often. I guess we just
tend to spend most of our time on our problems. Good people
like you tend to be taken for granted. This is your sixth year
with us, right? I wanted to let you know that it has been a
pleasure working with you over that time. Incidentally, I was a
little surprised to hear that some of your customer reports have
been incomplete. Some of the clerks have even had to call
some of your people in order to fill in the missing information.
“I told them that you’re probably so busy out there getting us
so much business that you’re tired when it comes to the
reports. But it would save us time and money if you could be
more complete. I’m sure you’ll take better care of this in the
future. That’s what gives me so much pleasure in dealing with
pros like you. See a problem. Fix it. No big deal. Anyway, I
know you’ll take care of it.
“CUSTOMER ABUSE”
One day in the office, you overhear one of your salespeople
being loudly abusive to a customer over the phone. Right after
he slams the phone down, you mention: “That was a pretty
heated exchange. Sounds to me as if you lost it.”
“Well, she’s a pain. She’s always complaining about one thing or
the other, none of which is important and often not true. On top
of it all, she’s rude.”
“I thought you were pretty rough, telling her that if she doesn’t
like how her orders are handled, she can take her business
elsewhere.”
“She won’t.”
“That’s not the point. We don’t get nasty with customers. Next
time that happens, and you start getting hot, I want you to tell
the customer that you’ll look into the problem and get back to
him. Hang up. Cool down. Find out what you need to know.
And then call back. Do you understand? I don’t ever want to
hear a conversation like that again.”
Sales Manager Power
Expertise Power
–The belief that a person has valuable knowledge or
skills in a given area.
–“I respect her knowledge and good judgment
because she is well trained.”
Referent Power
–Perceived attractiveness of one party to another.
–(i.e., friendship, perceived similarity, etc.)
Legitimate Power
–The designated right to the leader.
Sales Manager Power
Reward Power
–Ability for the manager to reward the other
person for a designated action.
Coercive Power
–Belief that one party can remove rewards and
provide punishment to affect behavior.
•Leads to compliance due to fear of punishment.
Which power biases are in evidence in the
following statements from a sales manager to a
salesperson?
“If you come through with the Holiday Inn account, I guarantee
you will be the next person promoted.”
“There are some logistics of the situation that will not allow me to
accept your proposal. I will be glad to lay out the details if you
wish.”
“If you don’t improve your sales volume by the end of the year,
your friends are going to be asking you how you liked being a
sales rep. for us.”
ASSERTIVNESS STEPS
Instructions:
To find out to what degree you like change, use the
following scale in responding to the following eighteen
statements. There is no right or wrong answer. Rather, the
intent is to help you explore your attitudes toward change.
SA = Strongly Agree
A = Agree
? = Undecided
D = Disagree
SD = Strongly Disagree
How Change Oriented are You?
Scoring:
Give yourself the following points for each circled response.
SA = 5 points
A = 4 points
? = 3 points
D = 2 points
SD = 1 point
Interpretation:
Total your scores for all responses. The higher the score, the
more willing you are to be innovative and welcome change.
A score of 72 or greater is high; a score of 45 or less is low.
Innovative people like to create change; non-innovators
have a tendency to maintain status quo.
Transformational vs.
Transactional Leadership
Transformation Transactional
Leadership Leadership
Delegating Telling
Sales Team
Situation
Activities Salesperson’s Task structure
Interaction
Behavior Time pressure
Norms
External system
Sentiments
Salesperson
Professional maturity
Needs
Goals
Relationship with manager
“Jose Guerrilla”
You are the boss with the title, rank, experience, and all the
accountability that comes with the job. You have the feeling that
your salespeople are not following many of your orders. You
wonder if you are becoming paranoid. Although you are the
formal leader, an informal leader has emerged. It’s Jose
Guerrilla.
You must correct the situation soon. You do not want to lose
Jose, he is a valuable salesperson, besides you really like Jose.
Ground rule #1, you have got to turn the situation around. Why
did an informal leader emerge? How do you handle Jose? What
can you do to prevent this from reoccurring?
DECISION OPTIONS
“Jose Guerrilla”
1. Get the group together and remind them that you are the boss. Tell
them like it or not the ignoring of your orders must and will stop.
2. Take Jose aside and tell him you “appreciate” the “help” in managing
the group. Tell Jose that by pulling together, you can make the
situation work out right for everyone.
3. Let nature take its course. Sit back and let Jose make a big mistake
that will cause him to lose favor with the group.
4. Take time to get to know Jose. When you know his career objectives
you will probably find that he is not after your job. Use Jose to make
your communications between yourself and the group more efficient.
5. Talk to each member of the sales team separately. Let them know
that you know what is going on and that it is tantamount to
insubordination.
PROS & CONS
“Jose Guerrilla”
Buying Center
Relationships
Company
Strategy
Market
Environment
Sales Managers’ Rankings of the Causes
of Plateauing Among Salespeople
Mostly Commission
Overall Women Only
No clear career path 1 2 4
Not managed adequately 2 4 1
Bored 3 3 5
Burned out 4 1 2
Economic needs met 5 7 3
Discouraged with company 6 5 6
Overlooked for promotion 7 6 8
Lack of ability 8 9 7
Avoid risk of management job 9 10 9
Reluctance to be transferred 10 8 10
“Hot Shot”
When asked the question, “Are you a winner?” Hot Shot answers, “Well,
how did you know?” When dealing with this type of personality it is best
to keep a cool head.
Although she is a top salesperson, meeting or beating quotas, she is
clearly a victim of tunnel vision. High productivity is a great asset to have
in an employee, but she believes that this asset alone is reason for a
managerial position.
Hot Shot has heard an incorrect rumor that a district sales manager
position is opening and believes that she deserves the job. She shows
no tact in letting everyone know her feelings. History has shown that
although she is an excellent salesperson, she is quite a loner. In your
opinion she isn’t ready for a job with the responsibilities of a district sales
manager. You have a reputation of being fair and rewarding outstanding
achievements.
“Hot Shot”
There is not need to change your style now, but you have just received a
letter from Hot Shot. She is very direct and states, “I have worked long
and hard for this company and have always been the top salesperson. I
have no complaints at all about salary, or the commission and bonus
plans. I want you to recognize that I feel I am totally ready for a sales
manager’s job, the next one that opens up. It is important for me to tell
you that if this company cannot use my talents, I have only one choice to
make. What say?”
The letter enrages you but you realize that you cannot fire her or give
her a job that does not even exist. In fact it is your job to keep her self-
esteem and energy as a salesperson intact since your job depends on
the productivity of your sales force. Your boss wants to know exactly
how you are going to handle this one.
DECISION OPTIONS
“Hot Shot”
1. Make a sincere promise to Hot Shot that she will get
the next manager's spot that opens.
2. To give Hot Shot more recognition you send her and
her husband to the national sales convention with
the company picking up the tab.
3. Do not let the other salespeople think you give into
ultimatums. You consider the letter as a letter of
resignation and let Hot Shot go.
4. Make special managerial training available to the
sales group. Tell Hot Shot that when an opening
becomes available her excellent sales record along
with the techniques learned in the course will place
her among the top applicants.
PROS & CONS
“Hot Shot”
2. Dress appropriately.