Salesmanship a Form of

Leadership
BLANDE E. CORPUZ-TULLAO
MASTER TEACHER-II
DEPED-QUEZON
FORMER PNPA FACULTY
AFFILIATIONS: PPSC-RTC3, RTC4, ITG/NTC/NFSTI
"The key to realizing a dream is to focus
not on success but on significance — and
then even the small steps and little
victories along your path will take on
greater meaning."
–Oprah Winfrey
• Selling involves motivating one or more persons to buy something. In other words,
overcoming their resistance to change. (Not buying changed to buying) That requires
motivational skills. Leadership involves motivating one or more persons to work or
carry out certain activities to achieve a desired result. In other words, overcoming their
resistance to change (Not working changed to working)That also requires motivational
skills.

• Leaders who are not selling are leaders who do not believe in their organization or
themselves. Selling is the closure of persuasion, and persuasion drives leadership. It is
the means by which leaders bring people to their point of view in order to get things
done. Making the sale in leadership terms creates trust

• Salespeople are selling a vision and ideas; You may think salespeople are selling a
product or service, but the truth is they are selling a vision of what that product or
service will do or how it will make people feel as a result ownership.
• Salesmanship comes with the skills and methods to sell products; the
knowledge of human behaviour, reading body language and language
analysis is an important quality and a sales person knows people and
is able to change a person’s direction without making one feel forced
into it. Salesmanship requires incredible amount of product
knowledge and to update the information regularly. The ability to be
adoptable and knowing how to have control over people’s decision
making process gives it a strong leadership quality.
PSJLC 2021-02
The 7 Attributes of the
Most Effective Sales
Leaders
A great sales leader is able to pull the team together,
draw on the skills of everyone and guide them to
collaborate, share ideas and focus on the collective
goals, as well as the individual ones. Likewise, they
promote cross-functional collaboration across the entire
business.
1. Target fixation. The best sales leaders are target and
deadline driven. In personality testing, top sales managers
scored 19% higher in the self-discipline facet, 20% higher in
the success-driven facet, and 27% higher in the priority-
focused facet than underperforming sales managers. As a
result, they have the natural disposition to fixate their team on
achieving their revenue goals at the exclusion of all else. They
block out distractions and compartmentalize negative news
that might sidetrack their team or cause their department to
flounder. They keep their team focused and moving forward
with a sense of urgency, regardless of the circumstances.
2. Command instinct. Great sales leaders establish firm command over
their team by exercising the power their title and position entail. For example,
they hold their team to a higher level of accountability. Seventy-five percent of
high-performing sales managers agreed that their salespeople are
consistently measured and held accountable against their quota, compared to
58% of underperforming sales managers. However, their authority is not
autocratically administered as you might think. Rather, it is based upon
establishing an environment where sales team members continually seek to
prove themselves, thereby driving higher overall departmental performance.
The leaders establish this culture using a “carrot and stick” psychological
approach. Overachievers receive praise and public recognition, while
underachievers are admonished or ostracized until they redeem themselves.
In essence, the command instinct is responsible for creating the peer-
pressure and attention-seeking environment that eliminates complacency.
3. Hiring ability. The ability to hire quality talent will determine
the success or failure of the sales organization. Seventy-two
percent of high performing sales managers rated the sales
team they manage as excellent or above average, compared
to 54% for underperforming sales managers. Conversely, 46%
of underperforming sales managers rated their team as
average or below average, while only 28% of high performing
sales managers thought so. High-performing sales managers
focus on hiring salespeople who are skillful builders of
relationships, are persuasive, and have a reservoir of
experience they use to control sales cycles.
4. Sales intuition. Sales is a mentorship-based profession, and a key
differentiator of great sales leaders is their ability to dispense tactical
sales advice and add value during customer meetings. While the
average sales experience for both high-performing and
underperforming sales managers was 17 years, high-performing sales
managers estimated they have achieved their annual quota 88% of the
time over the course of their career. Underperforming sales managers
indicated they have achieved their quota 75% of the time. This suggests
that the depth of a manager’s sales intuition—the practical knowledge
gained from the experiences of participating in sales cycles and
managing salespeople—is directly associated with their success.
5. Control orientation. Sales managers who closely monitor
and strictly enforce a sales process are more likely to exceed
their quotas, and the best sales leaders seek to control the
daily behavior of their sales teams. Forty-three percent of
high-performing sales managers responded that their sales
process was closely monitored, strictly enforced, or
automated, compared to 29% of underperforming sales
managers. Forty-four percent of underperforming sales
managers indicated they had a nonexistent or an informal
structured sales process.
6. Coaching adaptability. Great sales leaders
understand that there is a diversity of selling styles by
which salespeople can achieve success. Therefore,
they don’t employ a one-size-fits-all coaching style.
Rather, they adapt their style to suit each individual.
The fact that high-performing sales managers had a
higher team effectiveness factor than underperforming
teams supports these statements.
7. Strategic leadership. All sales leaders are battlefield
commanders who must devise the organization’s sales
strategy to defeat the competition. This requires plotting the
best course of action to maximize revenue using the most
cost-effective sales model. Great sales leaders possess the
knowledge to correctly deploy field or inside salespeople, to
segment the market into verticals, and to specialize sales
teams by product or customer types when necessary.
 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
GOOD SALESMANSHIP AND
LEADERSHIP
 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOOD
SALESMANSHIP AND LEADERSHIP
• 1. Tenacity - Most salespeople who become leaders
do so, at least in part, because they’re determined and
persistent. A good salesperson can look past a customer’s
irritating or quirky personality to do business with them.
This ‘never give up’ spirit is great, except when it’s
applied to the oversight of a team, translating into sales
leaders who avoid coaching and counseling. Hanging on
to unsuccessful salespeople for too long, when combined
with a lack of clearly communicated expectations can
negatively impact the team’s sales performance. It’s also
horrible for morale
• We teach what we tolerate. A good leader must recognize
the difference between a customer sales cycle and a
comparatively longer performance cycle with a team
member, creating success in both.

• 2. NEGOTIATION: Strong negotiation is all about give-

and-take. As a salesperson, the customer’s perception
defines the reality of the interaction in real time. To the
salesperson, there's only one favorable outcome--the sale.
The salesperson has to demonstrate a willingness to work
with the customer, and the long-term consequences are
usually negligible. 
• Leaders should be cautioned, however, against entering
into negotiations and abandoning or adjusting work plans
during these times. Employees who are fearful of the
upcoming change will look for reassurance that things
will be okay. When you are their leader, you are their
rock, and they are looking for you to lead them back to
stability and cohesion. When leaders react to the fears of
change and question or abandon the strategy, they feed
the fears of their team. Suddenly no one feels secure or
confident. 
• 3. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: 

• People who are great at retail sales instinctively avoid

conflict. Instead of clashing with a prospect on the
sales floor, a salesperson will nuance the conversation
and do whatever it takes to keep the customer happy
and interested. In a face-to-face interaction with a
customer, a salesperson is going to try to nip conflict in
the bud as quickly as possible—whatever it takes to
make the sale. Salesmanship involves minimizing or
diverting the customer from their fears and opposition.
• Leadership, by contrast, requires letting
colleagues feel heard and confident that their
work and their concerns are appreciated. A
leader's conflict avoidance will deny a team the
opportunity to reach their full potential. A strong
leader will use productive conflict to push their
team to be successful.
• 4. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

• Salespeople are accustomed to navigating an interaction

on their feet and changing their disposition on the fly.
When they move to a leadership role, it’s easy to yearn
for those fast-paced interactions—especially while sitting
in meetings, doing administrative work, delegating, or
coaching. 

• From mistakes come corrections and it's often true that an

organization's corrective actions yield groundbreaking
results. While carelessness is never okay, a calm leader
will develop a culture where their team feels empowered
to take risks in order to learn and grow.
 5. CUSTOMER SERVICE

• For a salesperson, top producers are the people who,

among other things, are best able to make their customers
happy. Setting up a customer for a successful sale might
include all sorts of tactics of adjusting on the fly and
being a people-pleaser, always looking for the path to
least resistance and just get it done--just close the deal
• By contrast, inconsistency as a leader can lead to
managing emotions and erode your credibility as a leader.
In business, it is critical to hold other people accountable
for results. leaders must map out clear and consistent
goals. Leaders have to develop clear mechanisms for
identifying roles and responsibility.
• REASONS WHY EVERY LEADER IS A
SALESPERSON.
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1. Salespeople can’t make you do anything; neither can leaders. Both realize they can inspire and inform, and they recognize the ultimate choice to take action
belongs to the customer or follower. Great salespeople and leaders also realize that when they remember this fact they are less frustrated and more successful.
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2. Salespeople are selling a vision and ideas; so are leaders. You may think salespeople are selling a product or service, but the truth is they are selling a vision of what that product
or service will do or how it will make people feel as a result ownership. As leaders help people to see a vision of something different in the future, they are doing the same thing
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3. Salespeople know they are in the relationship business; so do leaders. Neither a great salesperson nor a great leader focuses on becoming friends with his/her
Customers/followers, but all focus on building meaningful and trusted relationships. Why? Those relationships make their work easier and far more rewarding
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4. Salespeople realize they are in the change business; so do leaders. If no one buys, nothing changes. If no one follows, there isn’t much leadership. To be
successful, salespeople and leaders study and understand individual and group/organizational change.
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5. Salespeople are influencers and persuaders; so are leaders. Notice I didn’t say manipulators, but influencers and
persuaders. When you sum up the other four points above you come up with influence.