7 Ways To Be An Effective And Visible Sales Leader
Xant Team
Being a visible leader drives employee performance. It’s important to support, inspire, connect, and unite with the whole workforce.
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- What Is Visible Leadership?
- Why Is Leadership Visibility Important?
- Ways to Be an Effective Visible Sales Leader
Tips on How to Be a Visible Leader and Why It’s Important
What Is Visible Leadership?
Showing that you’re invested in your people is a fundamental leadership role.
Great leadership communication takes time and effort, and being a skilled visible leader is even more challenging.
Being a visible leader means being hand on, visible, and active within the organization. Whatever level of leader you are, there are ways to ensure your visibility throughout the workplace.
Visible leadership also relies on feedback from staff; after all, what’s the point in doing it if it doesn’t benefit the workforce. Make time for employees to engage in communication, establishing it an indispensable part of their work too.
Why Is Leadership Visibility Important?
Simply put, engaging leaders drive improved performance.
Leaders often overestimate their ability to communicate, assuming that they are successful in delivering their message. It’s essential to listen to employee engagement surveys and take reactive steps to engage more effectively.
Not all staff will understand the message being delivered, and not all will feel inspired. Still, it’s vital to keep interpreting the message into something appealing and meaningful.
Field teams can feel isolated, so it’s even more critical for sales leaders to stay in communication, particularly as they are their main point of contact.
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Ways to Be an Effective Visible Sales Leader
Stay Involved with Their Work
Try to understand what role each person plays within the organization and ask them questions related to their tasks. Be visible and active with members of your team. This will make workers feel that you aren’t too important to get a grip of what’s going on daily, or too important to care.
You could go as far as spending time shadowing an employee each week. Employees will thank you for paying interest, and you’ll learn a lot about what improvements can be made. Additionally, you can share your sales tips with them and share any issues with other management.
Senior leaders can all get “back to the shop floor” occasionally and set up company-wide initiatives for top-level managers to visit departments or branches.
Praise in Public and Provide Constructive Criticism Behind Closed Doors
Make your staff feel important and praise them in group meetings where credit is due. Emphasize their efforts and achievement, not yours. This will go a long way to motivate your staff.
Never criticize, undermine, or speak badly about people, especially to wider groups. The only criticism being made should be regarding work issues and to the appropriate people. Development meetings are a great way to convey constructive criticism and to make development plans to overcome any issues.
Simply Be a Visible Manager
I used to have a senior manager who would walk the long way through the department each morning to say hello to everyone. It sounds simple, but don’t spend the whole day in your office. Get out and interact with all staff, even if it’s just in the breakout area.
Senior leaders who manage numerous departments or branches should consider spending time in as many areas as possible. Rota departments and don’t be seen to have a favorite branch, for example, the nearest to your office or the one that performs the best. This will only make the rest of the workforce resentful.
Hold a Daily Meeting
Most sales teams start the day with a stand-up meeting to discuss targets and other items on their agenda. To be an effective and visible sales leader ensure you are involved in this meeting, drive it, but also allow others to get involved and have their say. This will encourage people to be alert, engaged, and motivated for the day. If you’re a senior manager, consider joining weekly even if via video link.
Utilize Communication Technology
Being a visible leader doesn’t always mean being seen in person, although this is the most striking way to make an impact.
Think about how to report progress or share internal data that employees need without providing information overload.
There is no excuse nowadays, with all the communication technology to not play an active role.
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- Make the most of the organization’s intranet.
- Write a blog. This could be a more personal account or about daily functions.
- Consider social media and send positive and inspiring messages to the public as well as employees.
- Join meetings via video link, even if just to introduce yourself. This could work particularly well during the onboarding process. If the organization is too large, consider a pre-recorded video.
- Engage via teleconferences
- Do Townhalls
- Host Q & A sessions
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Have a United Leadership
Regularly send out communications, mainly to ensure the company’s mission, vision, and goals are reinforced. Leaders at all levels should strengthen the message and be united. When done right, it can have a massive impact on outcomes. If any leaders start to throw doubt, this infiltrates negatively.
Make Change a Positive Thing
Change in the workplace can often cause resistance and worry, so leaders should engage with their teams in workshops. Turn changes into a focus for future improvements and reveal what life will be like after the changes. Have real conversations with employees, be honest, show genuine empathy, and listen to what the people are feeling and thinking. Get continual feedback and listen to staff concerns, making sure you set aside plenty of time to do so.
Final Note
Essentially employees will invest more into the company’s future if they get the right message and delivery from their leaders. Being an active and visible leader is an essential and critical part of any manager’s role. Get it right, and you’ll have the support of your staff.
Are you a leader and want to share your tips on being an effective and visible leader? What things has your leader done to inspire you? Comment below.
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