A few years ago I did a 3 days sales training for a relatively large company. When I arrived at their company I was briefed by the HR head that the CEO will drop by at the end of the training to do the closing and boosting. I said that’s great. It was 4 pm on day 3, the training is scheduled to end at 5 pm and I still don’t see the CEO. So I went over and asked the HR head what time specifically will the CEO arrive so I can end on time for his speech. He said…
Oh, I just gave him a call and he said he can’t make it. It was a Sunday and the CEO was held up by his family at the shopping mall and based on the traffic he can’t leave the mall. So the HR head was assigned to do the closing and boosting on behalf of the CEO. Amazing isn’t it? This company was undergoing a major change in its compensation plans and strategy and I was called in to improve the skill sets of the sales team. I sincerely hoped they will succeed, but looking at the ‘Commitment’ level of the CEO, I feel a different outcome will be achieved rather than the one they envisioned.
I cannot stress enough the code of the Sales Ninja – Commitment. Sales Ninja lives by 10 codes: abundance, courage, commitment, contribution, duty, focus, honor, honesty, trust, and improvement. When one has committed to do something, it must be done. In warrior days, warriors rather die than break their commitments. But apparently modern days, words are cheap. People say things they don’t mean. They don’t deliver what they say.
So if you are sitting in a sales leaders’ position, I have two principles for you as a Sales Ninja Shogun (Sales Ninja Shogun is a 3d/2n experiential Sales Leadership Program. Shogun is a Japanese word for leader).
1 – Your sales team’s result is your result!
Explained briefly: if your sales team is not performing, you failed as a sales leader.
2 – You must get things done through others!
Explained briefly: you may be in the sales director or gm or CEO role and may not directly manage your sales force, but guess what, if you didn’t build your Shogun Managers to build your sales team, you failed as a sales leader.
I am privileged because, in 2010, I will be working with 60 different sales leaders to transform their sales force. Sales transformation begins at the top. No blaming the sales team. Sales leaders step up first.
Unconventionally,
HANZO NG
Sales Ninja Grandmaster
© 2009 Sales Ninja Training. All Rights Reserved.
Hanzo Ng is Sales Ninja Grandmaster, lingo for Chief Trainer of Sales Ninja Training, Asia’s #1 Unconventional Sales Training. Sales Ninja Training specializes in helping small-medium, listed and global companies transform their salespeople into the ultimate sales professional known as Sales Ninja. For more information on our sales, motivation, and leadership training, visit our website.
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