Sales Leadership – an idea that puts Marketing in the shade
Colin Mackenzie, businessman, leader, entrepreneur, high growth consultant, international sales competition judge and Associate Professor at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences, makes the bold statement that “It always amazes me that so much of a business plan is devoted to a marketing strategy; the focus should be on a sales strategy and for that we need ‘sales leadership’”, fresh thinking for start-ups, social enterprises or companies needing to reinvent themselves for growth. Let’s find out more about his views on sales leadership.
What got you interested in the subject of leadership?
Like many people, I fell into it. I was working in a record shop when I was 16 years old and then in their high-fidelity department when I left school. Head-hunted at 18 to be the assistant manager of a hi-fi store in Edinburgh’s prestigious Princes St. Head-hunted again at 20 to become manager of Scotland’s oldest hi-fi store, Hi-Fi Corner, a business that recently reinvented under the leadership, and now ownership, of my son to be the most esteemed in Scotland, if not in the UK. My leadership journey really began when I was promoted to Hi Fi Corner’s Board at 21.
What sparked your interest in sales?
I’m curious. I was always thinking how could I improve the company? I didn’t even realise that sales training existed until Sony invited my staff to a sales training event. I thought I should know more and what they were saying to my employees, so I joined in, enjoyed it so much that I employed the trainer to work as a manager!
What about leadership?
I went on to buy the company that employed me as a spotty teenager and founded a B2B business as an insurance industry supplier. One day a flyer for Edinburgh Napier University landed at the same time as ‘Request for Information’ arrived asking me how I applied ‘Expectancy Theory of motivation to my employees’. In my late forties, I went to uni for the first time, gained a Master of Science degree, and can discuss Expectancy Theory with any MBA graduate now. After finishing my master’s strategy module, I was having a coffee with a PLC customer. He asked what was the outcome of my analysis? I explained it was either to grow it ten times or sell it. By the end of the coffee, I had sold the company. Turning my attention to my retail company I created an amalgamation plan to become the biggest hi-fi retailer in the UK, however, I was uncertain about the leadership direction. I went back to have lunch at the university and ended up signing for a practical research doctorate focussing on leadership. The amalgamation did not go ahead, but my son rose to the challenge and bought the business from me. After gaining my DBA, I ended up teaching leadership to KPMG students, entrepreneurial leadership, and travelled around Europe and Asia giving talks and sales and leadership lectures. Both subjects are closely connected, they are ultimately to do with persuasion.
What led you to the idea of sales leadership and what does it mean?
I had been bouncing the idea off a colleague, and it occurred to us that few companies, especially new start-ups seemed not to understand the concept of sales, often regarded as a ‘black art’. Highly successful companies have high quality customer points of contact, better
‘after sales’ and are wholly designed around the customer experience. We undertook research and discovered that sales people are not given the same consideration as other ‘professionals’ and that led to the development of continuous professional development cycle. Sales Leadership fell out of this thinking and is the process of leading an organisation that puts ethical selling at its core ensuring that all aspects of the company are aligned with its mission.
Do company’s not do this already?
We all know of many companies who made great products but still failed. Business leaders often have a finance background and not a sales background and are not aware of the developments in sales education.
What is the core of sales leadership?
Sales leadership involves putting customer contact at the heart of the business. The Mackenzie-Bauer framework has three pillars for sales success. These include, Sales Management, inbuilding a systemic continuous professional development cycle of sales people- creating ethical selling practices as a part of sustainable selling. The second pillar is Production or Service Delivery– every aspect of this area is geared to a great customer experience with monitoring and feedback systems. The third pillar is People Management’, ensuring that even if the euphemism ‘business development’ is used, everybody from top to bottom know that service delivery is important, even between departments. If every department sees the other as a customer, then they are less likely to build little empires.
What is the most controversial part of your ideas for Sales Leadership.
Most MBA marketing students are taught about the ‘marketing funnel’, the sale coming out at the end of successful marketing. However, in a sales leadership framework marketing is regarded as the servant of the sales department. Marketing is part of the sales strategy and not the other way around. The marketing department activity needs to underpin any sales initiative and should to be measured accordingly. I often see marketing departments not speaking to sales or production departments. Life has taught me that it is much easier to spend money than to make it.
We live in a time when every dollar is a prisoner, we need to ensure a sharp focus on marketing. Having it under the control of the sales department takes away the ago old excuse of blame someone else for poor sales.
Does Sales Leadership replace other leadership theories that are taught in universities?
Certainly not, there are many leadership theories and a number that are very useful to understand to improve leaders’ sustainability and growth. Sales Leadership is a framework that sits aside other established theories; however, it is exceptionally helpful for start-ups who can employ people with the right attitude in the first instance or for companies or social enterprises going through change and needing a refresh in their unique selling proposition.
With its focus on ethical selling Sales Leadership is a way of thinking, it should be a bespoke fit to organisations not a one solution fits all.
What should someone thinking about following the sales Leadership framework consider?
I’ve heard business leaders say ‘I do marketing but don’t do sales’, in some cultures sales is regarded as a ‘dirty’ word. I’ve been brought into some organisations to redefining the meaning of sales to resistant employees. Sales definition should always be ethical selling, or simply fantastic customer service, or making sure the customer doesn’t buy an inferior product/service from a competitor.
Sales Leadership is a value-based framework. It is about ensuring all managers are supported in leadership development with a customer mindset, rather than a ‘no-can-do’ attitude. Sales Leadership is about empowering everyone to be a sales leader in their role. All client/inter department touch points are trained in recognising the ethos of service (external and inter company). Service from the heart. Many people work for more than money, they want to be developed, be involved with organisations that genuinely care about their societal impact and not just words on a corporate website. It’s about investment in employee development and resharpening your organisation’s image and leadership approach. Sales Leadership is not the ‘customer is always right’, it is ‘treat the customer right’.
colin.mackenzie@wittenborg.eu