{"id":2230,"date":"2025-03-28T01:26:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T01:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2025-03-28T01:26:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T01:26:20","slug":"sales-leadership-an-idea-that-puts-marketing-in-the-shade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/sales-leadership-an-idea-that-puts-marketing-in-the-shade\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales Leadership \u2013 an idea that puts Marketing in the shade\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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 \u201cIt always amazes me that so much of a business  plan is devoted to a marketing strategy<\/em>; the focus should be on a sales strategy <\/em>and for that  we need \u2018sales leadership\u2019\u201d, fresh thinking for start-ups, social enterprises or companies  needing to reinvent themselves for growth. Let\u2019s find out more about his views on sales  leadership.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What got you interested in the subject of leadership? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s prestigious Princes St. Head-hunted again at 20 to  become manager of Scotland\u2019s 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\u2019s Board at 21. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sparked your interest in sales? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m curious. I was always thinking how could I improve the company? I didn\u2019t 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!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about leadership? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2018Request for Information\u2019 arrived asking me how I applied  \u2018Expectancy Theory of motivation to my employees\u2019. 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\u2019s 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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What led you to the idea of sales leadership and what does it mean? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  \u2018black art\u2019. Highly successful companies have high quality customer points of contact, better <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018after sales\u2019 and are wholly designed around the customer experience. We undertook research  and discovered that sales people are not given the same consideration as other \u2018professionals\u2019  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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do company\u2019s not do this already? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the core of sales leadership?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em>, 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<\/em>– every aspect of this area is geared to a great customer  experience with monitoring and feedback systems. The third pillar is People Management\u2019<\/em>,  ensuring that even if the euphemism \u2018business development\u2019 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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the most controversial part of your ideas for Sales Leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most MBA marketing students are taught about the \u2018marketing funnel\u2019, 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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Sales Leadership replace other leadership theories that are taught in universities?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly not, there are many leadership theories and a number that are very useful to  understand to improve leaders\u2019 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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should someone thinking about following the sales Leadership framework consider? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard business leaders say \u2018I do marketing but don\u2019t do sales\u2019, in some cultures sales is  regarded as a \u2018dirty\u2019 word. I\u2019ve 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\u2019t buy an inferior  product\/service from a competitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2018no-can-do\u2019 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\u2019s about investment in employee development and  resharpening your organisation\u2019s image and leadership approach. Sales Leadership is not the  \u2018customer is always right\u2019, it is \u2018treat the customer right\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

colin.mackenzie@wittenborg.eu <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dr-colin-mackenzie\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cIt 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2233,"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions\/2233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadersmagazine.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}