What I learned from Dr. John Maxwell about being a Sales Leader
Dr. John Maxwell is my hero. I have the privilege of serving under him and his EQUIP team for 11 years in Asia. John has exponentially grown my leadership. His leadership has given me even greater insight on how to sell with passion, professionalism and integrity.
Dr. Maxwell though is not a salesman and has never written a book on sales or selling skills! John, however, is an outstanding leader and prolific author who influences and inspires people to change and grow as world-class leaders. We do this when we sell as leaders.
Observing and learning from John has caused me to “think out of the box” to learn to apply his leadership principles to the sales arena. I now glean many more insights on selling skills and sales leadership from authors who are not “sales gurus” by visualizing how their writing may be adapted to “ELAvating Sales” productivity in my companies.
“Nothing to Prove, Nothing to Lose, Nothing to Hide.” This well-known quote from Dr. Maxwell is the foundation for my sales teams to interact with our customers. This simple yet powerful statement signals we have integrity in all our customer relationships. Integrity and trust are worth much more than a discount in price to secure long-term customer loyalty.
In 1998, Dr. Maxwell published The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. This book was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller and launched John on a the path to sell well over 20 million leadership books world wide.
As I read and applied John’s laws of leadership to my life as an entrepreneur and non-profit leader, it dawned on me. Yes! These 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership can directly impact the success of all sales people. I began to coach my sales people with a new perspective: my sales people are sales leaders. I can “ELAvate” their sales success by growing them as leaders when they actively practice the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership during their interaction with their customers.
How might you learn and practice the same with Dr. Maxwell’s laws of leadership?
Firstly, read the summary guide of these laws. At the end of this blog, you can find a download link where you can get a PDF summary of the 21 Irrefutable Laws of “Sales Leadership” that adapt Dr. Maxwell’s laws for the sales environment.
Secondly, I strongly urge that you get your hands on a copy of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and read it. You see, John is a leader because he believes that “Leadership is Influence. Nothing more, Nothing Less.” We as sales people can certainly relate as we are in the business of influence, influencing customers to change for the better.
Thirdly, choose 4-5 leadership laws you actively want to work on to improve your own sales performance.
Fourthly, build these 21 leadership laws into your sales coaching culture.
Take these four simple actions and see how your sales and sales team “ELAvate” their sales success.
For those of you that want to read more of Dr. Maxwell and how his leadership concepts can “ELAvate” your sales acumen, I suggest these other books authored by John.
- Winning with People
- Leadership Gold
- Today Matters
- Everyone Communicates, Few Connect
- The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth
- Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn
For more information on how to ELAvate! Sales success, contact us today.