All Salespeople can be Leaders, But Are You a Servant Sales Leader?

By Michael J Griffin

4-minute read
I believe all salespeople can be leaders who lead customers and the company they work for to Win3 decisions for mutual success – a win for their customers, a win for their company, and a win for themselves. This is done by demonstrating integrity, selling, and communication skills with expert solution knowledge.

Let’s combine the terms salesperson, leader, and servant:
Servant Sales Leader – are you?

While servant leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. The Servant Sales Leader certainly achieves Win3 outcomes but with the focus, behaviors, and attitudes of a what Dr. Robert K. Greenleaf defines as a servant leader. A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. Combining Dr. Greenleaf’s insights into what makes a successful salesperson adds a powerful dimension and a very competitive advantage to any ethical salesperson.

As Bob Dylan sang in his 1979 song Gotta Serve Somebody “You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed.” As salespeople, let’s serve well and do it with our utmost passion to nurture our customers to see us, and trust us, as loyal champions and their trusted business advisors!

Hey, it’s worth a listen to Dylan’s Gotta Serve Somebody. Go to the YouTube link here.

Let’s review the six key principles of a successful Servant Sales Leader that I have tweaked from Dr. Greenleaf’s insights and research. Are you a Servant Sales Leader – check here and decide for yourself.

• Focus on the Customer: Servant Sales Leaders put the needs of their customers first, and focus on their success and organizational well-being. Hey and don’t forget your internal customers in your company!

• Share Power & Expertise: Servant Sales Leaders share expertise power and surrender the need to manipulate to get the deal. Sharing your experience, insight and wisdom leads to better customer collaboration and better deals.

• Create a Good Environment: Servant Sales Leaders create an environment where their customer is comfortable to share problems and collaborate to do their best. Servant Sales Leaders are “trust builders” not manipulators.

• Empathize: Servant Sales Leaders empathize with their customers. Empathy shows your human side, it shows you care for the customer. Research by AchieveGlobal determined that salespeople who empathize from their hearts double their chances of closing the sale compared with salespeople that focus on only the product and not the customer’s feelings.

• Encourage Individuality, Guanxi & Hubungan: Servant Sales leaders encourage healthy relationships with their customers to be who they are, both personally and professionally. Servant Sales Leaders have learned and practice communicating by being inclusive, by listening to customers who can be very different from themselves. They demonstrate respect for their customer and their viewpoints.

• Build Collaborative Community: Servant leaders promote a sense of community. In other words, Servant Sales People are “strategic orchestrators” who can build collaboration with their own colleagues, their customer buying committee, to create beautiful Win3 music with all motivated with their part in crafting a solution that leaves all singin’ they got a great deal all are satisfied with.

The six principles of Sales Servant Leadership - Follow them, practice them with your customers and experience personal growth, sales success, and a true competitive advantage that is hard to beat.

Let’s end with this video by my friend and the leader who I learned “servant leadership” from – Dr. John Maxwell. Motivate yourself to be the Sales Servant Leader you can be. Listen to Dr. Maxwell's video here.    

Serving You in the marketplace,

Michael J Griffin
ELAvate CEO and Founder