Salespeople as Servant Leaders with their Customers: An Oxymoron?
By Michael J Griffin
5-minute read
Recent trends of sales training have emphasized “Sales Enablement.” This approach focuses the salesperson on closing the sale above the central role of serving the customer. It seems that “sales enablement” has it backwards. I believe professional and ethical salespeople should focus on collaborating and serving customers for a Win3 outcome: a win for the customer, a win for salesperson, and a win for the salesperson’s organization.
Rather than “Sales Enablement” could we create a sales culture of “Win3 Enablement” or even “Customer Success Enablement” based on the principles of servant leadership?
Servant leadership is not merely a management style; it’s an attitude rooted in selflessness and a genuine desire to uplift others. The concept, popularized by Robert K. Greenleaf in the 1970s, states that the best leaders are those who serve their teams first. This approach can be especially relevant in sales, where a serving motivation can positively impact sales performance and secure long term customer loyalty.
Let’s connect servant leadership to top performing salespeople. First, effective salespeople are leaders who collaborate and navigate their customers to decisions that are mutually beneficial. Secondly, salespeople that are servant leaders have the attitude and motivation to lead and serve customers so they achieve new levels of success. It starts with a serving attitude.
The Big Idea: Hire salespeople, both hunters and farmers, who have a passion to excel as professionals to serve customers to solve their problems. Train them with selling skills and excellent product/service knowledge to serve customers as a competitive advantage.
One of the most significant advantages of adopting a servant leadership approach in sales is the emphasis on building trusting relationships. Salespeople who pride themselves as servant leaders listen actively to their customers, are curious to fully understand their pain points and needs so they can provide tailored solutions. This approach not only enhances customer satisfaction but also fosters long term loyalty, as customers feel valued and understood by salespeople they can depend on.
Sales organizations that embrace servant leadership in sales not only see improved sales performance but also cultivate a reputation for exceptional customer service. This reputation is a formidable competitive advantage, as customers are attracted to sales organizations that practice serving customers by solving their problems with care, expertise and skill.
How to Develop Servant Leader Salespeople
The first key in developing a “servant leader sales culture” is to hire sales managers who have the willingness to coach, train and serve their salespeople. They understand that “walking the servant leadership talk” inspires salespeople to accept coaching from their sales managers. Here are the key skills for servant leadership salespeople that lead to long term customer loyalty:
Develop Empathy: Practice active listening and demonstrate empathy for customer problems, needs and emotions. Our research shows salespeople who authentically empathize from their hearts double their chances of closing the sale compared with salespeople that only focus on stating product features and benefits.
Be Humble yet Secure: Recognize that you don't have all the answers and be open to learning from others: sales coach, colleagues, customers and research by sources of sales expertise.
Build Trust: Be honest, transparent, and reliable in your interactions with customers. Deliver on your promises.
Seek to understand before being understood by focusing on customer needs: Stephen Covey would agree to probe for fully understanding your customers' challenges, needs and need behind the need then provide solutions that truly address them. Excellent product/solution knowledge supports solid probing skills.
Serve Rather Than Sell: Shift your salespeople’s mindset from selling to serving, and focus on building trusting long term relationships rather than closing deals. Salespeople know that having a serving, curious attitude to understand and solve customer problems leads to exceeding targets for both themselves and their customers.
Become a Resourceful Expert. Customer want a salesperson who is willing to volunteer and offer valuable advice or perspectives to support customer success. This means being a engaging story teller or a nurturing teacher with customers.
I hope that you have a new perspective on how servant leadership in sales can become a competitive advantage for your salespeople. Reflect on the servant leadership attitudes and skills in this blog and how you might weave them into your sales training and sales culture. Then see how your salespeople succeed!
Michael J Griffin
CEO and Founder of ELAvate
Believer in Servant Leadership for Sales
Certified Gitomer Sales Consultant
Korn Ferry Associate Sales Trainer