....

1. Sales Force Leadership

2. Jim Travis
Vice President of Sales
for Green Mountain
Coffee Roasters, Inc.
Leadership is a very concrete notion for Jim Travis.
Communicating is a big part of Travis’s approach to
leadership.
In his view, “If your people don’t understand the top three
things the organization is trying to accomplish-and if you
can’t convey them in about thirty seconds each–then they
can’t perform well, and getting your people to perform well is
the goal of leading.

3. Jim Travis
Travis brought a computerized system of sales cycle
management training, so each rep would receive the same
reinforcement of skills in prospecting, qualifying, building
rapport, presenting, negotiating, and closing.
Travis sees three ways to achieve leadership:
– you can make it
– you can earn it
– it can be given to you
Travis says that “in business, he feels, you have to earn it”

4. Foundations of Leadership
The forces shaping business and sales management today radically
different from those of the past-they include greater diversity in the
labor force, intensifying global competition, and rapid advances in
technology
Individual traits
Behaviors
Influences over people
Interaction patterns
Role relationship
Occupation of an administrative position
Perceptions of others regarding the legitimacy of
influence
Ways to understand leadership:

5. Leadership
refers to the interpersonal process of communicating, inspiring,
guiding, and influencing the behavior of subordinate salespeople
towards the attainment of organizational objects, goals, and values.
Six important elements:
Leadership is interpersonal
Leadership relies on influence
Sales force leadership
Leaders inspire their subordinates
Leaders espouse ethical and moral values
Leadership relies on communication

6. Supervision
is closely monitoring the daily work activities of sales subordinates
Management
deals with administrative activities that include planning, organizing,
staffing, directing, and controlling the operation of the firm towards
the attainment of its goals and objectives.
Leadership
is an emotional process of exercising psychological, social, and
inspirational influence on the people employed by the firm.

7. Central to understanding how leaders wield influence over their
subordinates is the concept of power.
Leadership and power
Power
is the potential to influence the behavior of subordinates
SALES MANAGEMENT POWER
POSITION POWER PERSONAL POWER
Legitimate Power Reward Power Coercive Power Referent Power Expert Power
Derived from the
position occupied
on the
organizational
structure: the sales
manager has
formally delegated
authority to seek
salesperson
compliance.
The ability of
the sales
manager to
provide
subordinate
salespeople
with various
benefits based
on
performance
assessment.
The ability of
sales manager to
obtain of the
salesperson
compliance
through fear of
punishment,
sanction, or by
withholding
rewards (include
being fired from
the job)
The ability of
sales managers to
influence sales
force compliance
based on
inspiration,
charisma, loyalty,
and personal
identification with
the leader.
Subordinate
compliance that
is based upon
the sales
manager’s skills,
knowledge,
intelligence, job-
related
information and
expertise.

8. Trait Theory
Relationship Networks
The trait approach
The behavioral approach
The contingency or situation approach
Three broad classical schools of thought about leadership:
The earliest leadership research.
It focused on identifying the personal traits that
characterized these people such as confidence, honest,
integrity, ambition, creativity, job-relevant knowledge,
initiative, intelligence, extraversion, and drive.
Trait theory has been widely criticized because few
studies examined the same traits and because it doesn’t
take into account the situational context leadership.

9. Behavioral Styles Theory
because of the weakness associated with the trait theory, many
leadership studies have focused on identifying patterns of leader
behavior or “leadership style”, shifting from who the leader is to what
the leader does.
Ohio State University and University of Michigan Studies
Two composed dimensions of leader behavior:
Consideration or sometimes called the “human relation”
Initiating Structure or sometimes called the “task
orientation”
Two dimensions of leadership styles:
employee oriented
production/task oriented

10. Twelve Traits of Highly Effective Sales Force leaders
Courageous Use power wisely
Visionary thinkers Steadfast
Change masters
Ethical
Persistent and realistic
Show a sense of humor
Risk takers
Positive and optimistic
Moral but not judgemental
Decision oriented

11. Initiating Structure/Product (Task) Orientation
Consideration/EmployeeOrientation
Low High
LowHigh
Quadrant 1: High consideration/
employee orientation and Low structure/
production orientation
Leader focuses on achieving team
harmony and individual need
satisfaction. Less emphasis is placed
on subordinate tasks.
Sales Management Implications:
Appropriate to use when experienced,
high-performing salespeople tend to
be too competitive with one another.
Quadrant 3: Low consideration/
employee orientation and Low structure/
production orientation
Largely passive, the leader does not
provide structure and exhibits little
consideration for subordinate needs
allowing work and people to be self-
managed.
Sales Management Implications:
Appropriate to use when experienced,
high-performing salespeople that
know their task and enjoy work.
Quadrant 2: High consideration/
employee orientation and High structure/
production orientation
Leadership strives to accomplish the job
while maintaining a harmonious work
team. Leader provides guidance on
how task should be complete and is
considerate of subordinate needs.
Sales Management Implications:
Appropriate in situation with newly
hired, inexperienced sales trained.
Quadrant 4: Low consideration/
employee orientation and High structure/
production orientation
Leader focuses on getting a job done by
structuring tasks, but exhibits little
consideration for subordinate needs.
Sales Management Implications:
Appropriate in situations where
experienced salespeople are required to do
unpleasant, unfamiliar work.
Dimensions of Behavioral Style: Directions for
Leadership in Sales Management:

12. Contingency Theories of Leadership
Contingency theories generally suggest that an effective leadership
style is largely predicated or contingent upon different situations.
Factors have been identified as determinants of effective leadership:
The leaders personality and experience
The expectations and behavior of superiors
The characteristics, expectations and behavior of
subordinates
The behavior and expectation of peers
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
Fiedler’s research indicated that a leaders performance depends on
two interrelated factors: –the degree to which the situation gives the
leader control and influence –and the leaders basic innovation

13. Three situational variables:
Leader-member relations
Task structure
Position power
Three components are considered highly favorable:
Leaders can usually except support from team members
Leaders can enforce their will with the legitimate power
or formal authority of their position
All the members of the organization can more clearly
define, delegate, control, and evaluate structured tasks

14. Fielder’s Contingency Theory of leadership
Task-motivated leaders
perform better when the
situation is highly
unfavorable.
> Leaders and team
members do not enjoy
working together.
> Team members work on
vanguely defined tasks.
> Leader lacks formal
authority over reward
system.
Rationale:
In the face of mutual
mistrust and high
uncertainly among
followers about tasks and
rewards, leaders need to
devote primary attention
to close supervision
Relationship-motivated
leaders perform better
when the situation is
moderately favorable
> Combination of
favorable and unfavorable
Rationale:
Followers need support
from a leader to help them
cope with uncertainties
about trust, task, and/or
rewards.
Task-motivated leaders
perform better when the
situation is highly
favorable.
> Leaders and team
members work well
together.
> Task are clearly defined.
> Leader has formal
authority over reward
system.
Rationale:
Working from a base of
mutual trust and relative
certainty among followers
about tasks and rewards,
leaders can devote their
primary attention to
getting the job done
Highly Unfavorable Moderately favorable Highly Favorable

15. extracts and extends the key elements of leader
consideration and initiating structure around which
behavioral styles theory is centered.
proposes that the leader can affect the level of
satisfaction, motivation and performance of team
members by using appropriate leadership style in
several ways.
there eight central bahaviors, which together form the
latest version of path-goal theory: Participative
leadership styles, Suppertive leadership styles, Directive
leadership styles, Achievment-oriented leadership
styles, Path-goal clarifying leadership styles, Interaction
facilitation leadership styles, Networking leadership
styles, and Value base leadership styles.
The Path-Goal Theory Leadership

16. Extending the Path-goal Theory of Leadership to Sales Management
Sales Manager
Leadership Style
Participative
Leadership Style
Supportive
Leadership Style
Directive
Leadership Style
Achievement-Oriented
Leadership Style
Path-Goal Clarifying
Leadership Style
Interaction Facilitation
Leadership Style
Networking
Leadership Style
Value-Based
Leadership Style
Sales Environment
Contingency Factors
>Task Structure
>Team dynamics
>Formal authority
Salesperson
Contingency Factors
>Task ability
>Locus of control
>need for
achievement
>Work experience
>Team dynamics
Sales Manager
Effectiveness
Salesperson
>Increase in motivation
>Increase in job
satisfaction
>Increase in sales
revenue
>Increase in production
>Decrease in turnover

17. An interesting and intuitively appealing theory, leader-member
exchange was an outgrowth of the incorrect assumption that
leaders treat all their subordinates uniformly.
Was developed because existing theories didn’t account for
situations in which leadership is neutralized or placed by
characteristics of the subordinates, tasks, and organization.
Some of the more popular substitutes:
Ability, experience, training, and knowledge
Personal orientation
Task-provided feedback
Leader-Member Exchange Theory
Substitutes for leadership Theory

18. Some of the more popular substitutes: (continuation)
Organizational formation and inflexibility
Advisory staff
Closely knit work group
Compensation plans, quotas, and expenses accounts
Customers and competition

19. The classic theories we’ve looked at so far all examine
traditional leadership application.
Traditional leaders recognize the immediate needs of
their employees and communicate to them how those
need will be met through effective performance.
Traditional leadership, which takes a short-term
perspective to generate favorable results from the sales
force, tend to be the most frequently used leadership
approach in business today.
Four key characteristic:
Charismatic and visionary leadership
Inspiration
Intellectual stimulation
Individual consideration
Transformational (Charismatic and Visionary) Leadership

20. Charismatic and Visionary Leadership
Charisma has been describe as a “fire that ignites follower energy
and commitment, producing results above and beyond the call
duty.
a vision that is clearly articulated
willingness to take the risks to achieve the vision
sensitivity to environmental constraints
sensitivity to followers needs
behaviors that are novels
Characteristics of these charismatic leaders:

21. Inspiration
Another key characteristic of transformational leadership, is the
ability to articulate expectations subordinates, communicate
important purposes in simple ways, and use symbols to focus
their efforts.
Intellectual Stimulation
A transformational sales leader stimulates salespeople
intellectually by creating a readiness for change and by
encountering them to use ingenuity to find new approaches for
solving old and continuing problems or emergency ones.
Individual Consideration
The fourth characteristic of transformational leadership is the
manager’s ability to treat each as an individual, supporting their
career development and growth by providing mentoring, coaching
and counseling.

22. The leadership style is sometimes called the “Pygmalion’ effect.
One of the work is that “when manager communicates high
expectations to a subordinate, the subordinate is likely to raise
the level of his or her own performance expectation.
Extending Transactional versus
Transformational leadership to Sales Management
Transactional Sales Managers Transformation Sales Managers
>Identify and communicate tasks to >Inspiration-effectively communicate
salespeople expectations: are emotionally arousing
and reassuring to salespeople
>Recognize immediate needs of >Charisma-have a vision, a sense of
salespeople and suggest ways to meet mission, and a strong emotional appeal
more needs for salespeople
>Suggest ways to execute tasks >Intellectual stimulation-helps salespeople
become better and identifying and
solving customer problems and needs
>Provide appropriate rewards and >Individual consideration-display individual
feedbacks consideration to salespeople through
mentoring, coaching, and counselling
Pygmalion Leadership

23. The concept of empowerment focuses on distributing power to
lower-level employees. Empowering employees means to
recognize and release the potential power that people already
have in their reservoir of useful knowledge, experience and
intellectual motivation.
No Sales Force
Involvement in
Decision Making
>Sales manager
makes all decision
>Salespeople have
no decision-making
authority or
discretionary power
Sales Force
Consultation in
Decision Making
>Sales manager
makes all decisions,
but periodically
elicits input and
suggestions from
salespeople
Sales Force
Participation in
Decision Making
>Sales manager
and salespeople
jointly provide
input and
suggestion in
decision making
>Some power
sharing but sales
manager is still
superior due to
position on firm
Sales Force
Involvement in
Decision Making
>Sales manager
delegates power
and authority to
salespeople for
decision making
>Equal power
sharing on decision
but sales manager
implements
decisions.
Sales Force Self-
Management
>Power and
authority
distributed
between sales
manager and
salespeople
>Sales manager
and salespeople
equally involved
in formulating and
implementing
LOW HIGH
LOW SALES MANAGER-SALES FORCE COOPERATIVE LEVEL HIGH
LOW SALES FORCE SKILL LEVEL HIGH
LOW SALES FORCE POWER HIGH
LOW SALES FORCE LOCUS OF CONTROL HIGH
Leadership and environment: Distributive Power Sharing
Trough Participative management

24. Four levels of control:
Diagnostic control systems
Benefits systems-Sales
Boundary system-Sales
Interactive control system

25. Implementing an Empowerment Program for the Sales force
Salesperson Character
Development
>Commitment to firm and
team studies
>Trust, honest, adaptability,
flexibility, and accountability
>Desire to grow
>Ethics, values, and morals
Salesperson Skills
Development
>Technological skills
>Time and territorial
management skills
>Communication skills
>Self-management skills
>Team dynamics skills
>Statistical analysis of sales
data
Developing an
Empowerment Culture
>Cooperation
>Collaboration
>Mutual trust
>”Win-win” mindset
>Open communication
>Access to critical
information
>Holding salespeople
accountable and tying
rewards to meeting goals
Providing Empowerment
Opportunities
>Distributing power
>Delegating decision-making
authority
>Participating in decision
making
>Developing and
implementing sales
strategies
Sales Force
Empowerment
Program

26. A proven way to develop leaders is through mentoring. A mentor
is someone who systematically helps develop a subordinate’s
abilities through careful tutoring, personal guidance, and example
All organizations used to be on guard against stereotyping.
Women in growing numbers are taking leadership roles in
industry as well as government.
Mentoring
Women as Sales Manager

27. Its most basic level, leadership requires communication as a way
of transferring ideas, facts, thoughts and values from one person
to another.
One of the most overlooked qualities of a good communicator
and thus of a good leader is listening skills.
Effective listening has become so necessary a component of
business success that many companies now train their
employees in listening.
Four basic types of listening:
Content listening
Critical listening
Empathic listening
Active listening
Communication
Listening

28. Nonverbal communication takes place largely through body
language: facial expressions, gestures, and body postures.
communication via space
communication via style in dress
communication via body movements
Most important to sales managers
Organizational Barriers-communication problems are
likely to occur between a salesperson and a sales
manager due to the structural hierarchy of most org.
Individual Barriers-sales managers must be able to send
clear, effective message that the entire sales force can
understand.
Understanding Nonverbal Communication
Breaking Down Communication Barriers

29. Overcoming Barriers-sales managers can overcome the
barriers to communication if they acknowledge their
existence and take the time necessary to work them out.
Breaking Down Communication Barriers (continuation)
Some useful strategies
Regulate information flow
Provide and elicit feedback
Use simple language
Practice effective listening
Keep emotion in check
Give nonverbal cues
Use the grapevine

30. THANK YOU 
By: Mary Lilibeth B. Alonzo