Changing your sales culture: start with the leadership

I regularly speak to sales professionals who embraced this way of thinking long ago. They believe in long-term relationships, in honestly helping, in creating fans. And then the end of the quarter comes into view, there turns out to be a gap in the forecast, and the whole organisation gets pulled back into short-term behaviour. Calling, pushing, discounting. Not because the people do not get it, but because the system forces it.

Sales culture is set by the leadership

That is the honest story about sales culture: what was said in the training counts for less than what the leadership steers on when things get tense. The leadership decides, usually unconsciously, which version of themselves the people select. Steer on "harder" and you get the tense, pushing version. Steer on "help the customer as much as possible" and you get the honest, relaxed version. And the customer feels the difference in everything: the language, the attitude, the energy. That is how the way you lead your team becomes literally noticeable in the market, and therefore in your brand.

Three questions for you as a leader

If you want lasting success, you want this way of thinking across your whole organisation. Starting at the top. Three questions for you as a leader. One: what do you really steer on when the numbers disappoint, on activity and busyness, or on the quality of help to customers? Two: what example do you set yourself in customer contact and in the sales meeting? Culture copies the top. Three: do your systems (targets, bonuses, dashboards) reward the monthly deal or the fan relationship?

Steer on the right numbers

And steer on the right numbers. Results are a delayed outcome; what you can see today is the number of good appointments, the progress per stage and the question of whether customers come back and recommend you. Whoever steers on that builds a system instead of luck, and gives their people the room to do what revenue really comes from: helping customers so well that they become fans.

How to do this with the whole team, from the board to support, is what I describe in my new (Dutch) book Van klant naar fan. Want to make the switch with leadership and team together? Then the inspiration session is a good start: two and a half hours with everyone in the room. Start tomorrow with question one: what did you steer on the last time the numbers disappointed?