A high-performing salesperson can successfully transition into a leadership role, but there are some predictable blind spots.
Tech columnist Geoffrey James understands how to scale a start-up, and he describes the common pitfalls that new leaders struggle to avoid.
Fighting fires rather than scaling up. New leaders tend to focus on crises: service issues, customer issues, agent drama, and, of course, running out of money. They forget a team can’t possibly grow and succeed unless they make a commitment to recruit.
What to do: Put aside at least five hours a week for recruiting and interviewing candidates, even if you’re not currently hiring. Ideally, you want a pipeline of potential hires whenever you need to add staff or agents.
For a team to grow, everyone on the team must level-up every 12 months. This is only possible if the owner helps everyone understand the new skills and behaviors they’ll need to grow themselves as the company grows.
What to do: Think of coaching as an investment in time management. Yes, it takes longer to coach somebody to do a task than to just do it yourself. Once you’ve trained somebody, though, that task leaves your to-do list and creates time for you to do those things only you can do.
Failing to plan for setbacks. It’s common for teams to blow-up and small brokerages to die a slow death. Here’s the reality: Even the best-run teams encounter problems. If you’re not prepared to deal with them, even a small hiccup can derail your ambitious plans.
What to do: Work with your coach or mentor to create contingency plans in case there are recruiting delays, slower-than-expected sales cycles, departures of key personnel, and other operational disruptions.
I’ve heard it hundreds of times: Great salespeople don’t make great leaders.
However, it’s not true. But only if you can see and address the most common blind spots.
