I wrote this article for my hard copy Sales RevUP newsletter when we were doing a Sales Training/ Organisational Development programme with Community Newspaper Group.
That programme went on to win the LearnX Best Sales Training in the Asia Pacific.
Christine has been recognised for her success at Community Newspaper Group and has since moved on to take on even more senior and innovative roles in the Media Industry.
Every Sales Revolution needs Revolutionary Sales Leadership
With this in mind, my Sales Director of the Month Award
goes to Christine Sutherland at Community Newspaper Group.
Not only has Christine led her team of around 70 people to be one of
the best performing Community Newspapers in Australia, she has led
from the front.
Christine doesn’t just tell her Managers to go to Management
Training (the Diploma of Management that all her 20
Managers and Future Leaders are doing with me), she attends, she
leads from the front, she participates fully and enthusiastically too.
What Leading Sales Organisations Do
Leading organisations from IBM to SouthWest Airlines and Harvard
University have proven that having the Sales Director/ Senior Manager
attending, actively participating and contributing, leading by
example is one of, if not THE most important factor in whether a
change, leadership, organisational development, sales development
initiative will be successful or not.
Christine knows that if we are to continue to improve Sales and
Service Performance at CNG, people will be asked to do things differently,
step out of their comfort zones.
And if the Senior Manager is not seen to be leading the charge from
the front, it won’t be long before some of the Managers want to drop off the pace,
then the people start to drop off.
The Integrity of the Change Initiative starts to crumble when leadership starts to crumble.
There is an old saying ‘the speed of the group is determined by the
speed of the leader’.
‘The Leader shapes the culture (in most cases
way more than they believe they do.
“With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”
One of those responsibilities is to
SHOW UP… to demonstrate (not just remonstrate..)
Congrats to Christine and her team of Managers for their great support
and leadership as we continue to make great gains as a result of the
Sales Innovation-Sales Revolution Training Programme.
Who is Your Sales Director of the Month and what have they done to
win that Honorable Title?
Send your nominations to leroyfarns@gmail.com and the
Winning Sales Team will receive a free coaching session package (at a
mutually convenient time) valued at $3700.
That’s a smart answer to a diucifflt question.