For sales leaders looking to develop their teams, an outside leadership consultant can provide an objective perspective and expertise. Sales organizations often scale rapidly, making it difficult for sales executives to maintain focus on critical leadership capabilities amidst meeting revenue targets. A leadership consultant takes a step back to analyze management strengths, cultural dynamics, morale, and development opportunities. Rather than getting stuck in day-to-day demands, sales leaders can focus on elevating the team while leveraging external guidance to hone coaching, communication, and motivation competencies. This list provides 10 ways a leadership consultant can help sales executives enhance management proficiency, team culture and morale, workforce development, succession planning, and diversity and inclusion. With real examples and examination of potential trade-offs, sales leaders can prioritize quick wins and longer-term initiatives when engaging consulting support focused on their most valuable asset – people.
1. Evaluate sales manager leadership capabilities.
Examples:
– Assess coaching, motivating, and developing skills
– Review manager training and development needs
– Identify high potential future sales leaders
Pros and Cons:
Auditing leadership skills guides training plans but risks exposure of weaknesses. Development builds bench strength but takes time from field work. High potential planning enables succession but risks disengagement.
2. Design sales rep mentorship and coaching programs.
Examples:
– Create formal mentoring relationships and resources
– Build one-on-one coaching best practices
– Leverage peer coaching opportunities
Pros and Cons:
Mentorship facilitates knowledge sharing at the cost of time. One-on-one coaching drives productivity but consistency matters. Peer coaching promotes engagement although compatibility key.
3. Develop sales team leadership training curriculum.
Examples:
– Provide workshops on managing, motivating, and developing team
– Design leadership strategy simulations and case studies
– Include emotional intelligence, influence, and accountability content
Pros and Cons:
Skills training equips frontline leaders but takes focus from field work. Simulations build strategic mindset but risk over-intellectualizing. EQ content improves self-awareness but hard to quantify ROI.
4. Create sales team communication best practices.
Examples:
– Structure sales meeting cadence and focus
– Define guidelines for email, messaging, and social communication
– Provide assertive communication skills training
Pros and Cons:
Thoughtful meeting rhythms balance efficiency with needed connections. Guidelines improve professional communication but hard to enforce. Assertiveness training builds confidence but seen as “soft skill” by some.
5. Assess and realign sales team culture.
Examples:
– Identify gaps between current and desired culture
– Evaluate negative subcultures or behavior patterns
– Reinforce positive culture traits through recognition
Pros and Cons:
Cultural analysis provides improvement insights but shifting entrenched culture is challenging. Addressing negative patterns removes distractions but requires delicacy. Recognition reinforces positive behaviors if sincere.
6. Develop sales team morale-building programs.
Examples:
– Create non-cash motivation and recognition initiatives
– Organize team building activities and celebrations
– Encourage community involvement and volunteering
Pros and Cons:
Non-cash motivation shows care but risks seeming manipulative. Team building can strengthen bonds but scheduling is difficult. Volunteering enhances purpose if cause aligns.
7. Improve collaboration between sales executives and broader leadership.
Examples:
– Structure executive ride-alongs with sales reps
– Build cross-functional mentorships
– Foster job rotation across departments
Pros and Cons:
Ride-alongs build leadership empathy but hard to schedule. Cross-functional mentorships break down silos but pull focus. Job rotations enhance understanding but temporarily reduce productivity.
8. Design diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Examples:
– Develop employee resource groups for underrepresented segments
– Provide unconscious bias and sensitivity training
– Ensure diverse interview panels and candidate slates
Pros and Cons:
Resource groups provide support and insights if executed thoughtfully. Bias training raises awareness but real change takes work. Diverse slates strengthen hiring but stretch recruiters.
9. Create sales team skills development programs.
Examples:
– Establish individual development plans for reps
– Build skills-based group training cohorts
– Leverage internal experts for “lunch and learns”
Pros and Cons:
1:1 development plans enable growth but manager capability consistency key. Group training builds community but risks one-size-fits-all content. Internal experts provide authenticity but scheduling challenges.
10. Conduct strategic workforce and succession planning.
Examples:
– Forecast sales talent needs based on growth
– Outline leadership succession pipeline
– Model upcoming retirements and attrition risks
Pros and Cons:
Forecasting needs aids recruiting readiness but predicting growth has uncertainty. Succession planning reduces risk but demotivates passed-over candidates. Attrition insights focus retention efforts but trends shift.