JJASBE

Director, Solutions Sales

Catalyst

Valued Contributor

Opinionated

The Million Dollar Question

With all the talk about moving from individual contributor to leadership, I've been pondering a question:

Can decent IC's be amazing Sales Leaders, in your opinion?

I have a view, but would be interested in hearing from you all.

For those of you who have been both, were you markedly better at one than the other?

So-So IC & Amazing Leader:

Attached poll

Of course, who do you think Belichick is? Not on your life-You can't coach to levels you haven't been to

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

🧢 Sales Management

9 comments

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salesnerd

WR Officer

Head of Growth

I mean, yeah, you're describing me. I am a fine seller. Never going to be the number one seller on the floor, but I'll be top 20% for sure. Where I shine is on the leadership/management front.

Now I don't think you can be a bottom of the barrel seller and an amazing sales leader. I think you have to be at least a pretty good seller.

softwarebro

Politicker

Sales Director

PGA tour players all have coaches and non of their coaches are on tour. Being in leadership is more than securing revenue - it's also about developing and mentoring your people.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

The best seller is rarely, if ever the best leader and vice versa. Both require different skill sets and personality types. I don't think you can be an awful seller and be a great leader, though. Salespeople can smell bullshit and phonies from a mile away, leaders have to at least be able to hold their own on the sales floor to earn their team's respect.

ARRisLife

Politicker

Account Executive

*Can* decent IC's be amazing leaders? Of course, they could be. But that's not necessarily an automatic.

Being a leader and a great coach are completely different skill sets then being a rockstar IC. In fact I've seen several top performer's go into management because it's a natural next step in progression and great way to advance career and then they absolutely struggle with coaching and managing a team. This has happened countless times at my own org, the IC turned manager then has difficulty letting the reps take point and they then become super reps getting way too far in the trenches of every deal instead of properly managing and coaching the reps.

I've seen great IC's also become great managers as well so it's not always the same but I think the biggest thing to think about is those specific skills that you need to properly manage. Do you have a passion for coaching or do you really just love closing deals?

LordBusiness

Politicker

Chief Revenue Officer

I've actually found that the best leaders are generally NOT the best performers on the team. If you want to identify the next generation of leaders from your seller crew, ask everyone "How have you been consistently successful?" The sales reps who can outline the processes that drive their success are your next generation of leadership.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I refuse to vote in your poll because of Belichick but yes, they're different skill sets. In fact, in the education world, there is a lot of evidence that people who struggle with subjects until mastering them are actually better teachers than people who instinctively understand it.

Savagedoge

Tycoon

Account Executive

Best coaches I've had - they really haven't been the best players. Not just in sales. Sales, for sure.

AnchorPoint

Politicker

Business Coach

Successful individual contributors should be leaders. However, being a leader is not the same as being a manager... a leader is who you are, management is a role. Just because you are good at one, does not mean you are good at the other... and it doesn't mean you can't be good at both. Definitely not a one size fits all.

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

I mean, yeah, you're describing me. I am a fine seller. Never going to be the number one seller on the floor, but I'll be top 20% for sure. Where I shine is on the leadership/management front.

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JJASBE

The Million Dollar Question

So-So IC & Amazing Leader:

9 comments

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