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If you can’t sell, you cannot lead!
Say what?!!!
I can already hear the brickbats from the leaders in my network. But before you stone me to death, hear me out ….
To me, effective leaders not only have a compelling Vision and a winning Strategy, but they also have followers who believe in their Vision and are motivated to implement their strategy. This is because without the buy-in to the Vision and the desire to take action (which often involves change), Visions and Strategies are worthless.
Hence, all effective leaders are also great salespersons who instinctively do the following three things well:
Build trust. Trust is the foundation of effective leadership — and sales. Without trust in the leader’s abilities and intentions, anything a leader communicates will be viewed with skepticism or mistrust. And, when leaders are unable to get people to believe what they say, they lose the ability to influence. It is therefore important that leaders walk the talk.
Appeal to needs, not wants. When seeking buy-in or urging action, effective leaders appeal to the needs of their followers. Needs are the essentials, while wants are desires which followers can do without. It is therefore more effective to appeal to an employee’s job…
