Training
January 2011
Inspirational Leadership
Sales Consultants do what they have to do for a Sales Manager, but they go that extra mile for an Inspirational Leader!
Shelley Rich, owner and founder of the training company Ess-are for Entrepreneurs, shares her very personal thoughts on what makes an inspirational leader. Shelley has more than 23 years of direct sales experience, gained by working with and for leading direct selling companies such as Betterware, Amway and Cabouchon. Her training programmes and presentations offer sound and proven advice to companies and individual direct sellers alike. She says “you have to have done it to understand it,” so having started her career at the ‘pit face,’ she understands, empathises and appreciates all the aspects of the direct sales self-employed world.
It was a great evening when I accepted my National Sales Award for ‘Direct Sales Professional of the Year’ at a UK National Sales Awards dinner a few years ago. As I listened to the kind words being said about me – “Shelley is an inspirational trainer with the proven skill of being able to build highly effective direct sales teams in difficult markets “said Richard Berry, former UK DSA Director – I recalled that before I had actually been called up to the stage to accept the award, my mobile telephone had been busy with a string of encouraging texts from my sales team, so naturally, when I was given my award, I dedicated it to all of them.
Looking back, I would now like to share with you what led up to my achieving this award.
I had worked with Betterware UK for 12 years when they asked me to project, manage and build a direct sales business from scratch in London. My target was to produce £500,000 of sales in my first year and to introduce the Betterware brand to 1.5 million potential customer households.
Shelley Rich |
I devised operational and strategic plans, which I still use in my training sessions today, and I set out with a vision to dramatically exceed my targets. I viewed my vision as a jigsaw puzzle and articulated my strategies by sharing them with each of my recruited self-employed Distributors. I trained them to believe in themselves and take ownership of their piece of the jigsaw, knowing that without them, the puzzle could not be completed. My personal work ethic includes a strong set of values built on frankness, respect, honesty and loyalty, so knowing this challenge was not going to be a stroll in the park, I made it a priority to learn about and understand what each Distributor’s individual driver was.
As the leader I wanted to connect their personal goals to my operational and sales targets. At this stage, ‘I’ became ‘We,’ and we never looked back.
Any leader will know that it is impossible for us to sustain an individual’s motivation for them – it has to come from their inner self. What I could do as a leader was create a motivational environment for each person to thrive in, but I had to find their motivational trigger. Their triggers tended to change as their confidence grew; this helped me keep them focused on our team goals, build a rapport and develop loyalty. I understood that while money was a motivator, so too was praise, recognition, saying thank you and noticing an individual’s contribution.
My mantra was never to expect anyone to do something I would not do myself and to have fun along the way! Being with the team I could feel the ‘buzz’ and be energised by them.
During this time, I learned about a concept called a 360-degree review. I had read that this review could be adopted by managers and leaders alike. The key component of the review involves the team member ‘reviewing’ their leader as well as the usual review process whereby the leader reviews the team member. Although perhaps daunting for some managers and leaders, I found this kind of reviewing process very effective and refreshing. I suggested anonymity to ensure I received honest feedback. I had many positive comments about my leadership style – I was ‘strong and determined’, ‘confident without ego’ and never afraid to show weakness or admit to failings. Then there were, of course, elements of critique which I bore with broad shoulders – mainly that I tended to work at 150 miles an hour!
Good communication is also a key to success, but it has to be effective. With so many forms of communication available, I had to know exactly when it was appropriate to use text, make a call or send an email. Rarely did my I allow my phone to go to messaging; I always answered as many incoming calls as I could. I wanted to create a communication balance between ‘Why is she constantly emailing, texting, calling me’’ to ‘I enjoy hearing from her.’
The most powerful team communication of all was our weekly Friday conference call. I put this in place firstly to thank the team for their week’s work and to praise the high achievers. Every Thursday, prior to the call, I would ask each team member for their individual highlight and lowlight of the week. This prevented any negativity on the conference call, because I would have dealt with the lowlight immediately upon speaking with the individual team member. Praise was given not only for meeting individual and team targets, but also for new ideas or examples of good customer service; it was also an opportunity for team members to share experiences, support and help and encourage each other, which, in turn, promoted teamwork. The weekly call did have had a structured agenda, which included having some fun, so this really helped to re-energise the team and it guaranteed a positive start for the following week.
It was important during this period of high energy and activity to take time for self-reflection and to develop my entrepreneurial creativity; I did this on a regular basis. I thought that if the late Pavarotti still took singing lessons up until his death, then I needed to keep learning and developing!
Two fundamental, practical ideas came from my reflective time, which influenced my success. Firstly, I decided the team would not be targeted on how many recruits they could achieve in one week, but instead, on the number of quality leads generated. This would, undoubtedly, give us the recruitment result we needed. Secondly, I thought that perhaps not all the sales incentives should be based on financial or leisure rewards. After implementing a different reward structure, my best results from incentives came when I offered team members a ‘day off’ from collecting their catalogues, when they had achieved a certain level of sales. I then would step in personally and collect these catalogues and orders! Was it then any surprise that they would deliver more catalogues than they usually delivered, just for me to collect! A win/win situation for all of us.
As a leader, I did not want just to have followers, I also wanted to create more leaders. So it was key to be professional, set standards, have high expectations and be seen as a role model. Betterware’s end customers were important to all of us, but I looked upon my team as my customers, too, and I wanted to provide them with exceptional customer service. So part of the completed jigsaw would contain fully trained, coached and supported team members, who could then go on to inspire teams of their own. There is so much power in ‘showing’ a team and not just ‘telling’ them how to succeed in their business.
At the end of the year, the jigsaw was completed with just over £1m of sales! I look back now and remember the extraordinary performances that were in evidence and the achievements of team members, some of whom never believed initially they could contribute to our goals, but along the way felt inspired to be a piece of the jigsaw and ultimately gained personal success and growth.
My final conclusion is that an ‘inspirational leader’ cannot lead anyone else further than they have gone themselves. The direct sales world is unique, as are its members. I am still as enthusiastic as ever at the results it gives and the extraordinary benefits it provides to ordinary people. To feel inspired, people need to feel included and connected to the actions, goals and processes that in turn lead to success for all.
Inspirational leadership works not just with self-employed direct sellers; there is definitely a place for it in the corporate world – perhaps a vision for influence rather than authority.
For all contact details visit http://www.ess-are.com. Ess- are is an Approved Supplier Member of the UK DSA and is also a registered supplier with Business Link East of England for funded opportunities.
DSA Sales Academy Trainer and Assessor
DSA Sales Academy Approved Internal Verifier
