The Exceptional Sales Leader Podcas‪t‬ Darren Mitchell

When it comes to sales, I see many companies and many sales people being too willing to enter quickly into price discussions & discounting discussions. This is a mistake. We must stand true and hold strong on the value we provide - it is a must for you, for your team, for your business, and ultimately for your customer.

As a leader, culture is everything. So many leaders speak about the importance of strategy, & yes, strategy is important. But, if a positive & high performing culture is not created & made a priority, the best laid strategy will fail. How often do you invest in your team, to bring them together & really invest in their development and the development of that high forming culture? I guarantee, it is one of the best investments you'll ever make.

To build a sustainably successful and high performing team, there are many levers the leader can use. A critical lever is leadership awareness - being conscious of the team's key characteristics, strengths & blind spots & utilising these areas for best advantage. There are 3 key elements to leadership awareness that is covered in today's episode.

In today's episode, I had the privilege of having a great conversation with Frank Grillo, an Exceptional Sales Leader who has built a very successful career in the building and real estate industry. We discussed all things sales leadership, what challenges we face as sales leaders, making the transition from sales person to sales leader, and what it takes to be exceptional.

Leadership is a journey, an opportunity to constantly learn, discover and develop. What's really interesting though is that many leaders believe they have 'made it' when they receive the leadership title, and often will wear a 'mask' or put up a facade and pretend to be someone who they are not. They do not want to be perceived as being weak or lacking in certain areas. This is wrong. Great leaders do not wear a mask. They are there for all to see, warts and all - they embrace their incompleteness. And this is what makes great leaders so attractive.

I firmly believe that a key to successful outcomes in negotiations is to be a person of principle, a person who seeks to create win/win outcomes. Yes, we will often need to negotiate with people and organisations that seek win/lose, however if we can understand and implement 4 key principles, we can create an environment that allows us to develop mutually beneficial outcomes, or at least move towards that.