Αs sales managers or sales leaders do we let our salespeople to take up more responsibilities/decisions when they are able to, or do we keep telling ourselves that it is not the right time, as they are not ready yet?

According to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, there are two types of decisions that we are faced with in business.  Type 1 decisions, which are high stakes, can be costly and irreversible and Type 2 decisions that are low-cost and reversible.  Every day, most decisions are Type 2 and should be made quickly, but if, as leaders, we act as if all decisions are Type 1, then obviously we bring things to a halt.  Therefore, the obvious question that arises is how many Type 2 decisions do we allow to be taken from our salespeople?  

In my view, the role of a leader is to create a business environment in which people feel safe and are encouraged to grow their skills, so that this leader can give power to those who have shown the ability to handle the responsibility.  If, as sales leaders, we have created a decision-making environment and we have given our salespeople the knowledge and tools that are required to make and act upon their own decisions, then it is highly probable that they will reach an empowered state.  From my experience so far, the majority of salespeople are able to see the value in finding empowerment and are mostly willing to assume the responsibilities that come with it.

For example, a very popular phrase that managers use nowadays to their people is: “Don’t come to me with problems, come to me with solutions!”.  I believe that if our salespeople have the solution to an identified problem, which concerns the clientele that they are dealing with daily, then it would be better if they dealt with the issue on their own and then arrange for a meeting with their manager for a mentoring session in retrospect.

With regards to empowerment, the same approach should be applied not only for internal issues, but also when in front of the customers.  In any interaction with them and especially in joint visits, sales leaders should allow salespeople that are trained and prepared to lead the way, instead of them trying to dominate the conversation.  Even if things don’t go as planned during the call, it is far better for managers to be restrained from talking at that time, but to give honest feedback during the internal debrief of the meeting, pointing out what went well and what needs to be ameliorated.

I firmly believe that the main responsibility of a sales leader is not only to “make” new but also better sales leaders, so we must treat our salespeople as the future leaders of our sales organisations and help them to always grow towards that direction.