7 Reasons Why Being a Salesperson Will Make You a Better CEO
CEO’s are the modern day rock stars. The media and those in the business world treat them like royalty, exalting their accomplishments, gobbling up stories about their background and path to success, and quoting them to add emphasis to whatever point we’re trying to make.
While many of the most well-known CEO’s like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have engineering and product backgrounds, other highly-successful leaders came from the world of sales. Billionaire Mark Cuban, Salesforce founder Mark Benioff, McDonald’s chairman Ray Kroc, and countless other titans of business were salespeople long before their rise to the top. Adam Honig, the CEO of Spiro (the company whose blog you’re reading) also started his career in sales.
So why do salespeople make such great CEO’s? Here are seven reasons:
1. Salespeople are goal-driven
Salespeople live or die based on whether they can hit their numbers, so goals and what it’s going to take to achieve them are always top of mind. You can’t run a successful company without goals, and CEO’s who have been conditioned as salespeople are inherently goal-driven.
2. Salespeople come up with clever solutions
Any salesperson worth their salt has had to come up with clever solutions to get in touch with a prospect or to get a deal done. Salespeople aren’t constrained by gatekeepers or objections, and are always looking for ways to come up with a solution. Successful CEO’s have to do this at scale, and those who can’t think outside the box usually don’t become legends.
3. Salespeople are customer-centric
Salespeople have to constantly think about a customer’s perspective when doing business, and will move heaven and earth to make customers happy so that they can close deals. Great company leaders are also always thinking about customers and how to make them happy, because without that, even the best technology, team, or corporate strategy won’t lead to a successful business.
4. Salespeople know how to get others excited
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of leadership is getting people excited about what you’re building and about the work they’re doing. Salespeople learn how important enthusiasm is early on, and understand that without it, it’s almost impossible to be successful. CEO’s that can transfer their enthusiasm to their teams and to their customers have a huge advantage over the competition.
5. Salespeople have faced rejection
There are very few companies that don’t have to overcome serious obstacles to become market leaders. Rejection can stop the most innovative ideas in their tracks if the person leading the charge doesn’t know how to deal with it properly. Salespeople deal with rejection every single day, and understand that it’s merely part of the game. CEOs who understand this concept can take rejection in stride and keep pushing forward, no matter the perceived odds.
6. Salespeople understand the value of growth
Good salespeople are never stagnant. They focus on exceeding their sales goals, growing their customer base, and when they have maximized their income, they usually move onto a more profitable industry. In other words, they focus on growth. There are far too many businesses who are stagnant year after year, partly because of the leadership’s mindset and approach to business. CEOs who are former salespeople rarely have this problem because their experiences has wired them to demand growth.
7. Salespeople know how to make deals
At the end of the day, salespeople are the ones who bring everyone to the table and make deals happen. This is experience that many people take for granted, but the ability to navigate multiple minefields and get two sides to agree to a mutually beneficial agreement is fundamental to running a successful business. Salespeople who became CEOs are deal-makers, and you can bet that wherever there’s an ability to make something happen, they will use all of their previous experience to do so.
