Last updated: October 4, 2025
So, you wanna be a sales leader? I mean, who doesn’t? It’s really easy, right? Your team will follow you through thick and thin, and you’re almost guaranteed to hit quota, so you’ll be able to keep that top performer status forever in the eyes of company leadership. You have loads of free time, so you leave work early to hit the golf course.
Of course, none of this is true. Deciding to become a sales leader is an important one. It can be a form of personal sacrifice, putting your team before yourself, so, it’s important to look internally and decide if you have the right traits and characteristics to be among the best.
The Best Sales Leaders Are Highly Accountable
Sales leaders know the difference between responsibility and accountability. They are accountable for the success or failure of the entire team. The best sales leaders accept this. They take ownership of the desired end state and develop action plans to accomplish it. They don’t complain about the goal being too high or not having enough leads. If they don’t achieve the goal, they don’t deflect blame; they take accountability for the failure and work to determine what went wrong and how to fix it.
They are also Highly Influential
Top sales leaders cultivate influence through competence, reliability, and candidness.
- Competence: They are experts in their craft, they know their product, and they have natural instincts that tell them what to do in difficult situations.
- Reliability: They under promise and over deliver. When top sales leaders say they will do something, they do it, no matter what.
- Candidness: The best sales leaders are candid. They are not afraid to share bad news, correct bad behavior, or simply “tell it like it is.”
They Cultivate Influence at Three Critical Levels
✅ Above – They are trusted by senior leaders and are able to advocate for the resources needed to get the job done.
✅ Laterally – They build strong relationships with their peers. They become a glue that unites sales and operations around a common goal.
✅ Below – They earn the sales team’s trust. They are able to inspire and influence the team to want to crush the goal for them.
They Balance Humility With Competitiveness
The best salespeople are competitive, that’s why many grew up playing sports. While salespeople are a part of a team, they are individual contributors, which means they are individually goal-driven. This can make the transition from being a member of a sales team to being a sales leader difficult, if not impossible, for some. The best sales leaders deflect personal accolades for the team. Like most good leaders, they desire team over personal recognition. However, sales leaders are still highly competitive within the company and push to make sure their team is acknowledged.
They Are Great Communicators
Sales leaders are excellent communicators. They balance communication between clients, peers, their leaders, and subordinates. Sales leaders communicate clearly and directly and do not leave room for interpretation of what they mean. They know that bad news does not get better with time. They quickly gather the facts necessary and communicate what went right, what went wrong, what needs to be fixed, and what can be done better in the future.
At Precision Sales Recruiting, we work with companies of all sizes to help them solve their toughest sales challenges by finding the best sales leaders. If you feel a conversation can help, email me at marshall@precisionsalesrecruiting.com or call (817) 718-1038. Follow me on YouTube and Instagram @NotYourAverageRecruiter. You can also check out our services here.
Written by Marshall Scabet, the CEO and founder of Precision Sales Recruiting, a nationwide executive search firm dedicated to helping companies hire top-performing sales talent. A 20-year U.S. Army veteran and former Vice President of Recruiting at Forrest Performance Group (FPG), Marshall has successfully placed more than 800 sales professionals across commercial construction, manufacturing, and other growth industries. He holds two Master’s degrees—one in Human Resources and Organizational Development (University of Louisville) and another in Legal Studies with a focus on Business Law and Compliance (Texas A&M)—and is the author of The Precision Method™, a framework for effective sales recruiting. Marshall regularly shares insights on hiring, sales leadership, and recruiting strategy through articles, speaking engagements, and video content.
Share this post: