Leaders. Every company needs them. It might surprise you to learn that every company needs more of them than you think they do. This applies to your HVACR distribution company as well.
When I say “leaders” you probably think of managers, directors, or owners of a company. But what I’m really talking about is your entire team. Every member of your team needs to become a leader. This might sound strange, especially if you’re worried that too many leaders will create confusion and conflict in your company but you’ll see in a moment that it can actually generate more results for your business…
Turn Your Team Into Team-Leaders
When you stop thinking of your leaders as only the management-level decision-makers, and instead think of your entire team as leaders, you shift their thinking about themselves. They will take more ownership over their work and will increasingly see themselves as a valuable contributor to the organization (even if they feel this way already, it will grow).
Not only that, they will lead their fellow employees by setting a better example for each other and by holding each other accountable. By intentionally treating all your employees as leaders, you build a culture in your company that strives for excellence because every person sees themselves as a critical cog in the machine and not just an order-taker who does what he or she is told to do.
To turn your team into team-leaders, invite them to lead each other, hold each other accountable, and to set the bar higher each and every day for themselves and their fellow team members.
Turn Your Team Into Customer-Leaders
During the sales process, customers need someone to help them understand all the information so they can make an informed decision. If your team seems themselves only as employees, they won’t necessarily push to close the sale; or if your team seems themselves only as salespeople, they may actually become too pushy.
However, if your team sees themselves as leaders, they will stand up more confidently in front of each customer and guide that customer toward making a decision. It’s a mindset shift that you can visually see taking place in your team when you tell them that each one of them is now a leader of customers, and that each customer (without realizing it) is looking for a leader to help them make decisions. Your sales can soar with this mindset shift.
To turn your team into customer-leaders, train them to be confident and knowledgeable, and demonstrate how customers respond to a strong leader during a sales interaction.
Turn Your Team Into Industry-Leaders
It doesn’t matter whether you have your market locked up or if competition is fierce, you need a team of employees who are industry leaders. What is an industry leader? It’s someone who knows the industry inside and out; they know the trends; they know what customers need and want (and don’t need); they make recommendations (which can lead to more sales); they have a command of the present state of the industry and can accurately predict what the future will be like.
When you make your team industry leaders, you create a team who can close more sales because they know what is happening in the industry. Not only that, you’ll elevate your company above your competitors with employees who possess unprecedented knowledge of the industry to help customers.
To turn your team into industry-leaders, provide industry training and resources to help your team master the industry and understand its implications for your company and its customers.
Anyone can build a team of employees. Even your competitors can do that in their sleep. But if you want to leap-frog over the competition and secure a very strong position in the market, while running a company of loyal employees and happy customers, then make this one simple shift and turn all of your team members into leaders.
It doesn’t change your organizational structure. Your team still reports to their managers and bosses. But what it does is empower your team to take ownership of themselves and their own individual areas of influence to make themselves better and to lead those around them to excellence.