Have you ever noticed that articles, books and guides about sales management tend to dramatically outnumber those about sales leadership? Why is that, and what does it mean about the current state of the sales profession?

In the business world, we tend to associate the leadership function with the CEO or business owner, but as soon as we talk about sales we switch our emphasis to management. That may be for a few reasons.

First, sales has traditionally been perceived as a ‘lone wolf’ profession, one in which each sales team member is an ‘alpha’ player, and thus we assume that sales people self-lead, rather than seek or require a leader they can follow. Second, sales management is complex. When you consider the complexity of compensation planning, territory planning and aligning sales with marketing, there’s a lot of work already on the task list.

And yet, sales leadership is a critical asset – and it is separate and distinct from sales management. Sales leadership focuses on building a team of individuals who do bring self-motivation, certainly, but who do so in the context of a team effort. They recognize that the success of the customer is what leads to the success of the company. And they are engaged in the values and message of the business. In fact, businesses that master sales leadership will unlock enormous untapped potential for future revenues. Let’s look at why:

1. Sales leadership begins with aligning sales teams with customers.

Many companies have a stated mission or vision, and this statement is intended to serve as a leadership concept around which the company can rally. If you look at most of these statements, they usually begin with a discussion about whom the company seeks to serve and what it seeks to do for those customers. Taking this statement and making it a centerpiece of sales leadership will encourage your team to align themselves with your target customers. Rather than just seeking out any deal that can be found, you enable your sales staff to focus their energy on the best-fit prospects for the business.

2. Sales leadership enables sales professionals to increase credibility.

As long as the sales process involves individuals speaking with other individuals (whether in person, on the phone or via email or the web), it is essential for both the company and the sales team members themselves to achieve credibility with the customer. Even a great company will lose sales opportunities if the sales team comes off as weak, unfocused or unprofessional. By providing active leadership to your sales team, you empower them to become more confident, clear in their messaging, and engaged with the prospect on terms that make sense for both parties.

3. Sales leadership empowers the sales organization to confidently guide the company.

When a sales organization is quota-driven but strategically unfocused, it can lead the company down dangerous alleys and into deep performance ditches. Diffusing the sales effort is inefficient and it increases your risk of runaway costs on the delivery side, as well as skyrocketing customer problems and, ultimately, wide-ranging dissatisfaction with your business.

Contrast this with a sales organization that is focused, energized and clearly aligned with the business mission. That team can now be trusted to offer meaningful guidance back to the rest of the company. Is one vertical not proving to be as valuable as another? Let’s consider a change. Should the company switch its focus from one new product launch to a different one in order to respond to emerging market conditions? Great, let’s discuss that across the enterprise and see if we can adjust rapidly.

In order to provide sales leadership effectively, you need to successfully achieve three forms of alignment. First, you need to align yourself with the mission of the business. Second, you need to align your sales team with the customer and prospect community. And third, you need to be the voice that provides valuable customer feedback to your colleagues in sales-supporting departments. Achieving and maintaining these three forms of alignment is the essence of successful values-based sales.

Here are some strategies you can use to achieve better values-based alignment in your sales organization:

1. Have sales team members visit with and interview customers. This isn’t meant to be just a great meal or a good round of golf (although both can lead to valuable insights). Instead, this is about meeting your customers and learning firsthand what they are struggling with or working through in their business.

2. Expose non-sales personnel to the sales environment and the front-line realities of the customer interface. This will inspire and engage people who are important to the ultimate customer experience to take a more sales-oriented perspective.

3. Provide well-defined channels for your sales team to provide strategic input, and seek that feedback proactively. Ask your team members to look for certain issues or ask certain questions in the field, then collect their information and insights so you can gain firsthand intelligence about what customers are seeking, needing, working through and trying to move forward on – while also improving your sales team’s ability to empathize and engage on the customer’s framework, not just on yours.

Taking these steps will help you align your sales team with its two most important constituencies – customers and the company – and in so doing, improve the values-based engagement and leadership position of your business.