3 Lessons Learned from Making Difficult Decisions in Sales Leadership
Making the right call in sales strategy can be the difference between success and failure. In this post, insights from a Founder and a Sales Manager provide valuable lessons on navigating tough decisions. The article kicks off with a story about pivoting to sustainable floral arrangements and wraps up with a changed strategy after a no-bid decision, featuring a total of three insights. Discover how these leaders' experiences have shaped their approach to leadership and decision-making.
- Pivoted Strategy to Sustainable Floral Arrangements
- Delayed Promotion for Leadership Development
- Changed Sales Strategy After No-Bid Decision
Pivoted Strategy to Sustainable Floral Arrangements
Once, I had to make a tough call about discontinuing a popular floral arrangement line that was challenging to source and create due to seasonal availability. The team was hesitant, knowing that it was a bestseller, but I believed it was the best move for maintaining quality and focusing on sustainable choices. I decided to pivot the strategy, investing in arrangements that offered year-round availability and consistent quality, while explaining to customers the reasoning behind the change.
This decision taught me that transparency and confidence are key in leadership. Communicating openly with both the team and customers helped everyone understand and embrace the shift, and ultimately, it led to a more stable product line and fewer production headaches. Now, I always aim to balance practical considerations with honest communication, which has strengthened trust and commitment across my team.
Delayed Promotion for Leadership Development
Early in my career as a sales leader, I faced a difficult decision when considering a high-performing sales rep for a sales manager promotion. While their numbers were stellar, I noticed gaps in their ability to coach others and lead effectively under pressure. Despite external pressure to reward their performance, I chose to delay the promotion and instead invested in their leadership development through mentoring and structured training. Although it was a tough conversation, the rep appreciated my honesty and worked on developing the necessary skills.
This experience taught me the importance of aligning promotions with readiness, not just performance metrics. Leadership roles require a distinct set of skills, and promoting someone before they're ready can set them-and the team-up for failure. It reinforced my belief in investing in potential and coaching team members to grow into new roles. As a result, I became more intentional about creating clear pathways for leadership development, ensuring that every promotion was earned through readiness, not just results.
Changed Sales Strategy After No-Bid Decision
Years ago we had the opportunity to bid on a whole of government messaging solution. It was a huge opportunity in terms of revenue and future of the business.
We had the resources, we had the expertise and right technology to deliver a winning bid. We did the ground work with the client for over a year before the tender was issued. All the signs looked good. We covered off all stakeholders and were aware there were some undecided, yet remained confident we were in a strong position as the client had voiced again and again they wanted a single provider and a single technology for their messaging solution.
The tender was issued and instead of a single solution the tender called for OPTIONS that could accommodate 2 separate and incompatible technologies.
This was hugely disappointing as we knew the client could not realise economies of scale and nor would they be able to achieve a truly whole of government messaging system if one or two departments used different technology to the others.
After many internal meetings with various teams, despite having invested so much time and money in this opportunity, I made the decision to no bid.
After qualifying out of this opportunity we changed our sales strategy to focus on whole of department opportunities and partnered with others to pursue other whole of government opportunities when they arose.
