Un vendedor que entiende el propósito familiar de su empresa no necesita discursos motivacionales: trabaja con orgullo y vende con el alma.
Selling with purpose: beyond the goal
In a family business, the salesperson is not only the one who brings the products to the market: he is the one who carries the family legacy to each customer. But what happens when sales don’t flow, results stagnate, and business energy seems to fade?
Beyond numbers and goals, poor sales performance is usually a mirror of something deeper: how those who have the responsibility of representing the family name in the market are led, supervised, and supported.
Family leadership as the helm of the sales team
In family businesses, commercial management has a peculiarity: not only does it direct, it also inspires from its family name and values.
However, there is a risk hidden there: when the family leads from custom and not from strategy.
A sales team requires much more than objectives: it needs clarity, support and shared purpose.
Key questions for the family leader:
- Am I choosing sellers out of urgency or vocation?
- Have I designed a commission system that rewards real effort and not just the result?
- Have I shared with them the history and essence of the company so that they feel like they belong to something bigger than a salary?
- Am I present in their integration and learning process, or do I launch them into the market expecting immediate results?
Effective leadership is not commanding; It is to form a commercial character with family identity.
Supervising is not controlling: it is accompanying
In many family businesses, the role of the supervisor becomes a bottleneck: he is so busy “asking for results” that he forgets that his main function is to develop people.
A good supervisor doesn’t shout out numbers; shows the way.
You must master the product, understand the customer and, above all, have the ability to read the emotional state of your people.
The key question is:
“Am I leading from the desk or from the street?”
The supervisor who walks with his salespeople, who listens to their objections, who supports losses and celebrates closures, builds more than a team: he builds loyalty.
And in family businesses, loyalty outweighs any incentive plan.
Also read: Serve to lead: the principle that turns authority into legacy
The family seller: more than a salesperson, an ambassador
The salesperson, in a family business, does not represent just a product. It represents a history, a surname, a way of doing things.
Therefore, your attitude cannot only be that of someone seeking to close a sale, but that of someone defending a legacy.
But not everything depends on the family or the supervisor.
The seller must also look in the mirror and ask himself:
- Am I really committed to what I sell?
- Do I prepare enough or improvise?
- Am I open to learning or do I justify myself in the circumstances?
- Do I transmit passion or do I just fulfill my day?
A motivated salesperson is not born: he is formed in a culture that believes in him.
How to strengthen the commercial muscle in the family business
- Select with purpose: don’t hire the nicest person, but rather the one most aligned with the family philosophy.
- Constantly train: the sale changes every day; the seller must evolve with it.
- Lead by example: family owners and leaders must go down to the ground, listen and teach with facts.
- Evaluate with empathy: measuring is not punishing, it is helping to improve.
- Celebrate with meaning: sales achievements are not just numbers, they are acts of market trust in the family.
When sales don’t come, it’s not always a market problem. Sometimes it is an internal connection problem.
A sales team flourishes when they feel their work has meaning.
And that meaning is given by the family that trusts, that teaches and that accompanies.
“The seller who feels part of a story sells more than a product: he sells trust, and that never runs out.”
Paradoxically: “The secret to selling more is not to pressure the customer, but to inspire the seller.”
About the author:
Twitter: @mariorizofiscal
The opinions expressed are solely the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and editorial line of Forbes Mexico.
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