Are You a Sales-Driven CEO or a Delivery-Driven CEO?
I’ve been selling my whole life.
As a CEO, I’m driven by a sales mentality. It informs how I think about my business and how I think about my client’s companies, too.
Many entrepreneurs I know are what I call sales-driven CEOs.
But there’s another group of entrepreneurs who come from a different place entirely.
Those are delivery-driven CEOs, and they’re usually the business owners who started as technicians. They tend to have experience delivering the thing they’re selling.
There are pros and cons to each. Most importantly, it helps to know which one you are.
The Sales-Driven CEO
A sales-driven CEO is often a leader who has started multiple ventures, not necessarily the same type of business.
They naturally focus on revenue and growth. They tend to be driving personalities that can intuitively identify the ways to ramp up revenue inside the business. When things go wrong, they rely on marketing and sales as the pathway to solving problems.
The sales-driven CEO is always thinking about how to get the next customer.
The Delivery-Driven CEO
A delivery-driven CEO (or a product-driven CEO) is a leader who knows how to do the core work of the business or obsesses about the thing their company makes. They probably started as individual contributors doing the thing their company does now.
They naturally focus on providing a great customer experience—whether they are offering a service or a product. They usually have a high-quality offering and put effort into maintaining quality as they grow. When things go wrong, they rely on improving their offer as the pathway to solving problems.
The delivery-driven CEO is always thinking about how to deliver for the current customer.
Sales or Delivery
Both approaches have their blind spots.
Sales-driven CEOs don’t always respect the need to run a company efficiently. They might think sales is the solution to every problem. And they can be focused on growth to the detriment of company culture and customer satisfaction.
Delivery-driven CEOs often struggle to grow. They might be great at building a beautiful offer, but they don’t know how to leverage what they have to actually get bigger. They may spin their wheels when it comes to hitting financial targets.
Here’s a quick test to see which type of CEO you may be. When someone asks how your business is doing, do you:
- Talk about the numbers: revenue, client count, # employees, etc.
- Talk about what you’re doing in the market: new capabilities, offers, methodologies
If you answered a), you’re sales-driven, and b), you’re delivery-driven.
Which Would You Rather Be?
If I had to choose (if I could choose), I would prefer to be a delivery-driven CEO. I think it would be more effective to focus on product-market fit and make sure I had an amazing offer or a great product. I would need to fill my gaps in sales another way, but that’s doable. Ultimately, I think it’s worse to sell when you can’t deliver.
But…that’s not who I am. I’m sales-driven, through and through. And whatever you are, it’s what you are.
You should be aware of the other modality. Because eventually, that’s what you’ll want to hire for in your organization.
A sales-driven CEO may need a COO sooner than later - an executive-level hire focused on quality and addressing needs in the market.
A delivery-driven CEO may need a sales leader sooner than later - someone to help the company step on the gas.
And that, ultimately, is the point.
Know yourself. Use that information as a data point to help you make decisions.
