As part of a monthly meeting with a peer group of CEOs, one of my colleagues presented his financial data. During the discussion, someone asked whether his sales approach was “‘push” or “pull.” The presenter swiftly answered and moved on.
Curious, I politely interrupted, “What did you just ask?”
His response clarified that pull sales & marketing involve products or services that clients actively want and request, while push sales & marketing refer to potential products or services that clients may desire. The push approach is more challenging because it often requires educating the market about the benefits and uses of a new product or service, which can be time-consuming and resource intensive. However, if successful, it can create entirely new markets.
Intrigued by push/pull marketing, I delved deeper into these two concepts. Here’s what I learned. Pull marketing is a strategy that focuses on helping target customers discover your brand, products, and services organically. It’s about creating a magnetic pull toward your offerings. On the other hand, push marketing involves actively placing or nudging your products or services in front of your target audience. Ideally, businesses should execute both strategies: acquiring initial customers through push marketing while simultaneously building your brand via pull marketing.
I believe these same principles can be applied to leadership. When your team actively performs actions that align with your strategy, you can leverage those efforts to enhance success. This is pull leadership, and it involves creating an environment and culture that naturally attracts and motivates team members to engage in behaviors that support the organization’s goals. Pull leadership is about inspiring and empowering team members, making them feel valued and connected to the mission, which in turn drives their intrinsic motivation.
On the other hand, if there are actions your team isn’t currently taking but would better serve your strategy, that’s where push leadership comes into play. Push leadership involves direct and proactive efforts to guide and influence your team. Such efforts might include setting clear expectations, providing structured training, and offering incentives to encourage desired behaviors. Push leadership requires a hands-on approach to ensure that team members understand the importance of these new actions and how they contribute to the overall strategy.
Like with marketing, we can use both push and pull approaches in leading our organizations. Push leadership promotes the adoption of new team actions that align with your strategy, while pull leadership reinforces actions that are already in line with the strategy.
And whether you’re pushing or pulling, remember: The purpose is to get your team to move in the right direction.
Push & Pull: A Dual Approach to Leadership was originally published in Horizon Performance on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
