Without knowledge of their actual sales acumen, business owners unwittingly impede their firm’s growth. Here is what we have found in working with B2B small business owners all over the country. Which one describes your firm the best?
Biz Owner Sales Profile #1: Principal(s) never held a sales role.
Impact: If none of the principals have held a sales role, the company is operating at a distinct disadvantage. They initially grow through previously established relationships but can’t grow beyond those. Without an experienced sales leader, the firm fails in three ways: 1) Inability to develop a credible sales plan; 2) Inability to execute an effective business development effort; 3) Inability to successfully follow through on sales opportunities to closure.
Biz Owner Sales Profile #2: Principal(s) has held a sales role.
Impact: While this seems to be ideal, when a key executive has a sales background and is then charged with biz dev for the firm, they mistakenly think they have the time to consistently sell along with their other duties. Even with the best intentions, this just doesn’t happen. They find this inconsistent sales activity leads to inconsistent sales results.
Biz Owner Sales Profile #3: No knowledge of ineffective salesperson.
Impact: We’ve worked with a number of firms to support one or several salespeople with outsourced lead generation programs. Qualified leads are provided but are not taken effectively through the sales process. Working with an outside firm sometimes provides the first indication of skills gaps in the sales team.
Biz Owner Sales Profile #4: Principal(s) don’t know what they don’t know.
Impact: Frequently biz owners think they have a pretty good handle on sales and how they need to go to market. They find out this isn’t the case when they get an outside expert to take a look at their sales systems and processes. Until then, lack of sales results would be the primary indicator that this is an area of weakness.
There are many cost-effective solutions to each of these Biz Owner Sales Profile challenges and they don’t require hiring a full-time salesperson. For more ideas, visit http://www.sales-onsite.com/.
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3 comments:
Kathryn
what a great way of describing the dilemma for smallbiz owners combining sales, delivery and management roles.
I write extensively on how smallbiz owners get to address these problems, but I never extended the argument back to owner profiles and their consequences the way you have here.
Congratulations
Hi Kathy,
Business owners need to
1. Think win-win
2. Provide solutions to pain points
3. Delegate sales to insource experts
4. Keep your promise and follow up on the date you told the prospect or client.
5. Have effective communication of your vision and provide empowerment to your employees.
5. Build proactive relationships to help increase visibility and repeat sales, which leads to increase ROI's and profit margins.
Thanks for your comment, Jim, on some key points that business owners in sales roles often forget...and then they wonder why their sales aren't growing. Number 4 is so critical to developing a trusting, credible relationship with your prospect. They have to know you'll be there for them and following up on a timely basis shows that how you operate. And, as you know, number 5 is the key to customer retention and referrals.
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