Go Out and Get Some Business

If cash is the lifeblood of a business, sales are the source of that cash. Without sales, overhead will suck the blood out of a business and the business withers and die.

Unless you’re running a retail store, you have to go out and get those sales. In my own mind, I’ve always though of retail stores as like sea anemones while other business are more like sharks. Sea anemones are stuck to one place and have to grab food as it goes by. Sharks are mobile and they go out and get their food.

A business has to go and get food. That means hiring and managing salespeople. That in itself is no small task. It is generally acknowledged that 20% of the salespeople in any company do 80% of the business. Within that 20%, it breaks down again into the same 80/20 rule. That means 4% of the salespeople make 64% of the sales.

Finding those 4% is a real challenge. On a purely random basis, you have one chance in 25 of getting one of those four percenters. I have one client that has gone through many salespeople. Their best salesperson is in his 70’s and outsells all the others.

It is commonly thought that a good salesperson can sell eggs to chickens, ice cubes to Eskimos, and sand to Arabs. On the other hand, poor salespeople cannot give away gold-plated Cadillac’s on Main Street.

I have come to believe this is a misconception. I’ve gone through a few courses and many books. I’ve come to be a fan of two practitioners: Buying Facilitation and High Probability Selling.

I claim no great expertise in either one. They both have a lot of similarities. Both pretty much don’t try to change the prospects mind so much as be available, when the prospect is ready to buy. Both place very heavy emphasis on using the telephone to contact prospects.

My recommendation in hiring salespeople is to make sure they have some good sales training. Follow them carefully and be ready to fire them. A poor salesperson can cost you a ton of money quickly.

Good luck and good selling!

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