Why the solution is not always more sales.
What do you do if sales are down? Hire more sales people!
What do you do if the company is performing badly? Hire more sales people!
What do you do if your staff need resources and are unhappy? Hmmm…. surely more sales people will fix that! And even if they can’t, it’s easier to hire sales people so let’s just do that.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the solution to business is more sales because sales = profit, right? Not always. Let me explain:
If the product is crap the sale will fail. If the internal workings (culture, technology and management) of your company are crap, the sale will fail. If the sales people don’t have the proper training and support, yep you’ve got it — the sale will fail.
This is not to say that business development should be thrown out the window. Quite the contrary, a good business continuously focuses on how they can improve and, as a consequence, where they can profit (because you can’t pay staff with sunshine and smiles… yet). But a sale is worth nothing if the company cannot support it.
In fact the sale could become detrimental to your company because your clientele will quickly learn that you don’t deliver on expectations. Also the internal workings of your company will be crappy so your staff are unlikely to be happy. This can lead to frustrated and unproductive employees. Unproductive employees don’t work to the best of their ability (who would’ve thought) and, as a consequence, there is lack of internal support for the product and your sales people. Plus unhappy employees like to spread their unhappiness (sharing is caring after all) so the company culture will soon start to suffer. This is bad because culture is pervasive and a bad culture is detrimental to the health of your company.
In the business world we call this situation ‘poor alignment’ because there is poor alignment between your internal and external business.
So when your business starts to suffer, when sales fall or your employees are genuinely unhappy, the solution should not be to ‘just create more sales’. This is a band aid solution. It covers up the real wound which will fester and grow.
Instead you should ask yourself:
- What is our product? Is it good? Are people proud of it?
A good sales person is motivated to sell a good product because they are proud of it and believe it serves a helpful function to the client.
Don’t get me wrong, commission is definitely a motivator for sales people but you will attract more sales people, and make more sales, when your product is worth selling.
And why would you want a sales person who will sell a bad product anyway? What does that say about the people you hire and their values?
2. What is the company culture like?
Again, culture is pervasive. One of the core reasons for employee dissatisfaction and under performance is poor company culture (Atchison, 2014).
The good thing is you can turn company culture around! The first step is to talk about it — get an idea of what employees actually think of the culture, get an idea of the kind of culture you want to create, communicate it to your people and encourage your leadership to embody it. Easy? No. But worth if it leads to happier people, better work and higher profit.
3. Are our systems efficient? Do they work? Can our employees do their jobs?
Technology and good systems are important because they are a resource for your staff. It is unfair and unjust to expect your employees to work without the resources they require. It’s like making a coffee without coffee beans and getting upset when all you get is milky water.
Plus it makes your competitors, who will provide your employees with the desired resources, much more appealing an option!
4. Are our leaders good? Do they set a vision? Do they help people to understand where the company is going, why it is going there and how it’s meant to get there?
A good leader can make all the difference to a company. They help to create and encourage the culture, set the vision and make people feel good for getting their jobs done (Chordas, 2016).
A good leader will recognise that sales is just one part of the successful business formula. And they will help to outline a sales strategy to show employees where sales will focus and how it will contribute to success.
They will motivate their people, empower their people and support their people.
A good leader creates a happy internal company that is attractive to the external market.
So really the solution to creating more sales, more profit and a better performing company is multifaceted. You need to look within as well as without. Focus on the internal business (culture, management, systems) as well as the external business (sales, profit, the market). It may help to think of your business like a body — if it is unhealthy on the inside, the outside will not last long. Hiring more sales people to flog your product may achieve minor short term benefits but will not lead to long term success unless it is complemented by a happy, healthy internal business.
References
Atchison, S. (2014). 10 signs that a company has a serious culture problem. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2014/05/19/10-signs-that-a-company-has-a-serious-culture-problem/#70c28f432ea8
Chordas, L. (2016). Culture Matters. Best’s Review, 58–62.
