Many private business owners tell me they struggle with sales.  Most report little, if any, predictability, visibility, or scalability in their sales effort.  A large percentage of seemingly successful entrepreneurs even have a tough time maintaining any level of consistency in growing sales revenues and profit.

When I ask owners for their reasons their sales are lacking, I often hear the same things over and over.  This destructive self-talk hurts much more than it helps.  Following is a list of popular excuses I hear many times each month.   If you find yourself saying any of these things (to others or to yourself), I’ve offered some actions you take today to make things much better.

“When we get in front of prospects, we almost always win.” 

While this may be true, it is not necessarily good.  If your company is closing 100% of your sales, you (or your salespeople) are probably only meeting with SUPER-qualified prospects.  While it is always a good idea to continually strive to improve your closing percentages, understand that the vast majority of private companies (and salespeople) behave opportunistically, versus proactively when it comes to selling.  In other words, they are not selling, they are taking orders.  Opportunistic (reactive)  selling places a company’s destiny into the hands of external forces (like the economy, competition, new features, etc.).  Very dangerous to say the least.

“We don’t have the time to improve sales” (aka: “We’re too busy”)

Fact#1:  You have the same amount of time as everyone else (24 hours per day).

Fact#2:  You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.

Fact#3:  The more your focus on a problem, the more likely you are to improve it.

So we’re really not talking about time here, were talking about priorities.  So ask yourself:  “Are the issues we’re focusing on today really more important than Sales?”   If so, continue as you are.  If not, what will you stop doing today so you can focus on growing revenues and profits?

“I don’t have enough money”

Same goes here.  Of course you don’t have unlimited funds.  No one does.  However, every owner is spending money on something.  The real question to ask is “am I investing money and resources in accordance with my goals and priorities?”   If your sales are consistently falling short, the answer is NO.

“If my salespeople (or sales manager) would only…”

Here comes the big pill.   All of your salespeople are currently behaving the way they are behaving because that is the way they CHOOSE to behave. You are also behaving the way you are behaving because that is how you are choosing to behave.  So if you want something to change (improve) in your sales effort, the change starts with you.  If your sales aren’t cutting it, YOU are the problem, but you are also the (potential) solution.

The success (or lack of success) of any private business is a 100% function of the decisions made by its owner (CEO).  The wisdom of how a CEO chooses to invest his/her limited time, money, and resources determines everything.  So choose wisely.

Running a great business is not magic.  Creating a great sales organization is not magic. Both are formulaic, time-tested pursuits.   If you’d like to share methods or processes that you currently use to make wiser choices, or would like to discuss practices that I have seen work many times, I’d love to hear from you.

Many private business owners tell me they struggle with sales.  Most report little, if any, predictability, visibility, or scalability in their sales effort.  A large percentage of seemingly successful entrepreneurs even have a tough time maintaining any level of consistency in growing sales revenues and profit.

When I ask owners for their reasons their sales are lacking, I often hear the same things over and over.  This destructive self-talk hurts much more than it helps.  Following is a list of popular excuses I hear many times each month.   If you find yourself saying any of these things (to others or to yourself), I’ve offered some actions you take today to make things much better.

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2016.   All Rights Reserved.