In my work with my CEO clients, I have noticed they all have the same question. How do I grow my business, more profitably, more quickly?
There is no simple solution to this universal challenge, so I start by digging deep with some questions:
- How do sales happen in your company? Often this becomes a long and complicated story. Usually, there is not a standard process, or playbook, so everyone in sales does it “their way”. Which means you are dependent on the whim and style of the salespeople.
- Who is responsible for sales? Is there a sales manager or a director of sales? Is there a sales team? Does each person know their roles and responsibilities in regard to sales? Is sales 100% of their job, or are they burdened with other jobs like invoicing, collections, paperwork, or marketing? If so, we all default to the easiest job first….and sales can be hard! So, guess which job is put off for later – sales!
- Does each salesperson have an assigned territory, including current clients and prospects and do they have financial goals for their territory? This is where it gets a little murky. I’ve heard every answer possible to this question, including “we’ve never had financial goals so I’m a little afraid to assign them now”, “we’ve never had a problem growing our sales year-over-year, so we’ve never had to have goals”, to “I have no idea where to start.” As the saying goes: If you don’t know your destination any road will get you there. What’s your destination?
- Who manages pricing in your company? Coming from the produce industry, where often the pricing is set by the market, for many years, I fell into the trap of permitting my salespeople to be flexible on pricing. What that means is when a client pushed hard for a lower price, the salesperson could easily discount our pricing by 25 cents or $1.00 without getting approval. In the long run, that meant our average selling price went down, as did our profitability. It took a lot of confidence on my part and with my sales and buying team to set firm pricing. No adjustments without prior management approval. You may think that this would either delay the sales function, when in fact, it made the salespeople stand firm on their pricing and they felt more confident that they had the right price and they conveyed this with the tone of their voice. Our margins became healthier.
After my questions, the CEOs usually start getting the picture. They have been unclear with their financial goals, they haven’t clearly identified the roles and responsibilities of those who create sales, and no one is inspecting the process. I call it inspecting the buckets. Inspect what you expect. A sales manager should be meeting regularly with each of their team members to check into their progress on all clients and prospects. Is there a prospect list?
So many companies who are having sales challenges aren’t comfortable holding their people accountable. If you’ve always had a loosey-goosey management style where everyone does their own thing, then this may come as a shock to you and to them.
That’s why I always start with a review of the Job Descriptions and Roles and Responsibilities. And then, as a leader, I recommend setting your financial goals and then talking about them all the time. All. The. Time. Daily, weekly, monthly – to every member of your team (not just sales).
Let’s say your company goal is to grow sales 25% over last year, and to add one or two new significant clients to your portfolio. Do all your people know this? Do they know your progress so far? Do they know THEIR role in the company reaching the sales goal?
By being honest with yourself and asking these questions, you may uncover a few nuggets that can help you grow your business. It’s hard to do it alone so the more you share with your team, the more accountability you create in your business, the more success you will have.
Onward and upward,
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