Written by: Owain Henri Llewellyn Lalanirina Williams, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
“There is nothing more important to any business than sales. Without a sale, nothing else matters.” ‒ Billy Holmes, 1970. That is one of many quotes that you won’t struggle to find which iterates the point.
Worldwide – a ridiculously high % of new businesses fail within 2yrs and this has been the case for decades worth of research, but why?! Do a search online and you won’t struggle to find lots of specific reasons why with the majority of sites and articles citing these as some of the main reasons:
Lack of business plan
Poor mindset
Lack of funds
Poor marketing
Of course, these are valid reasons but all are sub-headings of the main reason……NOT ENOUGH SALES!
If you’re about to start a business or your business is under-performing then be honest with yourself…are you completely focused on how to achieve the consistent sales results that’s going to mean your business stays open for… business?! A large % of businesses are set up by technicians or engineers – people who may have built their product & therefore know how it works BUT they’re not salespeople so struggle to understand who they need to target & how they set about doing that.
If you’re an engineer or technician, how are you going to overcome this significant hurdle to the short, and long, term success of your business? What are the choices?
Try to work it out yourself – yep, there’s a lot of free information out there which can help. It will be challenging trying to work out what information is good, what’s bad and, more importantly, what’s going to work for you!
Recruit a salesperson – they’re the professional so will know more about successful selling and should be able to achieve what you can’t. Sure, that’s the ideal outcome as long as you hire the right person and, unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just putting an ad out there and interviewing until you find someone who you think is right.
Ask your network of contacts for help – you’ve nothing to lose from doing this so you might as well see who can help you. You might get lucky and have an amazing salesperson as a contact who will give you free advice. If you do, lucky you – don’t look that gift horse in the mouth!
Engage a specialist sales adviser who, for an interim period, can consult you on what needs doing and how you can achieve great sales results – clearly there will be an upfront cost to this and, to get the right advice, it won’t be cheap! Some would argue that the upfront cost should be far outweighed by the longer-term gains but, again, it really depends on making the right choice of adviser.
Do nothing because your products so good that customers will come to you – erm, if this is genuinely your logic please stop right now before you stand to lose a lot more!
You may well have an amazing website, a fantastic product or service, a great culture for customer service and some high calibre staff who are aligned to your plans for the business BUT all of that means nothing if you are not able to consistently sell whatever it is you offer. Making the website better won’t achieve that. Making your product even better won’t achieve that in itself. Building better customer service processes will be a waste of time too… you need to focus on your sales strategy and processes along with engaging someone who knows what they’re talking about and can get you the results you need.
Maybe your distrust of salespeople is preventing you from taking action. Well, get ready for some tough love… HOW DO YOU EXPECT YOUR BUSINESS TO SURVIVE LET ALONE THRIVE IF YOU DON’T EMPLOY SOMEONE WHO CAN SELL??!!
Maybe you’re like someone who, at the time of me writing this, very recently told me that he was too busy to sort out his business’ under-performing sales department. This guy approached me for help and told me that, if sales didn’t improve, his business would have to downsize significantly within 12mths meaning people would lose their livelihoods! This cartoon comes to mind…
Long point short dear reader – as a business owner, you’re entitled to do what you want with your business but when other people’s lives come into play, the game changes. You may well not want to be known as a sales organisation and make your customers feel they’re being sold to which is fine but it still won’t change the fact that, without consistent sales results, your business won’t exist in the future so I ask you again… why isn’t getting it right your absolute priority?
Owain Henri Llewellyn Lalanirina Williams, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Owain is a Dad, Husband, B2B Sales Professional, food lover, and football player – listed in order of priority! Having worked in sales since 1998, Owain has only ever known life as a salesperson and a leader. Having set up his own consultancy in 2020, Owain now helps his clients to achieve consistently better sales results – whether that's a business owner who needs a sales dept to take the pressure off them to deliver results or whether it's a salesperson who wants to progress their career, Owain's experience helps his clients accelerate their results and avoid making the same mistakes that he has made!
