Did you know that salespeople are the primary agents of change in business?
As salespeople, we are many things. We are generators of growth, we are rainmakers, we should be profit centers, we are relationship builders, we are the company’s most valuable human asset. But – did you ever think of us as agents of change? Most of the time, that label goes on CEO’s and other high managers, but it fits us, too. I’ll give you some perfect examples.
Recently, I was in a sales meeting with a group of salespeople who had been tasked with a heavier prospecting duty than in the past. These salespeople digested their new duties, and then started worrying about the “hill beyond the hill,” i.e. what would happen AFTER they were successful in generating new prospects? This is a common stumbling block for too many businesses, and ultimately it is always handled the same way.
You see, the salespeople were already worried about who was going to handle the admin work for their current customers, who would help them generate all the new proposals, what new marketing resources could be brought to bear, etc. Part of this was probably trying to find reasons NOT to prospect, but part of it was the common stumbling block. I told them what I always tell sales forces during my sales training programs who get bogged down in this kind of concern: “Look, there’s only one way that these resources will become available to you, and that’s to give this company the actual problem – rather than the hypothetical problem – that you’re discussing. Go sell something! The ownership will make the resources available to you.”
The salespeople, of course, protested that good management would worry about the things ahead and clear the decks in advance of actual sales achievement. We could debate that, I suppose, but it wasn’t helpful. See, here’s something I have discovered: To business owners and managers, sales achievement only becomes real AFTER it happens, or at the soonest, WHEN it is happening. There’s a good reason for this. Salespeople tend to be the eternal optimists, and if management spent money on resources every time a salesperson told them he was GOING to sell something, there would be a lot of broke companies in the world. If you want management to solve problems that are barriers to increased selling, nothing works like increasing sales.
My first real experience with this as a manager was in the late 90s when I was a first-time sales manager for a uniform rental company. I took the first 3-4 months to get the right people in place and doing the right things, and I could see where sales were going to go. The trouble was that our service/delivery department was horrendous. I liked the service manager and had a good relationship and dialogue with him – I thought so, anyway – and so I took him out to lunch one day and said, “Al, the sales are starting to come together, and when they do, your department is going to be the biggest problem at this company. Frankly, you’re on the verge of holding me back already. I need some change.”
Al agreed, in principle, that there were a number of moves he could make, people he should replace, and so forth. So I offered to help him. I offered my time and even some of my budget to help fix his problems, and he politely refused. He said, “Look, Troy, lots of sales managers have promised sales and not delivered. I’m going to stand pat for now.”
I responded that, although I liked him, in the end I would do whatever was needed to make sure that my department – and our new customers – got the service that they needed. While my hope was that he would be part of that, the right stuff was going to happen regardless. One year later, I was a witness (for HR purposes) to his termination. You see, for Al, sales growth wasn’t real yet – even though he could see the green shoots.
We were able to effect a lot of positive change in that company, both at our branch and nationwide – but it only happened AFTER we were selling our guts out. So if you’re thinking that your company has issues or problems, the best way to fix those is to sell MORE, not less, and let the chips fall where they may. Nothing produces positive change like more sales – and that is something that is completely within our control.
