Managing Your Business to Its
Maximum Sales Potential
Without realizing it, businesses routinely leave anywhere from 20% to 30% of their sales in the marketplace. In other words, for every $1,000,000 in sales, companies are giving up $200,000 to $300,000 in additional sales!
The lost sales to which I refer arent those that are caused by external factors such as increased competition, changing technologies or a low margin environment. Theyre the sales being lost to the conditions within the companies themselves; factors over which they have direct control.
Its not as if were unaware of these situations. After all, we complain about them all the time. Every day, we face situations in our own companies that limit our productivity; situations weve come to accept as part of our normal work day. Rarely, however, does anyone stop to consider the costs or impact on company earnings performance these situations might have.
Imagine the improvement in sales and earning if companies eliminated those internal inefficiencies and directed all of their energies and resources into revenue-generating activities. Fortunately, we no longer have to imagine. Managing Your Business to its Maximum Sales Potential provides a step-by-step Program for doing just that.
This book has been years in the making thirty-five to be exact. Over that period, Ive held a variety of sales and sales management positions with four world-class companies. In addition to my first-hand view of these organizations, this work has given me the opportunity to observe hundreds of other businesses of all shapes, sizes and industries.
Over the years, I, like most people in Sales, focused on the job at hand. I concentrated on the external factors affecting my performance and paid little attention to those occurring within my own company. Nothing exposes weaknesses more quickly than adversity. As the U.S. economy began to decline, I started focusing on how companies, particularly my own, responded to the challenge.
To my great disappointment, many of my own companys responses were cosmetic with little chance of actually improving performance. In fact, we often seemed to be doing just the opposite of what was needed. Instead of constructive action and much needed support, demands for non-selling activities increased. To make matters worse, strategies were changed constantly. One month, margin improvement was all the rage only to be replaced by market share the next. Hope, rather than experience and planning, was the basis for most decisions.
We were competing with ourselves. We were out of synch with the demands of a difficult economic climate. The inside staff was yanked every which way, politics played far too dominant a role in most decisions, policies remained inflexible and management continued to hold the Sales Department solely responsible for the companys sales performance.
Its said that the greatest forces for success or failure come from within. As individuals, if we are to reach our full potential, we must first conquer ourselves. The same is true of business organizations. Every business organization must eliminate, or at least minimize, its internal weaknesses before it is ready to take on the challenges of the marketplace.
Because of its reliance on its companys responsiveness to customers, the Sales Department is particularly vulnerable to any internal weaknesses. Conditions such as office politics, unnecessary administrative burdens or an unfriendly sales culture wreak havoc on sales performance.
Only the most astute managers appreciate this link between their companys internal inefficiencies and its sales performance. In most instances, when sales fall short of expectations, management places blame exclusively on the Sales Department. Little attention is paid to other areas of the business.
In business, as in life, we tend to focus on symptoms. We reach for an aspirin to lower a fever which only returns if the illness itself hasnt been cured. Managing Your Business to Its Maximum Sales Potential addresses both the symptoms and the illnesses by prescribing two separate initiatives; one designed to eliminate the inefficiencies that are diverting precious energies and resources, while the other is directed at modifying those conditions that are causing them. This curative / preventive approach is intended to get the organization on the road to maximum sales and to keep it there.
The first of these initiatives, elimination of inefficiencies, requires the full participation of all employees in a process designed specifically to evaluate the need for each activity currently employed in their respective departments. Those deemed unnecessary or ineffective will either be modified or eliminated.
Occurring simultaneously is the second initiative, the integration of twelve clearly defined qualities into the organization. Known as the Twelve Attributes, each of these will help position a company for reaching its maximum sales potential, while limiting the chance it will create new inefficiencies in the future.
There are already a number of programs designed to improve business efficiency. The Maximum Sales Potential Program is, however, the only one that focuses exclusively on sales growth as the measure of its success. This, however, does not mean sales at any cost. Sales growth attained under the Program must be accompanied by a corresponding growth in profits. Maintaining and even improving margins is critical to the Programs success.
This is not a book on sales technique. This Program is designed for one purpose and one purpose only, managing an entire business organization to its full sales potential. As such, the target audience is business executives, managers and supervisors. The principles prescribed are applicable to any business organization regardless of size or industry.
Losing to a competitor is a shame. Beating yourself is foolishness. Nonetheless, companies continue to unnecessarily relinquish 20% - 30% of their total sales to conditions within their direct control.
By themselves, most organizational inefficiencies do little damage. Cumulatively, however, they result in death by a thousand cuts for any business. Im confident youll find Managing Your Business to Its Maximum Sales Potential to be a most effective Program to stem this bleeding and bring your business to its maximum sales potential.
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