I visit many start up businesses and they generally all experience the same problem – obtaining leads, getting clients or making sales. I would usually take a look at their marketing process and their sales process to identify the part of the process that is causing the problem and we discuss interventions to improve the particular area of their business.
Once my clients understand the problem and take action to improve the situation, the business starts developing and they are very happy. They now have clients and a business that is selling a product or service. Congratulations are in order but there is no time for complacency. Can you imagine if the phone kept ringing and more jobs kept coming in? This is quite often when businesses go out of business. The owner is working very hard and cannot manage all the work. The owner starts overlooking things and the quality of the work decreases and things are forgotten. Quite often an owner will look at their profits and determine that they need more sales to make more profit. This is not always the case though, as they are often not ready for more sales. They need to get their systems under control and understand what is impacting their business before they are ready for more sales.
Don’t fall into this trap. Whilst you are in the initial stages of developing your business, start creating systems that work. Always look for the best way of doing things and start implementing the necessary systems. In the Diploma of Management accredited course that Pollard Institute offers, one of the subjects is leading and managing a sales team. This subject, plus others in the course, are a fundamental part of developing the business, and the ability to do this is very often lacking in SME’s, and a lot of money is wasted as a result.