eBusiness Weekly
Robert Gonye
The biggest fallacy in any business is to view your sales and sales performance from a fixed dimension or perspective. The market is a dynamic place.
What worked the previous year or six months prior is not guaranteed to work this coming quarter. Knowledge of the relevance of sales in any organisation is fundamental to understanding this matrix.
And the good news is, it does not require rocket science to work it out, rather, a paradigm shift in how you visualise your business and the prominent seat that sales have in its set up.
Sales have always been defined as the lifeblood of a business because when a business fails to sustain them, it ceases to exist.
While still there, it is important to clarify that sales are not a donation of your products or services with a delayed assumption of a payment, rather it is when what we promised to provide is extended to the customer and the customer in turn pays back by way of monetary value recorded into our financial coffers.
All operational overheads and costs need money to remain running like a well-oiled machine.
However, if the machine is not recouping what it gives out it then it becomes a facade of what it ought to be. It will be good in size but bad on paper as its financial performance or lack of it will ultimately choke the business.
A sale is therefore not a sale until we receive everything owed to us by the customer who enjoys or derives a service benefit from our business. This philosophy should be inculcated into the organisation.
So too, should the following understanding of why sales are relevant to the business.
Sales are the reason you get into the for-profit business, not for show or philanthropic reasons. In order for the business to stand on its own feet, it must sell. Even the not for profit business still requires sales to remain relevant or have a market share.
The business always has a sales target you desire to achieve to support the it. Make sure the sales team and organisation as a whole knows what the sales target is and how they can all contribute to meeting it because it is a collective action which benefits the entire organisation.
Sales are relevant as they define a growth pattern for the business or its lack of growth. If your sales are growing it is an indication to a working method in as far as reaching the intended customer base and also the demand which is generated.
This demand allows you to support the business for expansion internally and externally.
Likewise, when the sales are static or regressing, it’s a pattern spelling out that either what we are doing is wrong or it is being executed with limited understanding.
The decline in sales will raise the question of what we are selling (the product/service), it’s intended market and the frequency of purchase which all drive the later stages in the sales funnel.
While sales are influenced by a sales team and support, questions arise when the responsible persons fail to engage and connect with the decision-makers in a targeted market.
The perceived or actual value of a sale then is driven by the strategy used and the team executing the strategy as to whether they have the right skill set, tools, and attitude to drive on meeting the sales expectations.
I always say having a nice colleague does not mean they are the right person for the job, and it’s important to distinguish the sales performance and relationships created by a sales team as to whether they are the right team to push sales performance.
Sales are fundamental in streamlining the business to direct new business lines or even reconstruct or value-add products or services on offer. If your sales on a particular line are always sold out within a week yet the other lines take 2 to 3 times the amount, it means that you need to re-look your pricing model and leverage on the demand by price increase or even a bundled approach to decrease the shelf life of the other products.
In summary then, sales drive the conversion from potential customers to paying customers. They also lead to the growth of the business as reduction of costs per sale lead to profitability.
When done well, sales aid in customer retention which in turn aids in the sustainability of a business.
Now that we have a grasp on the value of sales, our next article will discuss how to coach your sales team to bring in more revenue through sales optimisation. Until then, happy selling.
The views given herein are solely for information purposes; they are guidelines and suggestions and are not guaranteed to work in any particular way.
Robert Gonye is a Business Growth Expert and Influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. Comments and views: [email protected].
