Warning: If you are in Sales and not making your numbers or not bringing in new business, and you spend a lot of time and mental energy “helping” out the Operations people, you are not going to like what I am about to say. And there is a good chance you will be offended, angry and will likely accuse me of not understanding your situation. So be it.
I don’t think I’ve ever started a post with a warning, but I have seen enough, and this needs to be said – and said bluntly: If you are in Sales, your job is to sell. Your primary responsibility is to grow the top-line. In the vast majority of situations, we accomplish that by picking up new business. New business can come from existing customers, or it can come by acquiring new customers. Either way, it’s new business which is what every company wants/needs and is the lifeblood of a growing, healthy business.
Everyday I see salespeople who fail when it comes to developing new business. Many are good people, talented people, who even excel at many aspects of selling (relationships, customer service, problem-solving, industry expertise, etc.). But consistently, they fail to deliver new business. I share what I’ve come to call “The Not-So-Sweet 16 Common Reasons Salespeople Fail at New Business Development” in Chapter 2 of New Sales. Simplified. That entire chapter is available to download for FREE on my Book page.
Two of the most insidious and widespread causes of new business sales failure are when well-intentioned salespeople a) over-serve (babysit) their existing customers, and b) spend too much time playing good corporate citizen and are overly involved in operations. These causes of failure are sneaky because the salesperson thinks he is doing the right thing. What could be bad about caring for a customer or helping out operations to ensure the company doesn’t drop the ball internally? A lot!
The problem in a nutshell: Salesperson, you are the front line of attack. You are the only one who can do what needs to be done to acquire new pieces of business. You! Everyone else’s livelihood in your company depends on you doing your job. Your job. Your primary job. The one you were hired to do. Selling. Growing revenue falls to you. It’s on your shoulders. We need you to sell. More than we need you shepherding projects through production, more than going out of your way to deliver samples to customers, more than over-zealous follow-up with the inside support people, more than your brilliant suggestions about how to run the operation, we need you to sell. We need new business. And from looking at your sales results, so do you.
Please stop telling us that you sold it and you are responsible to make sure it gets done. You are not. I consistently hear salespeople who feel the need to be overly involved in operations saying things like: “I sold it. The customer trusts me,” or, “I am responsible for this. If I don’t take care of it, who will?” Yes, on the surface you are correct. You sold it. We get that. And the work does need to get done. We get that, too. But the reality is that most salespeople who spend the majority of their time worrying about and talking about operational issues are the very same ones failing to hit their new business goals. Coincidence? I think not.
Underperforming salesperson, I am pleading with you to listen: Your job is not to help operations. Your job is to bury them! Instead of trying to help cover for what you perceive is weak, do the opposite. Bury the operations team with so much new work that they begin to cry “Uncle.” That’s what top-performers do, and I encourage you to do the same. Frankly, it’s what your company wants you to do; it needs new business more than it requires you involved in operations.
Trust me on this: The world works much better when everyone does their own job. You would have a lot more credibility critiquing the operations folks if you were blowing out your numbers. But the evidence suggests that you are not. I am sorry if that is offensive. I will say it one more time: Your job is to sell new business and grow the top-line. Go do it well because everyone is counting on you, including yourself.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I love it. I especially love that you say my job is to bury operations. I have lost a substantial amount of commition last year because I would bring in a big contract, but I would get the response, “who are we going to put on this project?” well, that’s not my job and I don’t really care who, as long as my customer gets serviced.
All that is to say, what is your advice on the salesman being dragged (kicking and screaming) into the ops roles? I can’t focus on my business development because to complete a sale I have to put on a new hat…. and it is not a hat I like.
Totally agree. So many managers drag the salesman into the day to day running of their departments when the salesman should be out selling the next project.
Great article.
Chris and Paul – I am going to reply to both comments at the same time. First, let me thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated. I had the feeling (and hope) that this post would stir the pot in many places where it needs stirring.
Typically, I see more salespeople “volunteering” their services in this capacity — and using it well as an excuse for not getting around to prospecting for new business. But in the case you both bring up (you both used the word “dragged”) where someone else (sales manager or a senior executive) is pulling the salesperson back into a support/delivery/operations role, that is simply management malpractice. Oh, I see it plenty. There are a whole lot of companies where the salespeople are supposed to be selling, but they are also charged with all kinds of non-sales activity. The weird thing is that in almost every situation, those same businesses are not achieving their new biz dev goals. Management can’t have it both ways.
My best suggestion is to confront the manager who is directing you back into an ops/support role or to help manage a project or onboard a new client. The questions I would ask:
1. Is the company tracking ahead of plan for new biz acquisition? If not, how can we afford to have me (your hunter) out of the field playing project manager?
2. How am I (the sales hunter) supposed to achieve or surpass my quota if you won’t let me hunt? What is the opportunity cost of sticking me on this project?
And, of course, if your comp plan is designed to pay you for new business, you have a strong argument that they are taking away your earning potential by restricting your ability to sell — which hurts everyone, you and the company!
I expand on these thoughts in Chapter 3 of my book and in this blog post: http://newsalescoach.com/2011/11/why-are-the-precious-few-sales-fisherman-hunters-cleaning-cooking-doing-dishes/
Great selling to you both!
Mike
I love this post. I feel a lot of salespeople hid behind these kind of things to avoid going out and hunting. Do what you excel at, if you want to be an operations person switch over.
Well said. I concur. Some people are not built to be in Sales, particularly hunting/new biz dev Sales. See reason #16 of Chapter 2 of New Sales. Simplified. You can download it free from my book page: http://newsalescoach.com/book.html
Like everything under the sun, doesn’t it depend on several factors like who you have selling or who has the most applicable knowledge? I get called into operations when it makes sense or is in the client’s best interest.
I am the new business development person for a creative agency with 5 larger clients. If I just sold, our clients would call us on that.
I think you have to be smart and adaptive human beings who can prioritize really well who have good relationships with the clients they care about.
For you to declare that all sales people need to bury operations is simply an uninformed generalization that will probably harm more than it will help.
I appreciate what I thought your intent might have been, though. I clicked from twitter into your article because I thought it was going to be about: If you suck at selling an undifferentiated commodity and you try to bury your head in operations, you’re doing everyone a disservice.
I think your article’s title should have started with, “If you sell a highly commoditized offering similar to everyone who does what you do …
Steven, thanks for commenting, although your take has me confused. I think you missed the title of this post. It’s directed at underperforming salespeople — many of whom use the excuse of having to help out operations as a reason not to do their primary job. They think they’re being helpful, but their lack of focus on selling hurts everyone. Not sure where your point about commodity offerings came from. I see the same issues with high level senior sales reps who sell consulting or enterprise-level solutions that I do with reps who sell envelopes or plastic components. Many fail to deliver new business because they find all kinds of reasons not to sell. Period. Sorry this didn’t deliver what you were hoping.
I am in the temporary staffing business. My position is BM. I need sales help because of my operational duties. I love to sell but find it very difficult as the operational items never stop. My boss says we cannot afford a sales person and I am constantly saying we can not afford to be with out one. Very frustrating! Any advice would be great.
Gregg, sorry about your predicament. I can answer briefly here. Reality is that your situation is a microcosm of the bigger issue facing larger businesses and sales teams everywhere. Sales is a full-time job. I rarely, if ever, see a salesperson succeed part-time. Why? Because proactive selling and developing new business requires focus. Salespeople who do not focus on selling generally don’t deliver the desired results. That’s the subtext of my post above. If you carry a significant operational burden, it is unrealistic to think you will have a lot of success bringing in new business. To do it, you must dedicate regular blocks of time exclusively to selling. It never happens in dribs and drabs. To make it work part-time, you have to carve out chunks of time where you are unavailable for service and operations issues so you can lock-in on proactive sales activity.
I wish you well as you figure this out!
Mike
The truth will set you free!
Thanks for speaking clearly and concisely on this subject. If someone is to be succesful in any endeavor, they must focus on that endeavor with every ounce of their being.
If you were hired to be a salesperson… Go sell!!! Let the chips fall where they may. If your operational support is lacking, leave it to management to decide who is more important to the team, the person driving growth or the person squandering opportunities through poor perfomance. In my experience, ASTUTE managers will favor a leading income producer over just about anyone else in the organization. Without revenue, their is no need for operations.
Awesome post, Mike! It’s way more fun to sell than yell at Operations
That is what automating is for- so you only have one job to do. Your post forces us to take a look at how much of our day is focused on true selling and make changes. Great topic!
Nadene! Great to hear from you in Chicago. Hope your 2013 is off to a flying start. I could not agree more. It’s way more fun to sell than to yell at the Ops folks!
Mike