The Cure for the Common Business

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http://wwwcf.fhwa.dot.gov/exit.cfm?link=http://www.vtechno.info

When times are tough we all have to manage expenses. Tighten the belt, cut the fat, get lean, whatever catch phrase you want to use. This is as true in our personal lives as it is in business. Luckily in business there is a cure. Sales! Sometime sales is considered a dirty word or has a negative connotation, but trust me when I tell you that sales can be the cure to whatever ails your business.

I hold the dubious title of Director of Sales and Marketing for our company, but let's be clear. I get paid when I sell. The role of marketing is to generate leads, but those leads aren't going to close themselves, it requires a proven sales centric approach to our business to convert prospects into customers. A sales centric philosophy gets lost at times in the business environment, especially with entrepreneurs who have a passion for their product or service, but may have never sold anything in their life.

Being sales centric from the top down in a organization can have a dramatic impact on how the business is run and the approach to everyday operations. A focus on sales makes you look at your potential customers differently. I makes you think, get in their head and really try to understand what makes them tick. Honestly, it makes you a better vendor partner. In order to sell you must be consultative, fully understand your prospects business and embrace their business objectives when considering your product or service. This approach builds relationships that will stick and turn into repeat business.

A sales centric approach to your business also has an effect on your product or service. Looking at what you offer based on how you will have to sell it can make you rethink and consider your entire offering. If sales is your focus then you ultimately want a product or service that is easy to sell and once it is sold it should be of such high quality that the re-sell/up-sell is not even a SALE at all, rather a continuation of the relationship you have built around a superior product or service.

When it comes down to it, organizations with a sales centric approach to their business make actual selling easy. It becomes something entirely different, it becomes a consultative relationship built around a superior product or service that is focused on the business objectives of your prospects and customers.