In the world of small and medium-sized businesses, the business owner is a rare breed. Typically, the business began as a vision springing forth from the owner’s fertile and entrepreneurial mind. In many cases, that vision was for a product or service that offered a unique and much needed solution in the industry. The owner probably did the initial selling and succeeded in getting others to buy into the vision, and to purchase the product or engage the service. But success changes a business. It creates opportunities, certainly, but also problems. And the traits that served the business owner well in the beginning may begin to hold the business back from achieving sustained success. That’s where you can come in.
Too Many Hats
Growth – especially sustained growth – requires management. But the entrepreneurial owner, whose strength is often in providing a product/service-based vision for the company, may not be as adept at wearing all necessary “hats” for continued business success: leader, financial overseer, frontline sales performer, Sales Manager, etc. In fact, shifting focus to these areas – without the skill set to back it up – not only stifles the owner’s innate talents, but also leads to ineffective management and stalled company performance.
The sooner the owner recognizes his or her limitations – both in skill and time – and hands off one of the many hats (such as the hat for managing and executing sales strategies and processes), the sooner the company can start growing again.
The Vision Thing
The visionary owner is typically market savvy and has insights into the bigger picture that can lead to new and exciting products and services for an eager marketplace. But when it comes to managing people and processes to maximize sales efficiency and performance, a more inward focus and skill set are required. The visionary owner who prefers to look at the bigger market picture gets glassy-eyed when asked to establish a sales team, equip that team with the tools necessary to succeed, and then manage them toward the attainment of sales goals and quotas. And the business owner who feels uncomfortable with those day-to-day mechanics of running the sales force will most likely neglect them. The result? Sales plummet, the success of the company teeters on the brink, and the livelihoods of employees and their families hang in the balance.
Enter the Outsourced VP of Sales
What we’ve found at Sales Xceleration, through our years of providing management-level service and support to owners of small and medium-sized businesses, is that owners typically arrive at the point where they DO recognize the dangers associated with business growth. What’s more, when they arrive at a critical point in their company’s growth they usually welcome someone who is skilled at managing the sales function. The only problem is that they often don’t know where to look for, or how to integrate, an outside resource who can boost sales and manage both the sales team and sales process. They believe, since their business is still growing – and experiencing the growing pains – that they can’t afford a full-time VP of Sales. In many cases this is true. But at Sales Xceleration, we’ve found that these businesses can afford, and desperately need, a part-time Outsourced VP of Sales. And just like the entrepreneurial business owner who saw a need in a viable marketplace and filled that need, that’s what we’ve done with the proven systems of Sales Xceleration. Our growing team of licensed Sales Xceleration Advisors uses these systems to help these business owners and their businesses not only survive, but achieve new levels of success.
As an Outsourced VP of Sales, your skills and experience in sales leadership and sales management can help the business owner remove one of the hats that weighs him down and keeps the company from capitalizing on new opportunities. You can help the business bring the necessary elements of sales strategy, sales process, and sales management into focus, and put them into motion. You can be the driver to help the business target key prospects and strategically enter new markets. Then, you can help them define, implement and manage the best sustainable sales processes. You can help them put the right sales tools in the hands of the best team of salespeople. You can help the company forecast and measure its sales growth so the owner can make critical forward-looking business decisions. And perhaps most importantly, you can be the Sales Manager who motivates, trains, and coaches sales team members so they can personally succeed and become a key factor in the success of the company.
Bottom Line:
Most owners of small and medium-sized businesses reach a critical point in their success because they neglected a key component of future growth – their sales infrastructure. They initially saw a need and found a way to meet that need. And when they started, their business, they had both vision and entrepreneurial spirit working in their favor. But few entrepreneurs are also superior managers for the long haul. Nevertheless, these business owners often still have the kind of visionary insight that enables them to recognize the need for help in achieving and managing sustained growth. In other words, what we have discovered at Sales Xceleration is not only that a lucrative marketplace exists, but also that the business owners in that marketplace are hungry for the kind of proven sales management services and systems available from Sales Xceleration and our licensed Advisors.
If you would like to learn more about Sales Xceleration and our sales leadership and consulting systems, we’d be delighted to discuss them with you. Reach out to an Advisor today, or contact us at 1 (844) 874-7253.
