Why Good Businesses Struggle With Sales. (And why that is Actually Good news)
Over the years, I’ve noticed something interesting.
The businesses I enjoy working with most don’t usually have a sales problem.
They have a sales perception problem.
They want more revenue.
They want more opportunities.
They want their people to have better commercial conversations.
But they don’t want to become “salesy.”
You know the stereotype.
The shiny shoes.
The hard close.
The commission breath.
The pushy tactics.
The problem is that many business owners believe the only way to grow revenue is to create more salespeople.
I disagree.
The best businesses I’ve worked with don’t grow by becoming more aggressive.
They grow because they become more commercially confident.
There is a big difference.
Commercial confidence means being comfortable starting conversations.
Being comfortable asking questions.
Being comfortable talking about value.
Being comfortable discussing money.
Being comfortable asking for commitment when the time is right.
Most people already know how to do the technical part of their job.
The challenge is helping them feel comfortable having the commercial conversations that support growth.
That’s one of the reasons I developed Sales DNA.
When performance slows, most organisations immediately jump to training.
More scripts.
More workshops.
More product knowledge.
More sales techniques.
Sometimes the problem isn’t skill.
Sometimes it’s confidence.
Sometimes it’s mindset.
Sometimes it’s natural sales wiring.
Sometimes it’s a lack of structure.
Before we tell people what to do, we need to understand what’s actually getting in the way.
The businesses that get the best results are rarely trying to create a team of salespeople.
They’re trying to create a culture where people are confident enough to create opportunities, build relationships, ask for business, and follow through consistently.
That’s a very different objective.
The goal isn’t to make your team more salesy.
The goal is to make them more commercially confident.
And when that happens, revenue growth tends to follow.
Have a great week selling your stuff.
Mike Brunel