Invest in your Sales Departments for Corporate Success

What is the first line on any companies profit and loss statement? SALES. 

After that line, all you have are deductible expenses. You can allocate you expenses as liberally as your organisation pleases, but it is highly recommended that the expenses do not exceed sales value. 

Sales are the crucial line to any organisation's survival. The lower the sales value, the less the expenses you can accommodate and the less viable any organisation will be operationally.

What is therefore surprising is the number of organisation's that play lip service to sales teams and focus on their company’s expense lines; believing that investing more in cost of goods (factory) or hiring the best employees with swanky offices (overheads) will be prime to their business' success. Investing in upgrading sales teams, recruiting quality and setting up the right sales infrastructure, are treated as secondary needs. 

When the sales of the month are low, the entire organisation jumps to blame the hapless sales team for laxity. When the sales targets are achieved, its “team work”, acknowledging every departments contribution and increasing expenditures across the business. 

I'll be first to say, you can't find a sales rep without enough excuses for failing to hit targets. That's the nature of sales. When one product is out of stock, that's what caused the "entire" sales loss. Excuses range from not having allowances, the quality of the product is causing rejection, the weather... You name it, salespeople use all the excuses liberally throughout their career.

So why do so many for-profit companies put so little mind to that first line in the P&L, Sales? Is it because everyone thinks that sales are a basic thing that anyone can do, with little training and a great gift-of-the-gab? I mean, who can't sell a box of knitting needles when they're in your hand? Right?

That example is individual selling. It cannot be compare to Corporate selling. Corporate selling is way more complex than that. You now need to sell millions of needles. To thousands of clients. Against cut throat competition. Every week and every month visiting the same clients. In bulk!

 
And that's the key. In corporate sales you're investing in relationships, in military-style push, in strategy and so much more. That’s what you invest in, for a corporate sales team. Businesses must invest in their sales teams to ensure sustainable revenue growth. In today’s trading environment, the average sales person must be conversant in all aspects of the business' production processes, costings, shipping arrangements and marketing. They become your link to every department. They must be conversant in most of the companies activities including

• Client account management and relationship management
• Sales team management across regions, training and route management
• Supply chain management
• Marketing and PR
• Category and channel management. Trade marketing (yes, that is a sales role)
• Strategic planning, negotiation and selling
• Merchandising, promotions and activation's
• E-Sales, pos systems and online trading 

It goes without saying, if you don't feed the house that lays your golden eggs, very soon, you won't have eggs. Give attention and invest in your sales team, your sales structure and your sales strategy to ensure that you have enough top line revenue to support your expenses. 

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