Consistent selling keeps you growing and keeps you a viable business.
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I had a great conversation the other day discussing the number one reason that businesses fail. The number one reason that companies go out of business – do you know?
There are dozens of answers to the questions and great writing to support them.
However, the real answer is that they fail to increase sales.
I was listening to a great podcast the other day and the focus was on this question and answer.
If you are not increasing sales, you are decreasing sales.
I can tell you from my own experience.
As long as you are consistently growing sales you have a massive ability to stay in business.
When I look at companies that I have had the pleasure of working with over the years….
Some have grown 100, 200, 500 and even 1000%.
Some not that high.
But all have been growing.
You see, if you are not growing, you are dying.
Even in a bad economy.
Even during the downtime.
Focus on growing, put all-out effort into it and you will grow.
Today let’s talk about what you need to always be increasing your sales.
1/ Your sales for this year must exceed your sales for last year.
You have to have some increase just to stay even, when adjusted for inflation.
If sales last year were 1 million and inflation is 3%, then you need at least a $30,000 increase just to break even and even more to be growing.
Always have a sales goal.
Always set that goal a little higher than you think you can do.
Always exceed it.
As long as you are growing, the chances of you going out of business decrease exponentially.
When your top line is growing, it seems there is always a way to make things happen and to solve the problems in the business.
But for you to increase sales, you have to have a written plan to make it happen and you have to execute that plan.
Listen to this on a podcast with Coach Manny
2/ Always put time, energy and priority into selling
I don’t care how big your company is.
I don’t care how long you’ve been doing this.
I don’t care if you think you have the market under your control.
Take a moment and look at some of the big companies…
Amazon
Microsoft
Apple
Have any of these companies ever stopped selling?
Have they just said, “We are big enough, we don’t need to increase our sales”?
If you look closely, you might just find they are spending more time, money and energy on selling now.
Why?
Because they know that when you stop growing, you start shrinking.
When you start shrinking, you are on your way to dying.
I can tell you some stories about companies who hit hard times financially and the first thing they start saying is, “Well, I think we can cut some of the sales team and move all the accounts over to be house accounts and save a bunch of money.”
Such short-term thinking will kill you so many times.
Trust me, I have been there.
I have been part of that cut team.
I have been part of the whole sales team that got cut.
So if you are not always increasing sales, then you are dying.
3/ The CEO/business owner should never think that anything comes above selling.
I know that might be tough for some of you to swallow, especially some of you CEOs and business owners reading this.
But the bottom line is simply this.
If you at the top of your organization are not focused on selling and increasing sales…
Then sales are not going to increase.
Selling has to be a priority.
One of the key reasons I wrote the book “Sales Success Starts at the Top” is to get this point across. If you have not read it yet, get your copy by clicking here.
Make sure that if you are the CEO/business owner that you know, support, encourage and lead the sales process each and every day.