challenging the status quo
Welcome to the first article of ‘BOS News & Views’ to be published fortnightly by BOS GLOBAL. But first, before I encourage you to challenge the status quo, let me give you a little background.
I have been involved in business of some description since I was a child. Trading in the sandpit at kindergarten meant someone wanted what I had and I wanted what they had. I talked up the value of what I had, and persuaded my counterpart to see a need for what he didn’t have. Thus was this salesman born (yes, I use the gender specific).
My name is Michael Travia, and after 37 years later I am still a salesperson aged 42.
At the age of 12, I had my first business as a tennis coach, and at 14, I was fortunate to be given ownership of a coaching academy with 60 children and 24 adults. There were to be many more ideas and new business ventures than I can remember.
I was appointed to my first sales position for Alcatel Business Systems in 1996. This appointment was after 12 years working for a global Australian bank in multiple roles and functions, specifically learning Information Technology and Telecommunications. I eventually left the bank for consulting and customer services positions for technology companies.
Yes, I am an entrepreneur and never more the entrepreneur than founding BOS GLOBAL in 2000.
BOS News & Views is a journey for you and me. Agree or disagree. Accept its challenges or not. Either way, it’s the start of our relationship.
I dedicate my first article to a man I never had the chance to meet. He is Mark MacCormack (deceased) and his company is International Management Group (globally known as IMG), a name respected worldwide for sports management. Thank you, Mark, for sharing your news and views of sales. Your pursuit of one man for one client at a time built a successful global organisation and inspired me to found BOS GLOBAL – Business of Sales.
Challenging the status quo
If we are labelled sales people, then why don’t we call prospects and buyers ‘buy people’?
Do sales people sell or do buyers buy (or buy people if you agree with a new found definition)?
Did Adam sell to Eve or was it vice-versa or did they both have something to offer that fulfilled a selfish need?
If sales people are the heroes of revenue, then what are the delivery and support people?
Let us embark on a conversation. If BOS News & Views is controversial, it is because I come from a background of street experience. Please email your comments to info@bosglobal.biz
Many people think that sales people are overpaid. I disagree. They have to put up with more than 80% rejection to achieve less than 20% financial success. Others think they are over- rated. Probably yes. I made sales quota, flew to Madrid [from Melbourne, Australia] for two days at the company cost, to awake to music, decoration and stage show at 10am to celebrate sales person of the year with 300 other sales people from around the world. Do companies pay and celebrate the same for other functions such as support, delivery or finance?
“Nothing happens in a company till a sale is made”. You have all heard this quote. I agree. Revenue from sales drives business drives business growth and drives value from one to many shareholders – in almost all cases.
Anybody can raise capital (meaning a loan from friends and family, a bank, a credit card, a formal investment avenue or a broad public market). This does not mean you have a profitable business, it just demonstrates you are good at selling your own proposition and finding someone willing to invest in it. You have sold yourself, not your intellectual property (IP).
To offer sales services in Australia and United Kingdom , I needed to offer my team, my sales people as a solution (remunerated by way of retainer and commission). Whilst my company has achieved a moderate success, it hasn’t expanded at the rate I projected. Why not? We have not achieved the sales revenue to fund growth beyond what we have today. Does this mean raising capital? No. It translates to selling more, delivering more and servicing better, and above all – protect the BOS GLOBAL brand and it’s people.
Where is this going? I have mentioned Adam & Eve, over-rated sales people, sales people and buy people. How can all of these combined, deliver value to help guide you to your prosperous business outcome?
Simply, if you can’t measure it, don’t do it!
Who cares about Adam & Eve selling to each other, it won’t change your position today or in the future. If you need to be philosophical, then do it in your spare time, not in selling time.
Yes, sales people are over-rated, and they are a necessary evil, so get on with measuring their contribution, performance, and importantly, because they are such an important part of your ‘operation’, part of your ‘delivery’, treat them as well or better than others in your organisation.
Buyers regardless of what label is used, have a role and operation to perform. Often they object and at times make me feel like David vs. Goliath. Still, I respect their position. I respect the fact buyer’s don’t sit at their desk waiting for my call and researching what I am going to sell ahead of time’. Be realistic, your product may or may not be in their budget, their plan or even a thought in their mind.
Now, think about your sales people. What chance of success do they have if your timing to sell differs to buyer’s cycle? When you consider everything, maybe you will come to the conclusion that they are worth the money you pay.
How to challenge the status quo?
- Pay sales people a bonus rather than commission
- Split the bonus equally with the people that helped the sale
- Make sales people work to a 90-day operations plan versus a sales plan
- Don’t oversell your sales people internally, and just because they had success in the past for another company, doesn’t mean they will be successful in yours
- Reset a sales person’s resume to zero when hiring
- If your sales person, sales team deliver income, then you deliver them a bonus
- Never cap their income
- Measure and pay on activity (more insights in the next article) to reach a sale
Disclaimer:
BOS News & Views is commentary and the content is an opinion and interpretation is totally at the risk of the reader. BOS GLOBAL the company, its subsidiaries, its people, associates shall be held harmless and free of liability at all times.
