Ridding Your Business of Smelly, Sweaty, Stinky, Ugly, Dirty, Filthy Manual Labour Prospecting Grunt Work

by Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan

Business Development... Is it art or science? Well, it depends. Many people regard business development as art, some regard it as science. So, who is right? In a way both groups are right, but the consequences can be drastically different. So, what is the difference between art and science?

Art is dependent on people. Art is about having superstar people who possess certain expertise at a cellular level, called natural-born talent. They are few and far between, and also pretty expensive to come by. For instance, you may have met people who are naturally gifted at selling. Some are gifted at "used car style" selling, "Hey, give me an offer and I'll cut you a deal", whereas some are gifted at showing great value to people, so they become naturally interested in acquiring that value for themselves. The two approaches are drastically different.

What is the problem here?

The problem is that you can't turn art into a duplicable process anyone can pull off. What that means to you is that you need superstar performers who are naturally gifted. And while you can certainly hire superstars, but you can also lose them in a blink on an eye. But by then your business is 100% dependent on them. And the fact is the without systems, even extraordinary people can't produce consistently and predictably great results.

The other option is to treat business development as a science, which can be documented into duplicable systems and processes. What that means is that you don't need superstars. As a matter of fact, you need much fewer people to operate systems and the systems and processes do the work itself. Have you ever thought why some companies can pull off $3 million per employee in annual revenue, while some others struggle to make $30,000 per employee?

The answer is systems and processes. They automate all non-billable activities, like business development, so they can spend more time on billable work and client service.

For instance, instead of condemning your salespeople to hunt for their own leads and suffering from the typical 43% attrition, create a system, generate leads for your salespeople, so they can spend 100% of their time working with qualified prospects, not just chasing suspects all over hell's half acre.

There are still many processes that are to be kept "manual", but the "donkey work" can be automated.

Long buying cycles become more of the norm than exception. How do you handle the buying cycle? If it is handled manually by your people, then you are losing left, right and centre.

Why?

Because your people are tied up in non-billable activities, while paying activities go unattended. What is the logic here? You end up like a rocking chair. There is plenty of activity but no progress. You can't hire a whole army to deal with your lead conversion. Now, you may say you have to start building relationships. Yeah! But with whom? With uncommitted tyre-kickers?

Until and unless your prospects make a conditional commitment to working with you if you can meet their buying criteria, they are just suspects. There is no personal relationship to be built. But you can start building an "automated" relationship using a duplicable system, like sequential autoresponders and other similar goodies. But you don't have to involve your people just yet.

Research indicates that even the best salespeople perform twice better when they can rely on a sales system because their work becomes more consistent, which is also good for brand building. It is just like great military generals. They are talented by nature and experience, but also have definite strategies they follow. They don't "wing" their battles. And for the same reason, regardless of how naturally talented your salespeople are, you can't afford and justify to let them wing it. You must give them a system they can follow.

Based on what I have seen over the years, salespeople who wing it very often end up flying out of their prospects' offices after being kicked out.

Once upon a time it was possible to selling by "winging." There was a time when people were ready to buy anything from anyone on the first sight. Then people started becoming more and more sophisticated and more selective not only what they bought but who they bought from. So, the old-fashioned peddler approach stopped working.

We all talk about growing a business. But just because you hire more warm meat with a pulse, it is not necessarily growth. You may make a bit more in gross sales, but using gross sales as a measuring stick is plain retarded. Remember, it is not what you make but what you actually keep that counts.

So, never mind the size of your sales force. Do you know what the hooker said to the shy sailor? She said: "Son, it's not the size of your instrument that counts but how skilfully you use it".

You can have the largest sales force in the world, but if they spend their time flying by the seats of their pants in a haphazard way, as most sales forces do, all they contribute to your business is just headcount. And while headcount is a major indicator of success if you are a cattle farmer, it is a retarded way of projecting the success of your business.

It is how skilfully you use your sales force that counts. Do your best to focus on the net profit per person in your business. At least that is something meaningful.

And remember! Don't sell harder. Market smarter. Both you, your employees, your clients and prospects will find it more enjoyable, profitable and attractive.

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