Pardon my ADD for a moment, but consider for a moment all of the moving parts of a business: marketing, sales, operations, finance, client retention, human resources. The list goes on to include technology, processes, products, pricing, strategy, etc. For all of the perks of being a leader, there is a down-side. The leader is responsible for everything, but unable to focus on any one thing for very long, lest other priorities go unattended, and pull the company down.
A good leader knows the value of leverage, of pushing work down to capable people below. But for most men and women in the leader’s chair, the most difficult area of the company to achieve sustainable leverage is the sales function. Why is that? Is it a lack of talent available to the company? Is it a training issue? Are the processes out of alignment? Why is the sales function – the fuel that drives the machine forward – the hardest part of any company to leverage?
I would love to hear your thoughts…
