Avoidable risks in the sale

From the moment any action is taken, there are risks of varying degrees of magnitude.

In our condition as "intelligent" and "perfectible" beings, we constantly try to know, identify and anticipate them in order to avoid the consequences of incurring them.

This is precisely the purpose of this article to illustrate the risks that exist in the development of all actions that lead to the periodic obtaining of consistent sales results.

In order to avoid them, and to solve them in the case of being present in the organization, there are two well differentiated stages that are closely related to our logic and our reasoning.

The first of these stages refers to "knowledge", since when errors are made that lead the organization towards certain levels of risk due to ignorance, learning will occur at a high cost to it but, if corrective actions are taken successful and timely, its effects and consequences can be minimized and even extinguished.

This stage only requires being in a condition to grow, enriching ourselves with the topics that are of our particular interest and avoiding falling into paradigms such as: "We have always done it this way and it gave us good results", blocking in advance any possibility of improvement and improvement that we can discover in relation to technological and evolutionary advances in consumer preferences.

The second stage is identified as "the predisposition to develop the implementation of the right decisions" until the deviations or errors that were identified as harmful and risky are overcome, since they are the ones that lead to unwanted consequences.

Here is the biggest of the blockages, since it is characterized by delaying, postponing and even filing what obviously needs to be done to solve a repetitive error at the root and definitively and that is generating damage of different degrees, with consequences that can cause that the most prosperous enterprise or business fails.

It is incomprehensible to appreciate in many organizations that, after knowing what is being done incorrectly, no decision is analyzed or made to correct the deviation or definitively solve an error that is permanently repeated.

Risk areas

In sales management, there are different areas that translate into high levels of risk and that deserve a careful analysis:

The image of the products or services and of the company. Any error due to inexperience that affects the sensitivity and satisfaction expected by potential or current clients due to the lack of quality in the relationship with their representatives, have a direct relationship with the image that they will develop in their minds regarding the company and its offer.

Although it does not appear in the balance sheets or leave a written trace, that negative image that could be generated will be what the injured parties transmit socially to their friends, colleagues and family, producing a snowball that can wreck any promising new or already ongoing business.

High turnover of sellers. When the number of sales position replacements exceeds the normal or customary criteria, it produces two types of consequences: one of them is of an economic nature that affects profitability, and the other is closely related to what is described in the previous point.

The time dedicated to solving the situations of expenses and the time invested in an oversized way to recruit, select and train new salespeople, has an economic weight that can be measured quantitatively.

The image damage arises from the appreciable fact in the clients who see the company representatives constantly renew, generating questions about the seriousness with which the company acts, developing the most logical and negative conclusions that will inexorably affect the periodic sales results to be obtained under this circumstance.

A human resources specialist once said at a conference: "every time a representative is renewed there is a necessary process of learning and improvement in the role, which must be observed and permanently corrected." To this, we should add that when there is a high annual turnover, an uncertain result is produced permanently for this same reason.

The management method. In many organizations, there are as many methods for generating sales results as the number of salespeople that make up their teams.

What at first glance can be accepted as sales results, has a reading related to "opportunity costs." This is linked to the fact of having "an own effective method of management" that is proven efficient and effective, homogeneously applied, in order to produce results much superior to those currently obtained.

Here the issue passes through "the true and honest wishes of its managers": continue with the heterogeneity of non-productive efforts or move to a state of high productivity and efficiency in periodic sales.

Conclusions

The worst news that we can receive as managers or owners of a business, after a diagnostic objective, is that it has a death date. From then on, all news may have different shades of gray.

But it is not a question of conformity with what could be much better.

In all areas of life there are negotiable and non-negotiable aspects. This means that, in certain cases and in certain circumstances, we can bypass some aspects for the benefit of others.

In the description of the four qualities of professional sales (quality, productivity, consistency and profitability), mentioned in my articles and books, they were classified as essential, giving them the criterion of "non-negotiable".

One can find oneself immersed in numerous daily emergencies, but this does not exempt us from taking care of everything that is really important for the evolution and growth of the business, its products or services: the quality ready to achieve the greatest customer satisfaction, the high productivity, consistency and profitability of the sales management of the representatives.

When leading an organization, excuses are useless, but correct and efficiently implemented decisions.

The only judge who will determine the success of all our effort and dedication to obtain good sales results through the management of our representatives is the client. Everything else may be opinions but only subjective, because what is really valid will emerge when taking stock of the results obtained each month and the trend they have towards the future.

That is the true result that we are achieving and the destination towards which we are leading the business with the successes (or not) in its direction and management.

In short, what needs to be done: do it, but do it now. Because in business, "only the succession of successes counts" for which it was originally constituted.