Core Skills required for Revenue Generation

As a business owner, and whether you like it or not, you are in the business of selling.

It is therefore important, that you have a clear and complete understanding of the core competencies required of any person responsible for revenue generation in your business, including yourself.

It goes without saying that understanding alone is not enough, you also need to ensure your own and your employee's skills, are developed to the level necessary for sales success, and then you need to diligently apply those skills, and sure others are applying them as diligently as yourself.

The key skills required in any sales role are; presentation skills, influencing skills, negotiation skills, communication skills, problem solving skills, marketing skills, personal management skills and critically in this day and age, information technology skills.

If your sales are not at the level where they need to be, a good solution is to firstly put in place structured plans for yourself and key employees to become more competent in every one of these skills, with a priority being placed on the skill sets that are most lacking, in those engaged in selling for your business.

These skills alone will not necessarily guarantee success in revenue generation, as a clear understanding of the key attributes that the individuals concerned also need to possess, and their ability to persistently apply these attributes, is the second part of the solution.

These key attributes include; the need and the will to succeed, ability to think and act quickly, ability to focus on goals, a strong belief in the products and services offered, high energy levels, high self esteem, the ability to act independently, an optimistic outlook on life, the ability to see the bigger picture, a willingness to accept responsibility for personal outcomes, and an ability to empathise with others.

As you can see, a revenue generating role is not for the untrained or marginally competent; selling is actually a profession, and a professional approach is needed by anyone who has a responsibility for revenue generation.

You must also remember that a poorly trained and far from competent salesperson, can do more damage to your business in a short time, than almost any other role not performed to its optimal level, in your business.

Unless you develop your own and your employees sales skills to an optimum level, revenue generation will always be harder for your business than it needs to be, and in tough times your cash flow may be severely challenged.

How do you and your key employees measure up in terms of sales skills and personal attributes that support effective revenue generation?

Do all relevant personnel have personal development plans specifically tailored to improve the level of revenue generation in your business?

Have you led by example in demonstrating your own commitment to upgrading your selling skills?

Have you allowed adequate funds in your budget to support the development of all of the necessary skills in your employees?

Do you ensure that you select the right people with the necessary attributes to succeeed in sales, to participate in your sales training programs, and eventually in revenue generating activities for your business?

If you answer all of these questions truthfully, and reflect on what the answers mean for your future revenue, it may pave the way for you to make the changes you possibly need to make, to give your business a good shot in the arm.

Focus is Everything in Business

A long time ago, at the rear of an old and well established business that I was visiting, I found nailed on the back of the only toilet door, a story titled something along the lines of "My Busy Day".

It had obviously been there for sometime, as it was faded and torn around the edges, but the fact it was still there, indicated that it was probably worth reading as I went about my business.

I was very glad I did, as the message it contained has stayed with me to this day, and it is a message that I have been forever grateful to have received.

In essence it told the story of one person's day from the moment they arose until they lay down in their bed at the end of the day and reflected on what they had achieved during the day.

It went something like this;

Today I am going to plant a vegetable garden; I get up, get dressed, have breakfast and start heading out the door to go to the tool shed to get everything I need to start building the vegetable garden.

Just as I step out the door, the dog runs up to me carrying a stick in its mouth. I throw the stick for the dog to fetch and then notice that my bicycle has a flat tyre. I decide I had better fix the tyre because I might need the bicycle tomorrow.

I head back into the house to pick up my puncture kit from the laundry, and as I step into the laundry, I see that there is a load of washing that needs to be hung out to dry. As I carry the basket out to the washing line, I notice that someone has left the garden tap running, so I put down the washing and go over and turn the tap off.

As I head back to the washing line, I spot my gumboots that I have been looking for for a few days, lying under the wheel barrow. I walk over and pick them up and take them back into the laundry where they are normally live.

As I do this, I see through the laundry door that the kitchen window is wide open and I walk across the kitchen to shut it. On the way, I see yesterday's mail still sitting on the kitchen table so I stop and pick it up.

Knowing that several of the letters contain bills, I put them on my office desk and head to the bedroom to get my cheque book from my coat pocket. On the way to the bedroom, I pass the bathroom and see that the rubbish bin is full. I pick it up and head off to empty it.

On the way, I decide that I am thirsty, so I put the rubbish bin down beside the back door and head into the kitchen to get a glass of water. While pouring the glass of water, I notice that the fridge is desperately in need of a clean. I quickly drink the water and go out to the shed to get a cool box into which to unload the contents of the fridge.

I come back with the box, and as I open the fridge to get started I see some chocolate bars. As I now feel hungry, I grab a chocolate bar and decide to have a break. I go outside and sit on the bench on our front porch, whilst I eat it.

Admiring the view as I ate my chocolate bar, I tried to remember what it was that I had first set out to do today. Before I could remember, I saw the local policeman put a leaflet in my neighbour's letterbox and walk away. This reminded me that I had not returned a bowl I had borrowed from that neighbour, so I headed back into the house to get it.

As I walked down the hall, I kicked one of the kids toys which had been left lying on the floor. I picked that up and walked further down the hall and threw it in the child's bedroom and as I did I noticed they had not made their bed. I decided I should make the bed, but before I got to the bed, I saw that their was a pile of dirty washing on the floor, so I picked that up and started heading off to the laundry to wash it.

Going through the kitchen, I remembered I still hadn't shut the kitchen window, so I put the dirty laundry on the kitchen chair and walked over and shut the window. I then turned around and headed out to the laundry still trying to figure out what it was that I had set out to do today.

The rest of the day continued in a similar vein;

At the end of the day the vegetable garden did not get built, the bicycle still had a flat tyre, the washing had not been hung out, the bills had not been paid, the rubbish bin was still full, the fridge was still filthy, the neighbours bowl had not been returned, the kids bed was still unmade, the dirty washing was still dirty, and the dog was still sitting on the porch with a stick in its mouth.

Lying in bed that night, the person reflected upon their day and could not understand why absolutely nothing was achieved that day given that they were frantically busy all day.

Does this ring a bell with you? Do you regularly fail to achieve what you start the day out hoping to achieve? Are your business goals proving elusive?

The crime here is lack of focus, a key killer of any chance of real success in the business world.

As a business owner, you only have so many hours in the day, and you need to maximise your effectiveness in using each of those hours to be successful.

Learn the discipline of preparing a to do list for tomorrow as the last task you complete each day and make this list the first thing you look at each morning.

Make sure the first three items on this list are must do items, and then ensure that these are the major focus of your day. Don't go home until you have ticked off on each of these three must do items.

If you do this you will sleep far better at night and the results will be self evident very quickly.

Four Critical Business Roles

It never ceases to amaze me that people continue to establish new businesses or struggle on in established businesses, without a clear understanding that there are four critical business roles which must be performed at an optimum level in any business if it is to grow and be successful in the longer term.

Too many business people are not aware that there are very distinct roles which must be performed daily and consistently in any business, and that each of these distinct roles requires people with differing personalities operating in each respective role to ensure that optimal outcomes are achieved for the business.

It is also not well recognised that very few people are actually suited to effectively, and more importantly consistently over time, perform all of the required roles. Many will do their best when assigned one of the four critical roles but inevitably they will eventually drift away from the elements of any role that they personally get limited or no satisfaction from, and focus attention elsewhere to the detriment of the overall business.

Often the limitations of one or two people trying to perform all of the critical roles do not become apparent until the business starts to expand as a result of unplanned for organic growth or external pressures being brought to bear on the business.

In my experience the four critical and quite distinct roles (role groupings) required to be effectively performed in any business aspiring to be successful and sustainable are;

• leadership, strategy development, and new customer/client acquisition,
• budget management, cash flow management, competitor/market research management, business plan management, and demand management,
• customer relationship management/customer retention management/up selling and cross selling to existing customers, and
• administration, sales support and operations management.

In my view each of these critical roles (role groupings) are best suited to people from different personality types, and care taken in matching a particular person with the critical role (role group) which best suits their particular personality, will pay high dividends to the businesses who take this approach.

My own experience indicates that a high level of passion for performing any particular role comes from that role being closely aligned to the type of work activities a person prefers to regularly perform, those preferences generally being aligned to their individual personality type.

Initially, when first establishing a business, it may not be possible to create and fill four separate roles however, if any business is to grow and have long term success, each of these roles will need to be performed by individuals, or groups of individuals, with the specific aptitude and real passion for performing the distinctly different types of daily activities which need to be performed effectively, and consistently for a business to prosper.

If your business has reached the stage of its business cycle where you are ready to grow your business, have a very close look to see if you have all the bases covered in ensuring that each of these critical roles, or role groupings, are effectively covered and the full-time attention of at least one passionate individual, is being applied in each area.

Should you not be satisfied that this is the case, I would suggest that you put any growth plans on hold until you are satisfied, as this will avoid the inevitable problems that will potentially implode your plans, and set your business back for as long as it takes to right the situation.

It may be that your business has stagnated and appears to be going nowhere at present, and if that is the case, have a good look at these critical roles to see if you have them all covered. If not action to rectify this situation may be the change you need to make to get your business firing again.

If you have all bases covered, look closely at the people performing the roles to determine if they are passionate about the type of work involved in the relevant role, and if not place them elsewhere in your business where their passion may be re-ignited, and find the right person for the relevant role.

For those operating smaller businesses with less people than the number of critical roles which need to be covered, I would suggest that each roles is as important as any other and time needs to be applied each day to the performance of all these four critical roles.

In this less than ideal situation it is critical that each of those involved has some affinity with the nature of the work involved in whichever role(s) they are required to perform, and some form of ongoing accountability is introduced to ensure equal treatment of all roles assigned is occurring.

Understanding of these four critical roles and the linkages between them is a vital skill for all business owners to develop. A lack of understanding of same is usually clearly evident to a consultant called in to address issues standing in the way of any business growing to achieve its full potential.