Business humps? Bring in the Pros.

Every business, from the smallest to the largest, starts out with goals. The first goals are generally modest, such as “lets get the business out of the red and into the black.” There are sales goals, such as “lets break our first million-dollar sales year”, and it goes up from there. But as a business, what do you do when you get to a “place”, and it seems like your business just stalls there? Or worse, what happens if you start loosing ground? What happens if you are just not able to attain your sales goals?

Businesses tend to hit plateaus, or humps as I call them. As a business manager, you learn what is required in order to hit and maintain each new “hump”, no matter what size your business is. Your business might be trying to break the first million dollar hump. But you and your team work hard, gain sales, and one day you break that $1 million dollar level that used to be a barrier for you. Then you move on to the next hump.

The struggle is always “when do I hire more people, and what kind of talent do I hire?” You know that you can’t always do it by yourself forever. (That will be the focus of another article at a later date.) But what about if you keep struggling with the team you have, and it seems like no matter what you do, the sales just won’t go any higher? In reality, there can be lots of reasons for that, from your product mix, to your sales team, your competition, to the economy, and even just your pricing structure. But let me throw out one more idea for you to ponder. What if you or your team have reached their plateau in their skill sets?

I saw this first hand in a business that I worked with. It was a small family-owned business. They had a good product, good sales, good reputation, and they had an established record of setting goals, meeting them, then setting new goals. But they had hit one of those humps, and couldn’t go farther, and were frustrated by that because the owner knew they had more potential. I won’t go into all the details here, but let me lay out a brief scenario of why they had problems.

This particular business had reached a level of success that had actually bypassed the abilities of their people and their software. They had a ton of experience in their industry, but they had untrained people in key positions that had never experienced that level of demand or success. The owners kept saying sell, sell, sell, while workers were overwhelmed, at all levels. The employees felt defeated. The owner was very experienced in the industry, and was a dynamite sales person, with a real vision for where they wanted the company to go. They were very detail-oriented, and in fact, too much so. This owner couldn’t let go enough to trust others to help them become even more successful. There is much more to the story.

What is the solution? When you are an owner, and you get to a certain level of success, you must release some of the things that you have always done to other competent individuals. Be sure you read that correctly. I didn’t say that you must allow things to be done in a manner that is not up to your expectations. You have a couple of clear choices. You can either train people fully and empower them to succeed, holding them accountable, or you must hire qualified talent with a proven track record, and then step back and allow them to do what they know how to do, giving them the tools to succeed, even if it is in a manner that is different than you are accustomed to. You can still hold them accountable as well. This is a key point.

None of us were born with the entire skill sets we would need to ultimately be successful to our highest level. As an owner, or as an employee, we are comfortable with the skill sets that we possess. Once we surpass that level, we need to obtain new skill sets through education and training or be mentored to become productive at a higher level than we have experienced in the past.

The honest answer is that some folks reach their peak and are not able to perform at a higher level. That is when owners generally call in consultants, and that is when tough decisions are sometimes made. I have also met owners that are just tired of the daily grind, and just don’t want to do it anymore. They can’t continue to be the #1 producer forever. That is the time when the need to turn the management of the company (or a department) over to someone qualified that has a fire in their belly to succeed. Perhaps the sales team has gotten too comfortable with where they are and they don’t have the drive to increase sales any longer. That’s a different problem to solve, but it can be solved.

If the company is too “comfortable” in the way it currently runs, that may be why you are up against a hump. If the owner or staff has reached their peak of their capabilities, it is time for education, training, mentoring or a change in personnel that can get you up and over that next hump and keep your goals moving ahead.

When you have reached the “hump”, bring in the experienced professionals. It might be Accountants/CPA’s, Business Consultants, Marketing consultants, Sales consultants, Purchasing/Inventory Control professionals, IT professionals, motivational speakers, Financial/Legal consultants or whoever is necessary. Whatever it takes to get the fire back in the belly. Perhaps it means hiring the new experienced staff member that you think you can’t afford. I submit to you that you get what you pay for. Pay for the results.

Allen Beck

AKOR Services

2229 NE Burnside Rd., #19

Gresham, OR 97030

www.akorservices.com

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