Sales Growth & The Future

In Selling Power.com recent article, they discussed how to achieve sales growth, and just how to improve your future in general. They came up with three reasons why they think that is certain companies aren’t doing well. The three reasons are Fear, Apathy, and Lake of responsibility. Here is how I feel they come into play.

Fear – They’re afraid to take a chance. They always play it safe.

Apathy – They don’t have the drive and will to go after what they really want. They want to get things done, but not really wanting to do them. They are ‘lazy’.                                                                
Lack of Responsibility – They aren’t good leaders; they don’t know how to lead themselves, let alone a team or a corporation, lacking things like maturity, and knowledge.

They conducted an interview with, Jeffrey Hayzlett, a former Fortune 100 C-suite executive to ask him how he became sucessfu. In the interview, he was asked what kind of person he thinks you need to become to achieve sales growth:

“ ...Some people are overconfident. They just want to do deal after deal. But how can you improve if you don’t know what you need to know? You need to be more aware of what you’re doing. Take the time. It will be painful sometimes. You need to get focused on how to step back and do the research. Ask questions. Spend some time at a competitor’s place. Go to a store and see how your partners are selling your product. The best businesses are focused on how to grow top-line revenue, and that should produce bottom-line net profit. A lot of businesses would produce more profit by just increasing sales. I don’t know of a lot of problems that could not be solved by stronger sales.” (Hayzlett 2012)

If a company leader does what Hayzlett says, their result will be like Volkswagens. In this article by Businessweek.com, they talked about how Volkswagen has gained a 26% increase in revenue to 159 billion euros, with the help of their High-Margin SUV sales. (Thomas 2011) They did this by implementing Hayzlett ideas, and looked at their competitors in the car industry and saw how they could better improve their product. It was also said that a way they are achieving future growth is by pending mergers. They are looking to merge with Porsche SE, to not only continue their success, but to achieve more.

• Canady, H. (2012 Feb.) Achieve Positive Sales Growth & Improve Your Future.         Retrieved from: http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article.php?a=9764?rnd=304781
• Thomas, C. (2012, Feb. 26) Volkswagen Posts Record 2011 Profit on High-Margin SUV Sales. Retrieved from: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-26/volkswagen-posts-record-2011-profit-on-high-margin-suv-sales.html