Comments on: Business basics: should we hire sales staff right away?

By: Bernard Vukas

Bernard Vukas — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:28:23 +0000

You should hire sales staff if you want to grow a business, not remain a single person. If you’re a developer or designer, the additional sales will force you to hire another team member soon.

By: Coach Jeremy Ulmer

Coach Jeremy Ulmer — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:19:40 +0000

I agree. It is important to learn how to sell yourself first.

Many people feel they need to be persuasive or pushy or ‘salsey’ to get great great sales results…That is old school thinking and no longer how it work.

I would encourage seeking support from a sales coach who can truly customize a genuine selling approach that will work for you and then support you in developing a team the right way when/if the time is right.

Here is a description of how one on one sales coaching support can help:

http://www.coachwithjeremy.com/sales-coaching.html

By: Damien Basile

Damien Basile — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:01:43 +0000

Something else to think about when you’re first starting your business- network and collaborate with people where you mutually need each other to fill positions. Not everyone has marketing/design/whatever skills. Forming partnerships where you can barter your skills is great especially in a time of economic downtown. You have to be creative when you are starting up because you can’t just go spending money like there’s no tomorrow. The internet has given us a wealth of resources, including people. Use it.

By: Ian Farmer

Ian Farmer — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:28:47 +0000

You are absolutely spot on. If YOU cannot sell your product (early stage / freelance) then a sales person at the level you will be able to afford has no chance. All you do is burn through money (even if you find someone to sell commission only) and burn through good leads that the sales person will blow for you. Leads are hard and / or expensive to generate – you cannot waste them.

There are three solutions you could explore:

1) interim sales management, with the right person you will get decades of experience for relatively little outlay – http://www.ifassociates.com/interim_management.html

2) get a sales coach to teach and support you – http://www.ifassociates.com/sales_management_coaching.html

3) teach yourself and there is lot of help out there – free weekly sales tips at http://tinyurl.com/sell-more and good advice at http://tinyurl.com/best-damn-sales-blog

Good luck good selling.