Smart Business Growth with Nicky & Ness

From Order Takers to Rainmakers, a Proactive Sales Culture

• Nicky & Ness • Season 2 • Episode 6

Share episode

Welcome back to "Smart Business Growth" In this episode, Nicky and Ness delve into the intricate world of sales, exploring common pitfalls and offering actionable insights for business owners. From reliance on the business owner to reactive sales teams, they dissect four key problems and their impacts, urging listeners to assess these problems in their businesses. Tune in for invaluable strategies to revolutionise your sales approach and unlock untapped growth potential.

Episode Highlights

  1. Impact on bottom line when sales hinge solely on the business owner.
  2. Assessing self-reliance on a scale from 0 to 10 for business sustainability.
  3. Reactive Sales Teams vs. Proactive Engagement.

Sole Reliance on Business Owner for Sales:

  • Consequences of passive sales approaches and missed opportunities.
  • Cultivating a proactive sales culture to maximise growth potential.

Lack of Documented Sales Processes:

  • Time wastage and inefficiencies stemming from undocumented processes.
  • Importance of establishing clear, well-known sales processes for team alignment and efficiency.

Key Client Relationships Solely with Business Owner:

  • Risks associated with centralising key client relationships with business owners.
  • Addressing ego-driven motivations and fears hindering delegation and team empowerment.

Thank you for tuning in to "Smart Business Growth"! We look forward to sharing more valuable insights with you next week. Until then, remember to empower your sales efforts and embrace growth opportunities.

Learn more about Nicky and Ness https://businesstogether.com.au

Buy a copy of Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business & Life www.healthyhustle.com.au

Follow us on socials
Instagram - @b2businesstogether
Facebook - @B2BusinessTogether

Connect on LinkedIn
Nicky LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/connectwithnicky/
Ness LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamedling/

Give us a call
Nicky Miklos-Woodley 0403 191 404
Vanessa (Ness) Medling 0400 226 875

Or send us an email hello@businesstogether.com.au

Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley

Nicky:

Welcome to the Smart Business Growth Podcast with N and. Ness.

Ness:

We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of country, the Turrbal and Bunurong people of Brisbane and Melbourne respectively, where Nikki and I both work and live.

Nicky:

Hello and welcome back to this week's episode of Smart Business Growth Ness hello, ness Hello and I are thrilled to be here with you today and we want to shift gears a little bit. We're going to focus on really focus on a key aspect of smart growth in business, which is sales. Cue music here. Now. Sales is a really interesting topic because, well, actually one of the reasons that I went into my first or started my first business Evergreen Coaching which was 100% skewed towards sales and sales leadership is because I realized that there's lots of differing opinions about sales out there. Ness Sure is.

Ness:

Can you believe it? Yeah, and it's really interesting because, for me as a business owner, when I started I was so fearful of sales and it's wonderful to see you in action around it, because this has been your forte. This has been what your business previous to Business Together was about. So I have so much to learn from you, and I know our listeners have so much to learn from you, so I'm thrilled we're doing this topic today.

Nicky:

Why? Thank you, and I think we're going to bring in a lot of this topic throughout the season.

Ness:

And.

Nicky:

I will say that I equally have just as much to learn from you, as well as the listeners and viewers, because sales is an ongoing I was going to call it a beast it's an ongoing friend, it's an ongoing relationship and, yes, some people are totally fine with sales. Some people will avoid it like the plague. There's a lot of fear, there's a lot of unresourceful beliefs that can pop up along the way, and the reality is is that, when we're looking at smart growth and embedding smart growth strategies in business, sales is, of of course, a part of that, and I know your passion, which we'll also be covering off at different points, is the profit piece and it's about ensuring that we have the balance of growth. I mean, actually it's a symbiotic relationship and one needs the other to survive. So that is the reality, my friend.

Nicky:

So today, what we thought we'd do is we want to share with you the four main problems or pitfalls that we see businesses, business owners, fall into when it comes to sales, and we're going to share what those problems are, but actually what the impact is. So, as we go through this, I really want you to kind of consider is that happening in my business? Is this problem evident in my business right now, because if it is and you could even rate yourself out of four that's going to be the action. I think we're going to share four key problems. Give yourself a score out of four. If they're in place, the higher the score today. Then there's some things that you've got to have a look at.

Ness:

Sound like a plan. Ness Sounds great to me Short, sharp and right into it Love it. So shall I kick off with the first problem that we see. Absolutely, let's do it In businesses, particularly business owners who have grown a team and so therefore you know there's more than just them. The sales are solely reliant on you as the business owner, or maybe just a rainmaker in the business who is the salesperson? Tell us the impact of that, nick.

Nicky:

Yeah, absolutely, and we see this a lot particularly. We talk about a growth set point and businesses that are growing. And even if you don't have a sales team, then absolutely, you might be reliant on as the key business leader or the business owner. But that could be an indication that it's actually time to employ some salespeople or to grow the sales capability within the team, because the risk to this is that when you or the rainmaker, the person that is responsible for sales, they get the sales. Sales are the backbone of your business and when you are away, when you're on holidays, we don't want you to get sick, but you might have sick days or you might have to do some caretaking or coming back to that, that holiday.

Ness:

You're allowed to have a holiday.

Nicky:

Yes, yes, I just came back from a holiday.

Nicky:

It was wonderful and I highly recommend it.

Nicky:

But when you're, the business isn't making money, so the impact to the bottom line is real and this is one of the reasons that you could potentially that you're still tethered to the business.

Nicky:

So we talk a lot about the fact that you, as the business owner, are really changed to your business, but if you're the key person that is still responsible for sales and selling, it's going to be really hard to change that. Or, conversely, you might have a bigger team and maybe it's not you but it's one person in the team. That's a lot of pressure for them. So you've got to have some really good systems in place to manage that and manage the pipeline. But at the end of the day, there still could be an impact on the business when you're not there and there's a huge reliance on you or that rainmaker in the business. So that can be a very negative outcome. I was just talking to a business owner yesterday who had an amazing holiday and the team is all set up and that was great, but the impact to the bottom line was there because he's solely responsible for converting those sales, getting it across the line.

Ness:

Yeah and so, okay, we're measuring ourselves on this. So what's the scale? Nick Zero means what and 10 means what?

Nicky:

So as in zero would be. You are 100% reliant on sales in the business.

Nicky:

The business does not make money without you in it. And 10 being I have an empowered team, I can still hop in Like I might still contribute to the selling and sales, and some business owners love it. Some business owners don't. Some still want to be across the key, bigger clients or over the strategy, of course, but it's about the choice. So 10 out of 10 would be. I have the choice to be involved in the sales conversations and the sales process and, most importantly, when I go on holidays or I'm not, the business can still make money. Honey, yes.

Ness:

Excellent. Okay, so we're looking for a higher score, and I guess the alarm bells or the attention point is if we've got a low score. This is something we're going to have to work on, exactly, yeah that's great, beautiful.

Nicky:

Do the Smart Growth Survey in under 60 seconds to get your hands on our Smart Growth Blueprint. You'll get immediate access to our four favourite strategies for sales, profit planning and team, and you'll identify which phase of smart growth your business is currently in whether it's crisis, build growth or momentum mode so that you can move your way to the next phase with ease. All you have to do is click the link in the show notes.

Ness:

Let's jump into the second problem that we see out there and I have heard this recently from a client or potential client. So it's that the team or the sales team if they have a sales team, but they are the order takers and they're not actually being proactive around sales, it's just sitting back waiting for somebody to approach them. I think is sort of like the key issue here, and what we really want is a team that are proactive and out there and you know getting it and making it happen. So tell us a little bit more about the impact of this problem.

Nicky:

Yeah, absolutely. So. That is the piece where your team are being really reactive. Just as Ness said, it's almost like sitting around waiting. Oh, it's really quiet. Oh, no, they're not. No, they don't want to spend right now. Well, how do we know? Have we asked the questions? Are we following a sales process? The impact on the business is huge because money is being left on the table. When you have a reactive sales team that are falling into order taking or, let's be honest, perhaps you're doing it yourself. If you sit on the camp of sales where, as Ness said, where Ness was not anymore, where she was, where, maybe it's like it's a bit icky you could be doing this yourself. And also, if you are, there's a chance that potentially your team are as well. So money is being left on the table. Sales is about relationships. We could replace the word sales with relationships. It's a win-win. You're building a relationship, you're providing a service and you're getting reimbursed for that, like that, or reimbursed for that. So that hang on. Is that a word? I don't think so.

Ness:

Anyway, you know what I mean.

Nicky:

I was just having a conversation the other day with someone about I've got a whole dictionary of Nicky words.

Nicky:

Anyway, you get what I'm saying, people. You get what I'm saying. It's a win-win relationship. So here's the thing I want you to think about as you're rating yourself from zero to 10, is that there are so many what we call low-hanging fruit opportunities. Low-hanging fruit is imagine you're walking down the garden path with a bunch of apple trees and the fruit are ready and ripe to drop, and if you put your hand there at the right moment, that apple will drop right into your hand. But if you are not even there to catch it, it's going to drop on the ground and it's going to rot, and that's a missed opportunity. Or if you're going too early and too eager and you're picking it off the tree, well no, nobody wants that.

Ness:

That's not going to be good for anybody right.

Nicky:

So low-hanging fruit are the opportunities that are already existing by building a relationship and, to be honest, we could probably do a whole episode on low-hanging fruit. Maybe we will, but regardless, here's what I want you to think about. If you're a zero here, it means that there's no proactivity in your sales team to go out there and build relationships and follow a sales process to uncover opportunities to truly help. This is all about truly helping. And if you're a 10 out of 10, you've got a proactive sales team. They're high performers. They do not sit on their laurels waiting for those opportunities to come to them All right.

Ness:

The next one, which is close to my heart, because we do love a system or I do but also acknowledging that some businesses can grow quickly. It can be all in the owner's head around the way that they've started the business and they're doing sales, or even in a bigger sales team. It could also be that there's changeover of staff and we just haven't got things in order. So the problem is there's no documented well-known and I think this is key. Everybody knows the process, so no documented well-known process in the business that everybody follows. Tell me about the impact of that one.

Nicky:

There's so much in what you just said that everybody follows, that they know about it and that it's actually documented to begin with, and the biggest impact and problem on this is time wastage. So you know, one of the biggest barriers that we hear from leaders, business owners, salespeople, the coalface team what do people not have enough of these days? Time?

Ness:

Time.

Nicky:

Constantly Time. I'm so busy I don't have enough time. Well, if you are having to rethink the next step and the next phase of your sales conversation and approach and I don't care if you've been doing this for 20 years, like I have we still have a sales process.

Nicky:

There we do. So it's kind of like it's like the whole Mark Zuckerberg wears the same thing every day, so he doesn't have to think about it. Steve Jobs did the same thing. So this is what a sales process does. So you're wasting time in the business, you're wasting efficiencies, you're wasting brain space of your sales people because they have to think about what the next step is, even though it's really obvious. So you've got to get a documented process and it doesn't have to be complex and hard. As a self-professed non-loving process person back in the day, I love a good process now. But you can find hacks. You can use Loom videos. You can. You know, you can document it simply. It doesn't have to be complex. You're wasting time and you're wasting your team's time. Yeah.

Ness:

And that's definitely something you alluded to. We have that, and that's something we started in the business really early on, and it was a game changer for me because in those moments of uncertainty or doubt, it's that, it's the certainty that's there. It's like, oh yeah, okay, it just makes sense. It goes from here to here to here and we're aligned. So, thinking about bigger teams, you want to make sure that you're giving every salesperson in your team the opportunity to perform at their peak.

Nicky:

So it's a bit of a no-brainer there.

Ness:

Excellent, All right. Problem number four, which I'm interested to hear the nuance on this one, because it seems a little bit like the first problem. So this is where relationships with key clients and customers are solely with you. You're the business owner or you're the senior leader, and I'm curious to know well the impact. I'm also curious to know what you think drives it, but I'm going to let you answer that, in whichever order you choose.

Nicky:

And also I want to answer how it's different to the first grade. So relationships with key clients and the customers are with you as the business owner, or it could be a senior sales manager or sales director in the business. There's some risks here. Again, similar risk and impact as the first, where you're solely reliant on sales. If that person is out of the business, then the relationship, or if your team, your sales director, leaves, that relationship goes with them, so they're no longer with you per se.

Nicky:

The way that it differs to the first problem, which is that sales are solely reliant on you, is that you might still have a sales team, but key relationships are still with you. Now, that might be a strategy that's fine, but you also have to be consciously aware of. Is this a conscious strategy? Because, again, if you're not in the business, there's risk to the business and also you don't want to be chained to your business. Again, it's similar impact to problem number one, but it's more that you could still have a team, like the sales aren't solely reliant on you anymore, but key relationships are still reliant on you.

Nicky:

Okay, that makes sense From a delivery point of view as well. Like you, want your clients to be able to be taken care of, whether you're in the business or not. It's the delivery aspect, it's not just the initial sales aspect, and you don't want to have all escalations come to you. You don't want to have to deal with all the day-to-day issues because that takes time and it's potentially taking you away from whatever your next is. So again, I want to reiterate it could be a part of the strategy that you still have key relationships with key clients. But if you're doing that, get your top sales managers in on that as well, so that they're also building that relationship. Your client will be better taken care of and you will have more freedom of choice and time freedom in your business. Does that help?

Ness:

answer those questions? Yeah, absolutely, and I wonder if, on that last one, sometimes ego might be at play too. I was about to say so why this happens.

Nicky:

I'd say the top two reasons is it feels good, you've got the key relationships. There's a bit of ego martyrdom I can do it, I can't hand over. Nobody else does it as good as me like a bit of that. And the second can also be fear of letting go. You know we often hear business owners say I don't want to. You know I don't want to be needed in the business as much. And yet when it comes to the crunch they're the biggest bottleneck because you've got to trust your team and it's scary.

Nicky:

And also, you've spent 5, 10, 20 years building this, handing over your baby to someone. It's hard.

Ness:

For sure Amazing, all right, so actionable action. I think you've already said what that is today, but do you want to just reiterate it before we close out?

Nicky:

Absolutely so you're rating yourself from zero to 10 in each aspect. If you are still the only person doing sales in your business, it's a zero. If you have a team you can have holidays and switch off, it's a 10. That was problem one. Problem two if your team are reactive and order takers or thereabouts, you're closer to a zero. If they're being proactive, if they are maximizing opportunities and building relationships, they're closer to a 10. If you don't, have any processes at all.

Nicky:

We didn't touch on this, but right now it's around the zero. Okay, if you have really good processes that people are using, they know it's there and they're using it consistently, that's where you would get up to a 10. And for the fourth problem if the key relationships with key clients is not just with you it can still be with you, but not only with you you're closer to the 10. If it's 100% with you, you're closer to the zero. So give yourself a score out of 40. The higher you get to 40, the more that you have got these things rocking and rolling in your business, the closer to the zero. You've got a couple of things to look at, and that's fine. That's actually positive because it means that there's opportunities for growth, there's money being left on the table that you can go and grab and put it in your back pocket.

Ness:

Absolutely. And, of course, if you need some help with that, please reach out especially to Nikki, because she's pretty amazing. You can find her on LinkedIn and all the links are in the show notes. So thanks, everyone for listening. We can't wait to be back in your ears again next week. Bye for now, see you later. Thanks for listening to today's ep. If you loved what you heard, connect with us over on LinkedIn and let's continue the conversation over there.

Ness:

Nikki and I are obsessed with helping businesses install smart business growth strategies and leveraging people leadership for peak performance. We bring two business minds and two perspectives into your business, and our number one goal is to make sure that your business is thriving, your team are thriving and you are thriving. We offer a 30-day business diagnostic, taking you from chaos to clarity in just 30 days. Are you curious to find out more? You from chaos to clarity in just 30 days. Are you curious to find out more? Send us an email or go old school and give us a call. Until next time, happy listening and here's to thriving in business and in life.