Stuck In The Mud

Well, pirate fans - it's rainy season here in the Midwest (that's the season wedged between frozen tundra and humidity that should be reserved for beaches). And with the rains come two things:

1. Leaky basements.
2. Plenty of free indoor time to do all those projects that you should do during the winter but don't want to - OR - plenty of time to ponder life's great mysteries.

Since the project list grows no matter what gets completed (NEVER BUY A HOUSE FROM A HANDY MAN) Skully has chosen to ponder.

I tell you that to tell you this. I want to talk about mud. You know the stuff. Slippery, slimy, slick blecky crud. The kind that when your truck decides to take that cross-the-field shortcut, you end up revving the engine faster and faster but not actually going anywhere.

Sort of reminds me of my discussion with a sales manager pal of mine this morning. Going over his sales growth (negative), he was stymied as to why the number of customers was growing, the average size of customers was increasing and yet the bottom line of the top line was that his sales was declining.

Being the Wise Skully that I am, I could tell him in a heartbeat what the problem was, but I let him go on. "To make matters worse, my reps are all complaining that they don't have enough time to take care of customers and bring in new ones", he whined.

Letting him stew in his own misery a little longer, I silently and patiently waited for him to go on. But alas, he was dejected and feeling neglected (far better than being on the Group W bench that Arlo Guthrie sang so eloquently about oh, those many years ago).

"Look, bud, it's simple," I said. "You are stuck in the mud." See how I cleverly worked this whole "mud" thing? Anyway, I explained the following basic points of "sales growth".

1. Dump crappy accounts that eat more time than provide profit.
2. Quit churning your tires! If the sale isn't going anywhere (those accounts that are on your prospect list since Granny was a youngster), get back on the highway and move on down the road. The highway is where the big deals are. It's faster. It goes more places and it's a whole lot more fun with the top down.
3. Mud attracts. If you get stuck in it, you are going to do nothing but pick up more mud and make it worse.
4. Hire somebody to do your "clerk work". Make time for selling!


Me? I am going to go put up those shelves in the closet that came crashing down last night. That way when the sun comes out, I can go fishin'. Fishing for new customers or from a boat. Hmmm, maybe I need a new boat so I can entertain prospects. Better call the accountant.