Is "No Decision Your Main Competitor?"

They get to a point where they know they need a solution, investigate it and then spend the next 12 months thinking about it and wonder why they are no further along the line than they would have liked to be.

Strong management adopts a paradigm of anticipation of circumstnaces and apply innovation, technology and solutions to solving problems within a business. This cannot happen unless management learns how to make a decision and stick with it. Fumbling around and thinking about it won't solve problems and won't help your business get any further up the chain.

Yesterday I spoke with a lead who coincidentally rung us 12 months ago. I remember distinctively speaking to the woman who had a company specializing in the medical profession, yet had a website that looked like a badly executed hippy retreat. Now if you are selling to hospital administration staff, then this clearly is not the right branding and key messages that a company should be using. The woman forgot that she had rung and was asking the same questions that she did last year. Clearly, she was more interested in getting information and ideas than hiring any company - but not only is that her mistake, but her ability to listen to professional advice is clearly not a strong point. Instead, she did nothing. Sat on her hands and waited another year until the panic buttons rung again and she was no further up on her sales goals.

A lot of businesses, particularly in the small space, don't have a automated sales process in place. This is ludicrous because without an automated process in place, there is a lot of wasted time, re-inventing the wheel and money lost. It just doesn't make smart economic sense.

Modeling behaviour of your sales force and studying your top people to formulate a winning strategy is paramount to understanding where your strengths are in the sales process and where you actually fall short.

In 2013, use the resources that are there for you online or otherwise and set your business up for success through a better understanding of your sales force and sales processes and a strengthened management thrust on making decision as and when needed.