Business Builders vs. Sales Reps. What are the differences?

Reminders... and Opportunity!

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On to this week's blast topic!

Business Builders vs. Sales Reps. What are the differences?  

Over my 20+ years in various sales, management, and leadership positions, there has always been a distinct difference between which companies wanted me (and other peers) to simply be a sales rep, and which companies wanted me (and other peers) to be business builders.

Below, I represented AlliedBarton, a domestic Security Services organization from 2012-2017 in a direct selling role. I was a business builder, yet still, a front-line sales professional, as we grew my assigned branch operations from $13M in 2012, to over $50M in 2017. 

I've found that there were a few business drivers to help make the determination on how revenue generators were influenced:

• Small margin vs. Large(r) margin companies/industries

• Topline focused vs. Partnership standards/cultures

• Evergreen markets vs. Established markets

• Leadership and manager preferences

Although those topics alone would be fascinating to dig into (perhaps in an upcoming blast!) one of the most basic concepts between business builders and sales reps comes down to working on achieving goals vs. building systems.

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Whether you saw my above tweet from last week or not, I've found that there is a distinct difference between simply being a sales rep to achieve a revenue goal and one that builds systems.Let's break them both down and understand the differences.

Goals (seeking sales/revenue, only).

Not uncommon in 99% of all sales jobs, there will always be a selling goal or a quota. Yet many organizations use their sales teams (and the revenue they produce) in vastly different ways.

How do you find yourself in a selling position that simply cares about achieving a sales (units) or revenue goal?

• The organization you represent programs their organic sales budgets simply to replace annual customer churn (turnover/loss). Ask the question, "what percentage of customers do we lose each year?" And then, "what percentage of new customer growth is budgeted for from the sales team(s)?"

• The industry in which you're selling focuses more on new acquisitional growth (purchasing other companies) than it does on organic sales. Ask the question, "what is our topline growth percentage for this budget year?" And then ask, "how much does new organic sales growth make up of the previous total?"

• The company you work for is small, perhaps family-owned, where without new annual revenue from new business, the company will shut down operations. Simply ask, "what are your budgeted revenue sources?" And then ask, "what happens if we miss our revenue or growth goals by more than 50%?"

There are lots of ways to look at organizations that simply seek growth goals or new revenue as the sole function of the sales reps. As the picture from my tweet shows, there is a simple goal, and the path to get there is undefined. The business owner, leadership, or management team simply wants one thing; new revenue.

ps. Another dead giveaway that you work in a goal-defined role? There is high turnover in your position.

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Systems (seeks revenue, however, requires business growth).

The longer I've worked in revenue-generation roles, the more I've realized that selling in business-building roles for organizations is where you want to invest your professional and developmental time. You will still have a growth (quota) goal, however, the organization (or your location, specifically) has business-growth needs beyond simply adding topline revenue.

• The operations are top-heavy with headcount, and to be able to grow revenues to sustain market presence, business growth needs to take place. Ask the question, "what size are our competitors in this market?" Or, "when we grow by X, will we require additional headcount to support the new business?"

• Your location (branch location?) for larger organizations often times varies from market to market. In my AlliedBarton reference from above, the organization in total was a $1.5B domestic organization in 2012. However, the Minneapolis branch where I sold only operated $13M in annualized revenue. The metrics for that branch size per the market in which we were located (ie. opportunity) weren't yet matched. Ask the question, "how will my new sales impact future growth?" And, "what will need to change as we grow larger?"

• Selling in a business-building role allowed me to learn all sides of the business. I wasn't there to simply hit a number. I was there to build a brand and a market reputation, and understand how what I sell supports the current and future profits and liabilities.

ps. If you have visibility into how the organization is performing financially, and it's required (or heavily suggested) of you to build acumen on this, you most likely are in a business-building sales role.

The moral of the story? Whether you sell in the role of a goal-based or business-growth-based system, you're already practicing the right thing by being in a sales role (you're developing experience). Neither type of role is good nor bad. Sometimes, because of a business's industry, those sales operations are forced into being either goal vs. systems; there isn't much choice.

The best sales reps will be able to identify their value to the company for which they're selling quickly. Many reps have wonderful and bountiful careers selling in goal-based roles. However, my professional opinion would be to find sales roles where you can help create/grow an actual company (branch). You'll learn more about business, and the systems needed to grow while improving your own acumen more than simply slamming sales quotas year after year. 

And when you understand business, you all of a sudden have a career. You become marketable for management and leadership positions. All because you got into sales and have learned how to grow a business.

Sales Tweets of The Week!

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