It has been a hectic week of crashed computers, new blogs set up, new video integrations, business deals, etc.  Suffice to say, I have been worn out by the myriad of tasks.

In the middle of this busy week, I talked to a strong salesperson I know who has been quite successful in an industry that normally would suffer during this economy.  Unfortunately, he is starting to fade in his current position.  What I mean is that the company is grinding him down to where he is looking for another opportunity.

The main reason is disgustingly simple – he can successfully close deals in this economy, but his company struggles to deliver the product/solution.  The owner is absent from critical, time-related decisions.  The production department misses deadlines.  Installations fail due to installer error.

I met with this salesperson for coffee to discuss the situation and you could see the light fading in his eyes.  I’ve seen this scenario play out many times.  Companies want to hire strong salespeople, but they do not have the structure to support them.

The key here is to make sure you have the proper structure in place before hiring a strong hunter.  These hunters will stretch your company in new directions.  They will expect fast responses.  They will prefer to pass along the deal to a support person while they track the next deal.  These principles are simple to understand but difficult to put into action.

If you have strong salespeople today, be sure to monitor their internal company tasks.  What areas are slowing them down?  What could be done to be more efficient?  Don’t allow lethargic internal procedures to wear down the drive of a deal-closing hunter.

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