Isn’t that the truth?  Here are some sobering points from a CNNMoney.com article:

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees cut another 75,000 workers in October, according to estimates released Wednesday from payroll processor ADP.

…

A telephone survey of 830 small business owners conducted by management consulting firm George S. May International from Oct. 28-30 found that 74% of the owners polled do not plan to increase their staff headcount in the next 90 days.

It has been our experience that sales hiring typically slows down during the holiday season, but companies often discuss their Q1 hiring plans with the intention of a fast start to the new year.  Unfortunately we simply aren’t hearing that talk this year.

The article provides insight into the small business world today (my bold):

After three years of growth, sales at small companies — those with annual revenue of less than $10 million — have declined by nearly 4% this year, according to a recent analysis by Sageworks, which tracks financial data at privately held companies.

There is one type of company that continues to hire – aggressive companies set to grab market share.  We are still working with them in assessing sales candidates at a reduced, but steady rate.

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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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