Sales Laundry

Archive for March 24th, 2009

When sales are difficult to come by, there is, I believe, a natural gut instinct to nudge a company toward broadening its services in hopes of reaching a wider swath of potential customers.  You typically have to look no further than the existing Sales Managers and Account Executives to find the source of this internal “Scope Creep.”

 While this idea may sound good bouncing around your head, in practical application this seemingly small leap in logic can very well destroy a company.

In electing to follow this strategy you are in essence trading some of your market depth for market breadth, and your competitors will love you for it. 

 Lose some focus on what you are best at and you run the risk of alienating some of your current customer base.  Experience any reduction in quality or service while your eye is off the ball and you just make it that much more difficult for a prospective customer to differentiate between you and a close competitor.

 Lacking depth and experience in you new expanded area of focus, you risk never establishing a customer base.

Lacking a specialization or something to hang your hat on, it is very easy for a company to succumb to “death by being average.”  Look no further than the recent death of Circuit City.

This is not to say a company cannot expand successfully.  They can and do every day with planning and new infrastructure to support the growth.

 In most instances, the better answer is to narrow your focus to what you are absolutely best at and where you hold the maximum competitive advantage.  Mine existing sales, established relationships and references to build sales leverage, making each new sale easier than the last.

If you are not known for something you will be known for nothing.