Nick Bettes's Page

A significant proportion of owner-managers are averse to growing their business.  Often the reasons put forward are lifestyle choice, reluctance to employ more staff or fear that quality will suffer.

They of course have a choice – but here are some reasons why growth is necessary for an owner-managed business:

• -          Sub-scale businesses suffer from “feast and famine”.  Even relatively modest wins can overload the organisation whilst a slight downturn in sales can be…

Why do you need a sales commission scheme?

The underlying assumption is that rewarding salespeople financially for performance will encourage them to work harder and sell more in pursuit of those rewards.  This view is not borne out by academic research but in practice sales commission schemes are almost universally used.  A carefully-designed commission scheme when implemented on top of good management practices and a solid sales process is a useful…

Sales is all about moving an opportunity through a process that takes it from the first contact through to sale and beyond.  Two things are implied:  Firstly, you have to have a process (that is a repeatable series of steps from first contact through to close – a pipeline) and secondly, you have to do something to move an opportunity through the pipeline – the follow-up.

The underlying assumption is that rewarding employees for achievement (usually financially) will encourage them to work harder and achieve more in pursuit of those rewards.  This view is not borne out by academic research but in practice bonus schemes are widely used.  A carefully-designed bonus scheme when implemented on top of good management practices in a well-run business is a useful management tool – but it is not a substitute for these…