As a business owner I have had those nights when I couldn’t sleep due to tight finances and wondering how I was going to make payroll on Friday. During this same time, my sales staff and managers were getting a great night’s sleep because they were not directly connected to the cash flow or net profit of the business. So the disconnect is the “offense” of the company does not feel the same pressures that the business owner does and if they did feel pressure, they might be inclined to offer innovative ways to drive revenue or reduce expenses.
Solution – get your management team and sales force directly tied to desired results. I am NOT talking about “bonuses” based on if we hit targets, I’m talking about having part of their normal compensation i.e. (salary, commission, performance bonus) to be “at risk”. I have found that if you modify the compensation plan to put 30% - 40% of their total compensation at risk, they pay attention better and are more inclined to offer innovative ideas, answer the phone after 5:00PM and do a better job prospecting. As a business owner you MUST have everyone engaged and focused on successful outcomes.