Want to be happier, make more money, and grow your company? Of course you do — that’s success in business. We all want it… and we want it fast. As a consultant, I’ve seen a ton of AV companies try out all sorts of shortcuts to grow their businesses overnight. One of those shortcuts is hiring a salesperson with their own accounts. The truth is, it’s never that simple.

We have to understand that strategic planning is engineering what we want to happen based on what we think will happen, and we have to have a firm grip on both of those things to be successful. That’s because strategy is not the actions we take; it’s the reason we take them.

Ever suspect standard solutions won’t work for your business? Does it seem that most solutions, software, or best practices need to be customized in order to really be effective for your company? If so, maybe you’re assuming your business is more unique than it is. When advising AV companies, I often hear, “We’ve seen other people do that, but we can’t. Our business is too unique.” As a person, you are unique. But as a business, you are NOT.

Who are your best hires? Who are the people who will advance through the ranks of your company? The people who probably won’t move out of the warehouse? While most of us tend to look for new hires who show promise of moving through the different positions of our company, that’s not always the best option… for them OR you. The idea that you should only hire people who will move up the career ladder is a myth that too many AV companies buy into.

Reaching a deal with a new client is challenging enough. But getting a new client to actually sign the contract they’ve already agreed to can be even more difficult. We’ve all been there: We complete the proposal and send it over for approval. They respond, “It looks great!” We ask them to sign it and send it back, and then... We don't hear back from them. For some reason, they drag their feet. How do we move from verbal agreement to written confirmation? Once we understand why they’re not signing, we can implement a process that makes it simple.

Customers don’t like change. No salesperson will dispute this claim. It comes up nearly every time we talk about raising prices, increasing profit margins, changing crew routes, or even offering different technology. When these topics surface, inevitably someone says, “We can’t do that. Our customers won’t let us! They don’t like change!” While this idea tends to creep into nearly every sales meeting, customers’ resistance to change doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make the changes necessary for our business to succeed — even when that means raising prices.