Let’s face it. CEO’s do not fail based on bad intent. CEO frustration, however, is prevalent. We all do what we do because we think it’s the right thing to do. However, is it, and has it been the most profitable thing for you to do?

One Major reason for CEO Frustration

Bad Sales Execution! It is just that simple: failure to hold themselves and their salespeople to the high level of commitment necessary to get things done; being indecisive, not delivering on sales goals and commitments. This is despite the fact that most CEO’s tend to be highly intelligent, dedicated, and accomplished. They worked hard, make sacrifices, and may have performed for years at a time.

Where does the CEO go wrong?

The number one reason for CEO Frustration is that often they fail to put the right salespeople in the right jobs–and the related failure to deal head-on with consistent sales skill or sales attitudinal issues upfront. Specifically, failed CEO’s are often unable to deal with salespeople whose sustained poor performance deeply impacts the company. What is so alarming is that many CEO’s usually know there’s a problem; their inner voice is telling them, but they suppress it. Now, they may not know the actual root cause of the problem, however, they are well aware of the constant ramification. Often those around the CEO recognize the problem first because many CEO’s are so deeply entrenched in the day to day operations of the business.

Over-Reliance on the Business Owner: In many small businesses, the owner has a huge influence over day-to-day operations. They not only manage and control most of the company’s activities, but they also use their past connections and efforts to generate most, if not all of the company’s new business opportunities.

In many cases, most of the company’s core business and profits have been developed by the business owner. The business owner, in his attempts to get to the next level now, hires salespeople. After the interviewing and training phases are completed, these accounts are then handed down to these sales reps, who at best, manage the accounts opposed to growing the accounts.

Over-Reliance on a Few Clients: Failure to develop New Business: In order to reduce risk (in particular in a small sales organization), it is critical to understand the difference between 100 clients generating $1000 each in profit, VS a few developing a total of $100,000 in profit. If your business is skewed towards the latter case, you may want to immediately re-think your new business development plan.

Again, often the core business, developed by the business owner is handed off to new sales reps hired to grow the business. What often occurs, is that rather than creating an environment of real growth where sales reps must “earn” established accounts through new business development efforts of their own, they are simply “given” existing accounts and do nothing more than manage these accounts resulting in no real growth. This result is the “Sales Plateau”.

Time, effort and capital are invested in hiring and developing a sales team that does nothing more than babysit existing companies developed by a few at the top. A culture of new business development is not established, sales turnover begins financially impacting your bottom line and a vicious cycle is now in place.

Additionally, CEO’s tend to constantly create an environment where everything appears to be ok, and avoid bringing up situations that may cause alarm; unknowingly compounding the problem. CEO’s rationalize and create their own excuses which are a mechanism for avoidance.

Here are just a few:

1. “I like this guy!” Often, small business owners create an environment much like a fraternity. The problem of blind loyalty shows up which clouds judgment and seriously impedes a business owners ability to take corrective actions.

2. “I can fix him.” Keep something in mind – You hired him! Therefore, you were the one who failed to identify or recognize these same sales weaknesses that you personally must fix!

3. How Sales Interviews Backfire! Understand something about the interviewing process. More often than not while in the interviewing process you hear that voice, you know the one, in the back of your head telling you “I like this guy” when in fact-you ARE like this guy. We all tend to subconsciously hire people we are behaviorally similar to; resulting often in us hiring people with similar sales strengths and similar sales weaknesses! How are you going to fix something, that happens to be your own weakness?

GE’s Jack Welch loved to spot people early, follow them, grow them, and stretch them in jobs of increasing complexity. “We spend all our time on people,” he says. “The day we screw up the people thing, this company is over.”

Conclusion

Decision gridlock can happen to anyone, but it happens most often to CEOs who’ve spent a career with one company, especially a successful one, and especially when it’s their own. The processes have worked, they’re part of the company’s day-to-day life–so it takes real courage to confront what most often they have created or allowed to unfold.

They start by focusing on initiatives that are clear, specific, and few, and they don’t launch a new one until those in progress are embedded in the company’s DNA. We’ve all heard stories, most often from employees, who speak about their CEO’s idea of the month–vision statements, quality, empowerment, leadership, all of which are absent of process.

If you have taken the time to read this article in its entirety, then we urge you to take the next step to investigate your options.