David Masover Process Selling Blog

Of Libya, Egypt and Sales Consulting

Hmmm… Kind of an odd title here.  It will make sense very quickly!

If you watch or read the news – even a little bit – you know that both Libya and Egypt had uprisings as a part of what has been called the Arab Spring.  In both countries, the existing government was replaced by people who participated in the uprisings, and in both countries – for reasons and to a degree that we won’t detail here – things have gone at least a bit off track.

In Egypt, the military is accused of manipulating the new government, and in Libya, elements of the new regime seem to have a vengeful brutality that makes many quite uncomfortable.

I’m quite sympathetic.  It seems to me that running a country is pretty hard.  There is a lot to deal with, from balancing the economy, to keeping traffic flowing, to ensuring a just judicial system, to fixing potholes in the street, and much, much more.  I salute the immense bravery of those who participated in the uprising – but – and here is the point – that one participates in an uprising does not carry the same qualifications as one who may effectively run a country.  Sure, it happens sometimes, but the two don’t necessarily correlate.

I also think that running a company is hard.  While those in the Occupy movement like to vilify CEO’s, if you talk to one – when their guard is down – you will get agreement more often than not that one of the hardest part about being a CEO is that it seems as though every day you come to work and face a new, huge, thorny problem that must be solved – and solved fast and right before it becomes mission critical.

I make my living as a sales consultant.  I have worked in sales all of my professional life, and when a CEO has a problem related to sales, sometimes me or someone like me gets hired to help.  Good sales consultants, and consultants of all variations can offer perspectives gained from deep experience in a specific field, and broad experience in helping a variety of companies solve similar problems according to the specific circumstances of each specific company.

Hiring a consultant does not mean that your people are incompetent, it simply means that there is a big enough problem that a fresh, outside, experienced perspective is a welcome addition to a challenging decision making process.

I do hope that the next time an oppressed people successfully rises up and frees themselves from an oppressive regime, they will have learned from recent events, and will ask for guidance in getting through the challenging transition that they facilitated.

Meanwhile, recognize that as you run your company or division, you have certain skills sets as do you people, and some are stronger than others.  When you have a problem to solve that is bigger than the skill sets that you and yours posses, get some help.  You may spend a little money on a consultant – or even a lot of money – but if the problem is big enough, and the consultant is good enough – the ROI should be there, and the value of the ROI is the right perspective to take on the cost of moving forward with various levels of informed input.

Author: David Masover

David Masover has over twenty years of business-to-business sales experience, including more than ten years in sales management, training, and consulting. He has consulted and negotiated in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Masover is co-founder of Branders.com, the world's largest online seller of promotional products, and the author of "Mastering Your Sales Process" which is available on Amazon. David is currently engaged in private sales consulting in Budapest, Hungary.