A lot of distributors in our industry are spending many long days behind their desks. They’re entering orders, keeping the books and creating to-do lists—and doing it all over again the next day. But the truth is there’s no money on your side of the desk. You will never become wealthy sitting behind your desk doing $20-an-hour work day-in and day-out. If you want to achieve wealth, you have to go out and get it.
There is plenty of money to be had. Promotional products and printing comprise a nearly $200 billion a year industry. This means we are in one of the top ten industries in North America. The fact is, most people reading this are within an hour drive of $250 million—$2 billion worth of business—and I firmly believe there is no excuse for not making $500,000 per year in your pocket—unless you choose not to. Each day you spend sitting behind your desk is a day you’re choosing not to make more money.
So what do you need to do to start earning more money? It’s about choosing the right activities—wealth-building activities. At Proforma, we call the wealth-building activities that increase your top line growth the $500-an-hour work. Everything else we call clerical work, $20-an-hour work, which just gets in your way of achieving your maximum potential. As a business owner, you should be focusing on these four activities to increase your sales:
- Earning new customers
- Selling more to the customers you have
- Hiring and managing sales representatives
- Buying out your competition
There are different levels of sales achievements that may help you determine which mix of the above activities you should be focusing on. Sales reps should focus on just the first two activities, while business owners should focus on the right mix of all four activities for growing their sales. Start by analyzing where your sales are now, where you want your sales to be and which of these activities you can start with to get your business on the right track towards growth.
As a general guide, by the time you reach $400,000 in sales you should be hiring sales representatives and maybe a customer service representative to help manage the $20-an-hour work. If you are selling $400,000 to $1 million, this is the time to start developing strategies to sell more. Evaluate your customers. Penetrate your accounts by educating your customers on your complete capabilities. Once you are selling more than $1 million a year, merger and acquisition opportunities are a great way to propel your sales.
The only limit on your top line is the one you put there yourself. Make the choice each day to not be limited and distracted by day-to-day tasks. Get out from behind your desk. Stay focused on these four wealth building activities and you will achieve your next level of success.
