Most of my customers are independent security businesses hustling like crazy to survive or grow, depending on where the economy is in its cycle. The leaders of these businesses usually don’t have the time to create a sales structure, and many didn’t come from a sales background and don’t know where to start. Their sales organization has no methodology, no consistent meeting format, no strategic sales plan, etc. How can a sales person succeed in such an environment?
First of all, count your blessings that you’re not in an organization that has you so structured that you’ve turned into a robot and have a PhD in Excel. Take advantage of your lack of structure and freedom – build your own process and structure, and keep it very simple. Pick one initiative at a time and invest a few hours per week or a lot of hours one weekend to complete the initiative.
An example could be to build your own opportunity management tool. If you don’t have a CRM, search online for a free or very inexpensive version for yourself. Zoho has a free edition, and pretty good edition at $12 - $15 / month / user. (If you’re really ambitious, Salesforce.com is a better tool but it’s tough to get it for less than $55 / month / user.) There are dozens of free versions out there that might work well for you. If not, build a spreadsheet to organize your opportunities.
This is just one example. There are dozens more that you could build on your own. Just think about your scenario and what you wish you had from management … and then build it for yourself. Whatever the initiative, keep it simple, implement it, and start the next one. After a few months, you won’t need any structure form your company, and they will likely be adopting yours (and paying for the CRM).
