Should I hire a salesperson and take a step back, or concentrate on hiring in other areas?

I only have one member of staff and spend pretty much all of my time on sales. Should I hire a salesperson and take a step back, or concentrate on hiring in other areas?

All businesses rely on sales as this is what generates your income. No matter how much time you spend on “behind the scenes” the only way your company can grow is by growing revenue, ie. sales.

Of course, you also need to improve business processes and reduce costs but these have a lesser impact on the overall result than growing revenue.

So driving sales provides growth. But are you the best person to do this?

It is important that you have people in areas that they excel in as this is how you can get the best possible result. Not everyone loves sales or is good at sales.

You can do some simple testing to see whether someone is more of a back office person or a frontline person – available through most recruiting firms, one such test is called “call reluctance”.

So you need to decide where your time can be best spent. If sales is your passion, then hire someone else to assist with other office work that you may currently be doing so you can dedicate your time to sales.

If you prefer office work, then hire a sales expert. I have always believed in “respect and value each other’s differences” and I support diversity and the different types of contributions people make to a business.

You have to answer the question – what do you love doing and what can you do best? This will help you determine what role to concentrate on and what role to fill with someone else.