SALES – for most startups and SMEs is the last and least important. Which is where they go wrong- investing in a sales team or a sales person is a risk according to most companies; but isn’t it the same with any employee or any other department?

Everyone has to perform and deliver and their “efforts” need to be paid for and incentives / commissions are an add-on. Sales is the main piece of the company machine that ensures that the company is running smooth- and it has its own growth cycle in an organization – right from market understanding, product / service Vs. market demand, research, lead generation to customer mapping, SWOT, competitor analysis, networking & more.. Sales is a continuous process and there are no deadlines because there cannot be a set timeline for sales.

A 9AM-6PM work time may not be as effective as say 3PM – 9PM or for that matter a 12 hour work day may not be of any use and sometimes you might close a deal or get a 7 digit+ lead in just 3 hours.

Sales ought to be a long-term investment (as how one invests in Tech, HR, Design, Media, etc) and organizations need to understand the value of Sales, rather than just hiring and firing teams or at worse not having a sales team itself.