This is the Lifeblood of every business.
Sales is the lifeblood of every business. Without sales revenues, the entire apparatus comes crashing down on itself. This is one of the many reasons why salespeople should take great pride in their work. They’re helping to build the organization whether they realize it or not. They’re not just here to make quota. They’re not just here to earn a commission. They’re here to help grow an organization. The sales revenues they generate help solve organizational problems and help reinvest in the firm itself.
“Sales cure all.”
— Mark Cuban
Salespeople need a Mission and Purpose they can align themselves with. Further, they need an organizational culture that aligns with this Mission and Purpose as well as their own professional ethos. When all the above are in alignment, positively combustable things can happen. Salesforce.com happens. Microsoft happens. Tesla happens. Apple happens. Slack happens. All these great companies happened and exist to this day because of the symbiotic relationship between sales, organizational culture and the organization’s Mission and Purpose.
Most of the aforementioned companies are sales-driven cultures. They were founded by an exceptional salesperson. Mark Benioff, the founder and co-CEO of Salesforce, is one of these exceptional salespeople.
Before founding Salesforce in 1999, Mark worked for Larry Ellison at Oracle, where he enjoyed massive success selling Oracle’s software. It’s fair to state that Mark killed it while working for Larry. He not only killed it working for Larry, he got excellent mentorship from Larry as well. How does the organization run? Why do we make the decisions that we do? Where do we see the software industry going in the future? What can we do to help steer it in the direction we want? What can we do as leaders to make things better? Mark got to learn all of this while he learned best practices in software salesmanship, which primed him for his next Mission, founding the SAAS industry with Salesforce.
Oracle was a 100% sales-driven culture. Few things mattered more to Larry Ellison and Oracle’s success than moving software licenses. He is a super-savvy manager who knows sales drive everything else. This was one of the things Oracle’s culture drove home again and again. It certainly was not for everyone — definitely not for the faint of heart. (Sales never is.) But Mark excelled there and carried his knowledge, experience and drive into Salesforce’s founding.
Oracle? Sales-driven culture. Salesforce? Sales-driven culture. Microsoft? For a long time, a sales-driven culture by both Bill Gates and then Steve Ballmer. All of these companies are wildly, massively successful. Yes, they have great products. Yes, they have smart, savvy people. But they also are sales-driven culture from the top-down. Like Mark Cuban, their founders know that sales cure all organizational ills. So long as the business revenues keep pouring in, everything else will be taken care of.
What typically happens when companies go public is they turn into bean-counting organizations. Accounting and cost-cutting matter above all else. As firms mature, it is natural for them to incessantly cut costs. Only it doesn’t have to be this way. Just because you’re public doesn’t mean you ought to be forever cutting costs. If we cut and cut and cut and cut costs, we’re eventually squeezing turnips. While this may seem to make organizations healthy, it drives their best people away. No one wants to work for a company who’s primary drive is cost-cutting. (OK, maybe accountants do.) Salespeople certainly don’t. They’ll move onto the next great company, one with a sales-driven culture instead of an accounting- or finance-driven culture.
One of the main thrills of working for a start-up is the realization that its early sales are imperative and you are a vital part of making them happen. Early sales vet the business model. Early sales mean people want what we’re selling. Early sales pay for everything else. Early sales mean it’ll be easier to get new financing rounds. Early sales mean you’re on the cusp of something new and cool and exciting. While sales are highly meaningful to established companies, sales are extremely meaningful to start-ups. Typically, start-ups don’t have a choice but to embrace the sales-driven culture. They shouldn’t because there really is no other responsible choice for them.
Why leave the sales-driven culture? Even when you’re established? While some accountants may rationalize that all seasoned firms eventually move to the accounting-based culture (with a yawn), there is no real good reason why organizational leaders would advocate for this. What usually happens in most firms where this shift occurs is the new leader, president or CEO comes from accounting or finance. When this happens, the culture shift occurs. Very slowly, methodically, perhaps even unconsciously, the culture shift occurs. New leaders cannot help but inculcate their values and beliefs and behaviors onto the entire organization. Remember: the organizational tone starts at the top.
Which do you pick: the sales-driven culture or the accounting-driven culture? Why? Which drives which, by the way? Which exists because of the other? Which comes first?
Without sales, there would be no numbers to fill in the accounting department’s Excel spreadsheets. Without sales, there would be no sales revenue forecasts for finance or Wall Street. Without sales, there is no lifeblood. Without sales, the entire organization ceases to exist.
