Growing NET: Building a Successful Sales Organization

Prologue

“This platform will soon be one of our top producing partners, net net.” said one of my colleagues as we scrolled through excel reports sent to us from Finance. This was a familiar scene, a bunch of sales staff reviewing how our partnerships were trending and strategizing what we could to do make that growth happen faster and in larger volumes.

When writing this book I thought of several different titles before landing on “Growing NET”. I knew most people wouldn’t understand what “net” meant unless you have spent time on my sales teams. Maybe when you saw the title you thought this was a book about how to fish - growing your nets like the disciples, or maybe you thought this book would be filled with words talking about budgeting and increasing the amount of money you have at the end of the month. In either case, you would be wrong.

“Net Net” to me means how many dollars the sales team is bringing to the organization after everyone in the equation gets paid. It is the last piece of pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving — what you can take home.

I thought this would be a fitting concept to base the title of the book on. After all, successful sales organizations feed the company and leave a little left over to put in the bank.

So here’s to your future journey as a sales individual! Good luck with your endeavors, and I wish you the best in your efforts to increase your company’s revenue — Net Net.

Chapter 1 — Introduction

When I was nineteen, I quit my job at the grocery store pharmacy. I was at a point in my life where I wanted adventure — those kinds of thoughts that most nineteen-year-olds have during “the time in between”. The time when you are not a child and not quite yet an adult. I know this feeling well, and I would be lying if I said I don’t have some of those feelings still in me. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe it isn’t.

I quit that job, sold the few things I owned, and hopped in my 1995 Nissan Maxima with my dog, and I traveled the western half of the country — sleeping in rest areas and camping in national parks. That chapter of my life was instrumental in building the man I am today. I have a journal I wrote in every day when I was on that trip. I will save the rest of that story for when I get around to writing that book.

When I got back from my trip I was desperate for money. I took the first job I came across. Waiting tables at California Pizza Kitchen.

California Pizza Kitchen was another one of those in between chapters of my life, and the lack of responsibility I had made it fun and meaningful. It was during this time that I was building relationships that would last me a lifetime, one of those being with my now wife Lily.

I spent about 6 months at California Pizza Kitchen, and it was shortly after I spilled a tray of 8 glasses full of water on a booth of guests that I decided waiting tables wasn’t for me.

My then roommate informed me that the place he worked was hiring. I didn’t know anything about where he worked, but I knew it was in a fancy office. You know, one of those real job-type places where people sit at desks and take smoke breaks.

I interviewed and ended up receiving an offer to work on their support team. The pay was $14.50 an hour, more money than I had ever made in my 19 years, so I accepted as quickly as I could. This was my first experience in corporate america.

It was at this time, about 11 years ago, that I started to learn about corporate dynamics — what works and what doesn’t, and how to navigate the business world. It was a steep learning curve. I had never been in an office before, so I had to learn as I went. I can remember not knowing that I needed to stay until 5 pm every day. For some reason in my head, I thought I could leave whenever my work was done in a job like this. There were many days I would just tell people I was leaving at 3 pm because I didn’t have anything to do. I never asked. It’s amazing I didn’t get fired or written up. I was green.

Include memories of Freightquote — looking down on smokers island, etc

I spent about a year in a support role but eventually was drawn to sales purely because of the pay increase it provided. I didn’t know anybody in sales, but I knew that some of the highest paid people at that company were in that department.

Since then, I have been employed by many organizations, selling various products and services. During this time I have been observant of the inner workings of a sales organization, both large and small.

I’ve developed an understanding of what makes a sales organization successful, what makes customers happy, what makes employees happy, and what makes ownership happy. I understand now how things can evolve in a way that a business doesn’t understand and how it can get complicated and convoluted to change course and fix things.

A business is a complex ecosystem of moving parts. Some of those parts are in the light, but some aren’t. It is those dark places that need to be brought to light so they can be addressed and built upon.

These dark places aren’t always bad. They are dark in the sense that they are not regularly seen. These dark places could be an underlying culture of an organization. It could be the way a customer feels about an organization’s product or service. It could be the way teams communicate — you get the idea.

In this book, I want to voice my observations of successful and unsuccessful sales organizations and prescribe ways to make sure yours is a healthy one. One that takes care of the customer, the employee, and ownership. One that is profitable and still human.

I am currently a Director of various sales teams at my organization, and over the past few years, I have been able to see behind the veil. I’ve seen the cogs of the machine, the pistons of the engine, and sometimes I’ve been called to grease and repair them.

This book is not exhaustive. It is a guide to get you to think and build upon. It’s a resource to come back to so you can analyze your own organization, whether you’re a salesperson, manager, VP, or CEO to make sure you haven’t strayed too far off course. Maybe you’re looking to establish a brand new team. This will be a great guide for you when you’re building a strong foundation.

Chapter 2 — Infrastructure

If you’re interested in reading the rest of GrowingNET you can find it here.