Would you employ a sales person?

A few clients of mine asked my advice on whether they should employ a dedicated sales person to grow their business. They were established and looking to grow and felt that having someone out there "selling" would help.

I thought about it and came to the conclusion that they should not employ a dedicated sales person. The reason being that they were both small companies. The risk of employing someone at such high fixed costs (estimated to be of the order of £50k) was too high. They only needed a few good contacts and a few new clients and they would be close to capacity.

Rather than hire an expensive fixed asset, here are my suggestions:

1. Clearly identify who has the propensity to buy from them - their target market
   
2. Develop their offering to resolve these individuals pain - ease their pain
   

They can then use other, less costly methods to build their reputation with the target audience. Write thought pieces, blogs, draft articles, speak at conferences, call them to ask for a meeting. Each of these will build the relationship. Some will turn into clients. Some will not. That's fine. If you keep in contact they may become clients in the future, but they will also be talking about you and that in turn builds your reputation.

So don't employ sales people if you are a small business. Build your reputation instead.