Executive summary:

 • All organisations are looking for sales professionals. Develop a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy.

 • The training curriculum should cover onboarding, relevant professional development as milestones are achieved and leadership training. • It is a very high risk to have too much of the budget depending on one individual.

 • Fraud in the sales process is more common than most people think.

 • Protection of intellectual property (IP) can be achieved by including a data protection clause in employment contracts and reinforcing the company confidential nature of critical client data.

 One of my trusted business advisors has a breath-taking level of confidence in the importance of marketing in scaling a successful business to new heights. Our discussions are always energetic, and we don’t agree on everything. He acknowledges the importance of the sales function in a fledgling organisation but enthuses about marketing’s potential and power. I find his strong viewpoint counterintuitive because he comes from a finance and accounting background and specialists from this area of the business are not the usual enthusiasts for elaborate marketing plans 

Depending on your perspective: finance & accounting, marketing, sales, comprehensive operational excellence or people & culture; you are likely to have a preferred bias and focus. 

At some stage, some focus for a founder wishing to build a business will be a comprehensive and professional sales function. If this is executed competently, then the sales function will be able to deliver the orders necessary to achieve the strategic revenue plan.