They’re out there but it can be hard to spot the difference between someone who gets a P&L, either instinctively or due to past experience, and someone who thinks it’s worth a 3 day trek to Harrogate for a £10K project…and at the same time is not too senior (and too expensive) to be doing outbound new business…

The return on investment model is crucial for us.  Clients pay us, clients win substantial amounts of high value, good margin business, clients see a good return, they keep using us for years, they see the value of the cumulative effect over years and everybody is happy.

However, most sales people think in terms of the targets you set them.  If you set them an annual revenue target then all they think about is hitting that revenue target.  They don’t think about margin, cost of winning the work, opportunity cost of the time spent winning the work, a healthy mix of business on your books, etc. etc. etc.  You can train and coach it, but in the meantime you’ll find them spending a lot of time chasing down business that looks to be ‘worth a punt’ but isn’t really good business for you.

Very rarely you come across somebody who just gets it instinctively and can sell.  When you see them, grab them – they’re worth their weight in gold.