Why Sales Goals Are Destroying Boutique Consultancies

And, of course, on the top of the shuffling madness, there was John Henry, and nice, happy-go-lucky chap in England.

In fact, his full name was John Henry Bonham. He was the drummer of the legendary rock band Led Zeppelin and the composer of the equally legendary song, Moby Dick. Sadly, he died in 1980 at the tender age of 32.

Nevertheless, our story today has nothing to do with him. Not a dickybird.

Our hero for this literary masterpiece is a completely different John Henry. Yes, without the Bonham bit and without significant drumming skills.

Our John Henry was a huge African-American bloke who was a steel driver working on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in the 1940s.

He was drilling holes and hammering steel spikes into rocks with his 14-pound hammer.

What made John so outstanding in his profession and so valuable to the railroad company was that he could make 10-12 feet of progress in one single workday. No one else came even within spitting distance of his incredible performance.

Then his day came. Now he could really prove himself in a significant way.

Out of nowhere, a salesman showed up and started bragging to management about his steam drill and how that drill could out-work any human.

"But not me!" – first thought and then shouted John.

After some argument, the contest was set between man and machine.

John picked up a 20-pound hammer in each hand and got to work.

In very a tight contest, John eventually won.

In triumph, he raised his hammers to the sky as his co-workers and managers were cheering and celebrating him.

Then the celebration suddenly ended and panic took over.

John felt dizzy with exhaustion.

The hammers fell from his hands and he collapsed to the ground.

Within minutes, he was dead as a doornail. He died from a burst blood vessel in his brain.

Yes, the human beat the machine… for fleeting a fleeting moment and victory killed him.

And the machine beat the human… forever.

Setting aspiring sales goals can give you a temporary lead, but they alone can't guarantee that you actually reach them.

Just look at your peers. They have sales goals up to the wazoo, but many of them keep falling short on those goals time and time again.

I reckon, John Henry's goal was to be the company's most valuable worker, and it had worked for him for a while.

Then with the arrival of the steam drill, the shit hit the fan and soon after, John hit the ground… not exactly running but, well, lying still.

Yes, John defeated the drill machine, a.k.a. the system, but only for a short time. C & O Railroad's greatest driller, the legendary John Henry was dead. Even the drilling legend couldn't beat the machine.

And the sad reality is that while John was busy walloping spikes in the 1940s, almost 100 years later, many boutique consultancies do the equivalent of manual spike-walloping in their own firms: Using unnecessary manual labour to generate sales leads and convert them to clients despite the fact that 100% of lead generation and the majority of the lead conversion process can be automated.

In fact, many firm leaders are proud of their hard work to drum up new business.

Continue reading ... Why Sales Goals Are Destroying Boutique Consultancies

Enjoy!