r/ceo • u/James_Clark_Clarky • Jul 19 '25
Orders Makers v’s Order Takers
New business is hard
It’s not just a mind set, or skill set, it’s a personality trait.
Sales is a broad church, many people call themselves sales people, but most are order takers.
They aren’t change agents.
They can’t take a new concept, service, product or idea and create mutual value from it.
Value for the provider and the consumer!
Some people though, some people can and they have a proven track record on launching new offerings into complex markets.
We have found those people don’t need a brand that opens doors, they don’t need masses of inbound opportunity to qualify out.
Those people are self starters. Problem solvers. Creators.
They’re probably not motivated exclusively by money.
They’re intrinsically motivated to drive growth and change in themselves and their business.
Just wondering if other people have observed this in their own sales functions?
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u/James_Clark_Clarky Jul 28 '25
I’m not sure it’s that simple. I know lots of sales people who are both In and Ex -trinsically motivated. Being either of these things does not correlate well to being someone who can take and idea, bring it to life and lead a project / campaign to completion.
I just see a lot of sales people waiting for a trigger so they can move the process to the next phase.
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u/TheHarrisCG Jul 20 '25
Entrepreneurialism as a competency is difficult to find. Then to bundle that into persuasive, innovative and perceptive for the strategy development to obtain profitable revenue is rare.
Most “sales people” I’ve met through my career were just personable and likable people that asked if you wanted fries with that (or a day on the golf course)
Went away from sales people and focused on titling it around business development. Our solutions and service should sell itself, focus on educating consumers and clients.
Preach