The Cost of Avoiding Sales

One of the most common things I see in businesses is the avoidance of sales tasks.

It's easy to get caught up in other "urgent" tasks instead of tackling sales head-on. Updating your website, tweaking strategy docs, or obsessing over brand details feel productive and comfortable. After all, sales (especially cold outreach and following up) can trigger anxiety. So "next Monday" becomes our favourite phrase.

But the moment your sales pipeline dries up and the bank balance dwindles, nothing feels more urgent than sales. By then, it can already be too late.

I experienced this myself in our early days. I'd sell, win a project, then dive completely into delivering it. The project would end, leaving me with an empty pipeline. I'd scramble to sell again, anxiety rising. This exhausting revenue rollercoaster taught me one crucial lesson: you must sell consistently, not sporadically.

This isn't just a startup or small-business issue; it happens everywhere:

Do you have one big client taking up 90% of your focus? They're paying the bills, but things can change overnight. Remember my first successful cold call from last week's newsletter? (Read it here). That client quickly became 80% of our revenue. Luckily, my data-savvy co-founder spotted the risk. We diversified just in time before they started scaling down their workforce and projects due to a global downturn.

Even dedicated salespeople can fall into this trap. Sales is tough, so they often drift into other activities like helping deliverables, endlessly reworking reports, volunteering for distracting tasks - anything but selling.

It's crucial to recognize these behaviors quickly, because avoiding sales comes with hidden costs:

• Leaving money on the table: You're limiting your growth potential.
• Losing touch with your market: Sales conversations keep you aligned and responsive. Without them, you drift away from customer realities.
• Growing frustration and anxiety: Quietly eroding confidence in yourself and your business.
• Risking serious cash-flow issues: Reliance on a single client or sporadic selling can quickly destabilize your business.

B2B sales cycles are long, often 3–6 months or more. If you only start selling once you're already in trouble, you're adding significant delays due to corporate bureaucracies.

Instead, keep the sales momentum going with manageable, daily actions:

1. Ask current clients for referrals.
2. Send 3 LinkedIn DMs this week.
3. Follow up on 3 leads that have gone quiet.
4. Pick up the phone and reconnect with former clients.

Avoiding sales might feel harmless in the moment, but eventually, that hidden cost catches up with you.

If you want easy, manageable systems to keep sales consistent, they're in my B2B Sales Simplified course, currently just $1 for my birthday special.

Yours in making sales a daily habit,

Elna

P.S. Ready to finally tackle sales consistently? My practical, relatable B2B sales course is now live and available for just $1 (until 23 August 2025). 

👉 Find it here

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