Last week I found myself in my office eating my lunch salad with a spoon. Have you ever tried to eat salad with a spoon? Probably not, I'm sure.

But, if you did try, you'd see it's pretty damn hard to do! You need to stab salad with a fork.

I was in this predicament because, quite frankly, I was too lazy to go back to the deli to get a fork. Now I am here to testify that you can't eat soup with a fork, you can't eat peas with a knife and you definitely can't eat salad with a spoon. Simply put, you need the right tool ready at the table to enjoy your meal.

Similarly, salespeople need the right tools in their jobs to enjoy closing those deals.

I was thinking as I was eating (it was a much longer lunch than I thought it would be) about an interview just the day before with a young saleswoman who was looking to leave her current employer. She hadn't been there very long, so I was very skeptical about her reasons for wanting to make a change so soon.

She explained that she doubted she could be successful at her company since there was no "infrastructure" to guarantee her success. "What do you mean by infrastructure?" I asked. She went on to explain that she had

• no database of leads or prospects (cold, hot or otherwise!);

• very little training by her manager and no regularly scheduled sales meetings;

• a very mediocre company website which did not proactively sell their product or capture leads; and,

• no marketing support for sales materials, presentations or complex proposals.

• Lead Generation: Good salespeople will always be prospecting for leads but you need to provide leads as well. There should be a formally established lead generation program.

• Marketing Support: Salespeople need promotional material, professional presentations and support for complex proposals at the end of the sales cycle. Marketing and sales should work hand-in-hand on these efforts.

• Effective Website: Your website must be a sales tool, in addition to whatever else you need to communicate. Make sure your products are described effectively (read "sizzle") and that you can capture leads from the site.

• Ongoing Training: I have written about this many times before. There is NOTHING, simply nothing, more effective in growing the sales of your company than a sales force that is professionally trained and constantly monitored for performance.

The other day I recommended a book that has been in print for over 60 years! I was reading Jack Derby's e-newsletter, a publication I enjoy because he writes about his quotidian life in Vermont as a jumping off point for his excellent sales tips. I was reading the last issue and was reminded of one of my favorite books of all time, One Man's Meat by E. B. White.

One Man's Meat is a compilation of White's New Yorker writings between 1938–1941, written while he was living on his salt marsh farm in Camden, Maine. White writes about the larger world in general (advancing WWII, economy, etc.) all while making comparisons to living the simple life of working a farm, patching the barn roof, and his daily life in Camden.

Most of these essays are so "fresh" they could easily have been written today. So take a break from business reading; picking up this book is like opening a box of chocolates. You'll love it — I bet Jack did!

My friend Nancy Mobley's company, Insight Performance, along with SBANE (The Smaller Business Association of New England), recently published a 2010 Outlook Survey of small companies in the Boston area with revenues of under $20M. A few of the conclusions: 42% of respondents plan to add to their staff and 64% of respondents expected 2010 business conditions to be better.

If you'd like an Executive Summary of the Survey, just click here and I'll send it right out!