Liver Damage
I recently heard it said that, "one in three people who die of heart attacks never show any symptoms." The thought, "other than death, of course" immediately sprang to mind. While this rather dramatic symptom is obvious to the rest of us, the victim is presumably unaware. The business adventure can be quite similar in that the expiree may be the last to know. Some, like GM, continue to respire with the aid of governmental (read: your hard-earned tax dollars) life support. Others consume the family savings account. Walking-dead salespeople live on draws or salaries until management wises up. Sometimes this takes a while, but sooner or later it happens. The financial statements don't lie.

There are zombies (or as the West Indians call them, jumbies) among us. Times are ripe for business expiration. A little sales health checkup is in order. Fortunately, the symptoms of decline are usually fairly easy to detect. They include too few appointments, growing accounts receivables and ever-longer sales cycles.
 
The sales colds that, left untreated, turn into the deadly business flu are easy to catch. Bird Brain flu is endemic. Sufferers spend hours typing to each other in the delusional belief that they'll socially-network their way into real business. (Not even the OWNERS of Twitter have figured out how to make money with it). The other day I came across a "marketing expert" who lamented that CEOs haven't caught on to social networking. Hello. CEOs don't spend their days typing. They have real work to do. Look up the word "executive". The vast majority of business Facebooking and LinkingIn is call reluctance, pure and simple. Got the bug? Get help before you have lots of "friends" but no money.
 
For a near-term boost in sales, effective treatments are known. Concentrating on selling one's higher margin lines usually takes less time (quality conscious buyers shop less) and yields better profits. Allocating significantly more time to direct prospecting (yes, I mean cold-calling and very targeted networking with real decision makers, not other salespeople) will result in more and better appointments now. Timely advice: To paraphrase Mr. Robinson, "one word, telephone".
 
And finally: a warning about BSDS (business sudden death syndrome).  Many are maintaining their heads-above-water status by nursing along one or two large accounts. If you're in this camp your peril may, indeed, be symptomless. Rest assured that you're a business skipped heartbeat away from resting in peace. Acetaminophen won't begin to address the headache you'll face if they should leave you. Besides, it causes liver damage.