The UK government is running out of tools to jump-start spending and it’s really down to two things:

1 – There isn’t any money in the pot.

2 – The government can’t make money.

The deal is that we can’t keep taking from the economy without putting something back into it first. I’m not spouting a party line here – it’s a fact. No pay, no play. We live in a coin-operated society.

The government is cutting back on spending, upsetting a lot of people. The Bank of England is printing more money. But as working adults, we can’t expect to hit retirement with the same level of pensions that our parents did. We will have to work a lot harder to achieve that – and the question is, how should we do that? It’s not just a question of putting more hours in.

Today we import more goods than we export – one-third of our food is imported. Our service economy props up our balance of trades, but emerging markets are taking little bites out of our strongholds – financial and legal services. The UK is a global champion in these two sectors, but how much longer can we claim credibility in these areas when our economy looks so bad?

The government is more or less powerless in solving this problem. It can tax. It can spend. And it can legislate – sometimes quickly – but ultimately it cannot do the one thing that the entire economy is crying out for, yet no one speaks of. It is an unspoken word that has become so dirty in our society, some of us would rather it did not exist. It may even cause you to do a little bit of sick in your mouth.

That word is ‘sales’.

We have banished it and its ambassadors from our day-to-day vocabulary.

Why? You could argue it’s our inherited cultural values of the feudal system. You could argue that we’ve got comfortable doing jobs that have nothing to do with selling. Or you could argue that it’s something we’re a bit scared of because it inherently involves taking a risk, speaking to people we don’t know and the possibility of rejection.

Rejection?

Yes, rejection.

Truly skilled sales people are a rare breed. You don’t get many folks who are willing to put themselves on the line to hunt down the money and actually do it constantly. That’s because it’s hard, but there are some very simple things you can do to make it easier – namely knowing what problems need fixing, who needs them solved and openly communicating with them.

That’s what pipeline should be about. Not just a list of names on a chart.

The UK and its businesses needs more ambassadors for products and services. You can only take money from a pot when there is money to take. There is currently no money, so we have to go and get some in ways we’re not accustomed to – entrepreneurially.

We can’t borrow any more. We actually have to go and make it. So how will you go about it?