The success of your business depends on many different factors, but the competency of your sales department is a major piece of the puzzle. Any company can make sales, but that’s not enough. You have to be able to outsell the competition, and not just during certain times of the year. You must consistently outsell your competitors. Having a good product is great, but it won’t do you any good when it’s sitting on your store shelves. Here are some industries that really need to upgrade their sales departments.

1. Lumber

The lumber industry provides the rest of the world with wood for making houses, furniture, musical instruments, and anything else that can be crafted from it. While it’s clear that the demand for lumber is pretty high globally, the salespeople in the industry don’t seem to care about improving their services, according to omghub.com. Lumber executives tend to believe that everything can be fixed in-house and that there’s no need to outsource sales, but that’s not the right attitude for anybody concerned with growth and profit. It sounds like lumber companies could benefit a lot from sales insiders. Eric Ruiz, founder of salesvacancies.com, for example, can let lumber execs in on some very enlightening secrets about sales if they’re willing to listen.

2. Building Products

The building products industry sells raw building materials such as granite or clay and pre-made parts like tiles or frames for construction purposes. It seems to have a similar philosophy to that of the lumber industry, and that’s partly due to the fact that they are closely related. Wood is a popular building product and material. Fortunately, the building products industry generally does a better job of in-house sales.

3. Software

Salespeople in the software industry tend to have great technical knowledge and demonstration skills, but they aren’t the best at generating new business. Sales involves a lot more than just selling the product in front of you. You might be able to sell a couple computer programs a day, but when people already have what they need, who’s left to sell to? Actively seeking out new customers is crucial for continued success in the software industry.

4. Music

The music industry is declining rapidly thanks to pirating and file-sharing. Nowadays, almost anybody can find free downloads of their favorite songs online. It seems that only die-hard fans pay for CDs and MP3 downloads. Since 1999, music industry profits have dropped significantly from $14.6 billion to just $6.3 billion. Convincing people to pay for music that they can get for nothing will be a very difficult task for salespeople everywhere.

5. Martial Arts Instruction

The masses don’t see learning martial arts as being necessary in modern society. The customers of martial arts schools are comprised mainly of children, women looking to learn self-defense, and hardcore enthusiasts. Schools are closing left and right because they don’t have enough customers to stay open. The marketing and sales departments need to do something drastic to convince people of the benefits of martial arts.

The sales department is the backbone of any business. When you can’t make a sale, you don’t have a business–just a dream. Turn that dream into reality by making it a priority to invest in competent and experienced salespeople.