Recently a client told me they didn’t have the manpower for sales.  Yikes!  They really thought that.  What they missed is that sales is their most important activity.  It is not an afterthought.  You must find the manpower.
Not knowing how to generate money is shockingly very common among small businesses. It’s not that the product or service is bad, the problem is a lack of sales. No sales means no business.  End of story.  So why do many entrepreneurs ignore the sales process.  In part it is because many do not have sales experience.  They are excited about the process of developing their product.  But sales is scary to them.  They don’t know how to do it so they are optimistic that the product will sell itself.  Maybe they do a few trade shows or they make a look book and mail it to potential buyers or they hire a sales rep and hope for the best.  They don’t actively and consistently work on sales.
By ignoring or avoiding the sales process you doom your company to failure even before you start.  You should be selling your company from the very beginning.  Don’t wait till your product is finished and polished to the nth degree.  Have a plan in place so that when you open your collection you’re ready to sell.  In fact when I launch a new company I presell it to my potential buyers.  I contact them to create interest and tell them what is coming.  This way when I open the collection they are open to the possibility of carrying my product.  Then when the line is ready I continually reach out to them so that they come and see and purchase my merchandise.
I have launched and built several businesses and I know from experience that I must make selling my number one priority.