The right mix of client service and business development can stop the roller coaster of wealth and poverty so many businesspeople face, according to sales expert Lenann McGookey Gardner in a new YouTube video.

Businesses riding high tend to staff up and add capacity. But when demand lowers, even a little bit, “then you’re in the sales and marketing business,” explains Gardner. “Sales is important for every business, even a business that is lucky enough to have pent-up demand.”

“Many professionals, at any point in time, are either selling, or they’re delivering service.  When they’re delivering, they’re delivering full-time… until the contract runs out. Then, they have to run out and get the next piece of work. You can stop that rollercoaster if you incorporate a little bit of sales and marketing on an ongoing basis, even when you’re busy,” says Gardner.

Gardner, who provides learning experiences in up-to-date salesmanship and closing skills, says that even busy people need to devote at least five percent of working hours, on a regular basis, to business development.

Just two hours a week devoted to generating future business while spending 38 hours of a regular workweek on client service can help ensure sustainable finances, and even grow the business.

“If you can find those two hours and know what to do with that time, it will probably be enough to generate a more steady level of income, which leads to greater confidence about your financial circumstances, which makes you happier and gives you a better overall life,” says Gardner. “And that’s what business ownership should be about: a job you like, the ability to control your time, and a very comfortable and steady level of income.”

Lenann McGookey Gardner, a Harvard MBA and a past #1 worldwide sales rep at Xerox, offers executive and sales coaching for business success, keynote speeches on state-of-the-art selling and closing skills, and workshops. Her book Got Sales? The Complete Guide to Today’s Proven Methods for Selling Services, nominated for the Axiom Business Book Award as the best sales book of the year, is the one guidebook highlighting all the recent research and data on what’s working now in contemporary selling. More information is available at http://youcansell.com/.