As many of you know all too well, hiring salespeople can be a fickle experience that’s fraught with risk.

What if you hire the wrong person? What if he or she isn’t productive? What if it takes you more time to get that person up to speed than it’s really worth to your bottom line? And, maybe worst of all, what if that person costs you sales as he or she learns the ropes of your business and market?

Without question, those are all legitimate hiring issues. But business owners should also be equally concerned with the implications of not hiring a salesperson when their company desperately needs one.

After all, if you—or your existing sales staff—are overworked and undermanned, that almost always translates to money being left on the table. And if the amount of potential new revenue you’re missing out on is more than the cost of hiring a new salesperson, why wouldn’t you consider adding to your headcount?

How can you tell if your business is ready to hire a new sales rep? Here are three very simple ways to diagnose if your staff is too thin:

If you’re experiencing any of the three situations above, your business is at risk and it’s time to hire.

Even if you’ve built a seemingly healthy pipeline that’s yielding fresh batches of prospects and customers, the reality is that if you can’t respond—either by cultivating prospects or nurturing existing customers—then you’re putting yourself behind the 8-ball.

It’s really no different than what VARs experience when their operations team doesn’t have enough engineers to fulfill all of the new customers that the sales team is bringing in. The business stalls, revenue flatlines and, over time, your company begins to nosedive.

So, the obvious lesson here is that it doesn’t pay to squander on sales headcount, and it’s counterintuitive to assume that hiring a salesperson will only cost you money.

The truth is that if you hire good salespeople who are effective at selling, you won’t just find that your investment pays for itself several times over—you’ll also discover that your entire business operates more effectively.

Kendra Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert, author of the newly released book, “The Sales Magnet,” and the award winning book, “Selling Against the Goal,” and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group works with companies to break in and exceed revenue objectives in the Small and Midmarket Business (SMB) segment.