There are great sales methodologies, approaches and tech tools to help salespeople be more successful. However, one of the best ways to improve your sales results is to: Sell like an entrepreneur. Sell as if you are a small business owner running your own business.
Sell as if you work on straight commission because entrepreneurs work on straight commission!
There is no guaranteed monthly salary.
No guaranteed benefits, perks or bonuses.
When you think, act and sell like an entrepreneur, you will:
1. Use your time wisely. You don’t waste time attending conferences or events that don’t produce leads or opportunities. Sure, these conferences are fun, but fun doesn’t pay for your flight, food and hotel expenses.
- You don’t waste time on non-revenue selling activities during prime selling time. You are focused on connecting with people, prospects and customers with the goal of building relationships and business, not completing your expense report.
- You don’t waste time hanging around naysayer and excuse makers that blame their poor sales results on everyone but themselves. You simply can’t afford to be around people with a “CAN’T” do attitude. That attitude is contagious and it’s a virus you avoid.
2. Work really hard. There is no paycheck coming in unless you produce that paycheck. In the beginning of building a business, this may require long days of getting up early and working late. I remember my early days in this business of sales development. On more than one occasion I began the day with an early morning networking breakfast, filled the day with appointments and ended the day with another evening networking event.
- Or, there were days that I started my day with prospecting calls to the east coast and wrapped up the day making prospecting calls to the west coast.
It was hard work. It took belief, perseverance and resiliency. And it paid off.
- Today, my calendar is more balanced. Because I applied the emotional intelligence skill of delayed gratification by putting in the work to earn the reward of repeat and referral business.
3. Learn and continue learning. As an entrepreneur, there isn’t a formal onboarding program. You have to learn quickly because no one is paying you to get ramped up!
- You set aside your ego and ask everybody and anybody for advice. Successful entrepreneurs recognize that they don’t have to be the smartest person in the room.
They simply need to find the smartest person in the room!
4. Study your wins and losses. When working for yourself, you don’t get paid for making the same mistakes over and over. You can’t afford to make the same mistakes over and over. An early mentor taught me to debrief every sales call to gain an understanding of what I did well and what I didn’t do so well.
- This mentor built my EQ skill of self-awareness. That which you are not aware of you cannot change. By slowing down and analyzing my sales process, I often changed my sales process and improved my sales results.
5. Thank and remember your good customers. When you are building a business, you are extremely grateful for people that purchased from you before you had a name or reputation. I can still remember clients from over 30 years ago that gave me a break and a check. Never forget who brought you to the sales dance.
Want to grow your sales? Think, act and sell like an entrepreneur.
Good Selling!
