I spend a lot of print space talking to sales professionals who ‘carry the bag’ from the standpoint of B2B and B2P for someone else’s firm, both large and small. Some of the best sales professionals are entrepreneurs! They have to “kill to eat”, and do not have the “safety blanket” that many of you have. This is a good discussion.

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Today we will talk about entrepreneurs and their selling activities.  What have they found important and successful?  This is a tough frontier in this type of economy, yet anyone that is a business owner is truly a sales professional.  The techniques are similar, and the focus is the same.  The importance of success is the same, yet the entrepreneur is not worried about a performance review/appraisal other than the one a customer delivers.

There are things that you worry about in a large or organization that a business owner is not concerned about.  Covering one’s rear end is not an activity that the business owner needs to undertake, but knowing one’s statistics in terms of sales, activity, proposals, business traffic, etc. is important in the analysis of operations.

Here are sales tactics that entrepreneurs should undertake that increase effectiveness, and also increase the viability of their business effort.

6 Areas to Focus On

Know Your Plan – Know Your Numbers – Believe in them!

Being in charge does not reduce your responsibility to develop a plan.  It is your compass as you veer from right to left looking for the next opportunity.  It is your scorecard as you proceed through time.

Sales professionals who work for small and large firms are subject to structure and accountability that forces them to do it, whether they think they need it or not.  The business owner approaches this task for the “structure” that is needed to hold him or herself accountable.  That is especially true when it comes to prospecting and finding new customers.  The ‘science’ in this is no different than the numbers logic that we have suggested before for our sales professionals. Knowing the numbers and your prospecting formula could get you ahead, or result in you going hungry.

This plan should include how many calls, presentations, and sales you expect to make, and then you will need to work your plan.

Know Your Elevator Speech and Know How to Use It

This is essential as you must be able to quickly get someone’s interest without sending him or her into an eye rolling glaze.  (read Black Sales Journal 8/11/2011, Know You Elevator Pitch) This is a big deal! What good is getting someone’s attention in a corner during the networking event if you are not going state what makes you different and better?  This is your big chance to garner as many real prospects as possible, don’t miss it by stumbling when you should be delivering the line that gets you the appointment.  Know your elevator speech!

Network, Network, Network

This is the path to success for entrepreneurs and other sales professionals once you master the skills necessary to take advantage (Black Sales Journal 2/21/2011- Networking for the Black Sales Professional) of it.  Networking is both a skill and an activity, and you should be proficient at both of them.  No one can use networking to their benefit more than the local business owner.

Whether it is a trade association, chamber meetings, trade shows, or general networking events, you need to capture important data (business cards, dates, and most importantly customer need information) from all of those people that you speak to.

Deliver your elevator speech, captivate them, and ask them what is their biggest need in package delivery, widget supply, or florist services, then solve their issues.

Know your Customer’s Needs and Wants – Listen!

Uncovering your customer’s needs and wants is part of everyday life as an entrepreneur.  The reason that you are delivering the “elevator speech” with such brevity and aplomb is that you need use the rest of the time to find out how you and your organization can help to provide solutions.

You can’t do this while you are talking, you can only do this while you carefully coax the needs out of them.  The real difference is that you are doing this in an environment that is generally “speed dating”.  It can be done gracefully with a few queries such as: “What generally is your biggest challenge in your package delivery?  What problems have you had?”  Or maybe something like this: “How is your relationship with your insurance agent?  Does he or she recognize the changes that are happening as a result of the new regulations?”

All of these are open probes, as you don’t want someone simply saying “yes or no”.  Spend some time listening and it will pay dividends.

Do not move to suggest solutions at this point, as you want to remember what the prize is.  You will see that below.

Keep Your Eye On the Prize – An Appointment

Remember the prize in this case is an appointment.  Your objective is to get to the customer’s office in a controlled environment. If you get there, you received the first victory, then you have to perform.  We are talking about bite-sized pieces here.  You are seeking an appointment at the customer’s location.

With this in mind, do not attempt to close the sale until you know what they really need and value.  The close you want is an appointment date!

Remember You Sell Solutions not Widgets

You are selling solutions to help solve problems.  If there are no problems they do not need you.  Uncover the problems, develop solutions, and then sell.  You will benefit from having provided the solutions when you elect to ‘naturally close’ (Black Sales Journal 9/26/2011, The Natural Close)

Remember, there is nothing like being prepared.  As an entrepreneur, things don’t always fall in line with the ease you want, but you can be in control of this activity with some preparation.

Networking is not always the total answer, yet it is a good start for any business owner.  Get good at it, and …Always be prepared.

Your comments are welcome. You can reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.

To help someone else learn their trade is one of the most important and gratifying tasks that you can undertake.  You might check this out to know some of the things that could go right and wrong.

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You may know my sentiments about mentoring from past posts in this journal (Do You Need a Mentor? You may Need Two, Black Sales Journal 1/27 and Being a Mentor, Can You Help Someone Else? Black Sales Journal 3/28).  I believe that if your are an accomplished sales professional you probably need to mentor some up-and-coming neophyte, and if you are new to sales, you probably need a mentor that can help you understand the sales world you are in, as well as understand the organizational politics and dynamics.  That could mean two separate mentors (one with sales knowledge and one with organizational expertise) or one who has a strong understanding of both.

Having been in both of those situations, I do recognize the fact that life can be easier when you have a mentor.  It would be hard for most sales professionals to dispute that mentoring did not help him or her.  Mentoring, is a role, and not a position, and whether it is formal or informal, it can go wrong.

Formalities?

Most sales mentoring relationships are informal.  They happen when a less experienced sales professional gets help from someone who has “been around the block.”  These relationships happen naturally, and because of that, there are very few “agreements” citing what the rules are.

As a matter of fact, it is because they are informal, and there are no basic rules, that animosity and resentment appear when things go wrong.  No one “evaluates” the effectiveness on a formal basis, and termination happens because the utility just might not be there.  Basically, the two parties move “apart” and seldom have the conversation that “this has been good, yet I need to work on my own now”, or “this is not giving me what I need, but I have appreciated your help.”

What Goes Wrong?

There could be a multitude of things that could go wrong, yet there are a few things that make really make a difference:

• Common Elements - The more the mentor and the mentee have in common regarding work styles and ethics, the more compatibility there will be.  Working similar hours and with like intensity can help to develop mutual respect and even admiration, akin to “looking in a mirror”.  Note, when these elements are opposite or have a wide variance, they can be the ‘wedge’ that breaks up the partnership.  The more common the work elements, the more chance there are for a fruitful mentoring relationship.
• Communication – The bond of a mentoring relationship is communication.  Communication styles differ vastly, so an understanding of communication styles and frequency are very important.  Mentors who are not effective communicators can be problematic, as the mentee may never understand fully the gist of the problem and solution, or the gravity of the issue.  The mentee must communicate openly and frequently regarding questions and issues that need clarification.  If neither of these happens, both sales professionals could be in a situation that they are wasting their time.
• Trust and rapport – Since the majority of these relationships happen informally, the parties have usually chosen each other, or one of the parties has proposed the arrangement.  When this goes wrong, it is a short-lived mentoring relationship.   This means that they must trust each other and have a general affinity toward one another.  The trust issue is large in the arena of sales.  Since prospecting activities as well as sales territories are all in play, the mentor must be able to trust the mentee will respect what he or she is doing to help.  The pilfering of a prospect will change everything if it happens, and so it should, as that is a character issue.  Rapport is important as well because it forms linkages that may develop in to stronger bonds.
• Agreement on goals and objectives – Most sales professionals have enough to do in the course of a day or week than to enter into an arrangement without some agreed upon goals and objectives.  Yogi Berra (yeah, I am quoting Yogi Berra) once said “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.” Know where you are going and have agreement on what will give value to the mentoring relationship and set your sights to get there.  If it is learning how to prospect more effectively then the mentoring activities should be focused there.  If it is becoming accomplished in sales techniques, the focus should go there.  Have a plan in mind, and have the discussions that make it real.

• Agreement on the “end game” – The mentoring arrangement, whether informal or formal will have to end at some point.  It is only right, and gives the mentee an opportunity to help someone who was in the same “boat” as he or she was.  Plan where this terminates as you go along.  Yes, this sounds formal, yet it is more realistic than one of the two parties to the mentoring relationship starting to avoid the other.

A Personal Example

As a fledgling sales representative, I searched out another Black sales professional to help me figure out how to get started.  I know that I did not call it mentoring at that time, and neither did he, yet he talked to me about prospecting.  More importantly, he talked to me about prospecting when you are Black in a business world that was not always kind.  In the State of Illinois with over sixty sales professionals of which three were Black (that included me), I needed someone who would help me learn the ropes.

His name was Walter, and he saved me a little time in a lot of my activities by taking that time with me.  I did not always agree with what he said; yet we had rapport and I appreciated him spending that time, as in a world where you don’t get points for spending it helping others, he helped.  Having someone pick up the phone when you had a question is worth its weight in gold.

Reach out to others as a veteran and offer to help someone who is in need. Give then a chance to succeed.  If you are a sales professional in need of help, reach out to the veteran’s whom you can learn from, and get some badly needed advice.  Always remember that color is not an issue in mentoring.  Helping someone who has promise is its own reward.  You also learn much about yourself and your own abilities when you help others.

As always, we appreciate you comments. You can reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.