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.

Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been “considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived.”

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You may recognize the name, and you will also recognize his principles – and yes, they do relate to sales.  Yes, it may seem unlikely, but his principles relate to the occupation of sales in a less than scientific way.   These are actually Newton’s Laws of Motion, and they are universally accepted.  Physics is physics and math is math, yet some things are naturally transferrable to what we do, and these fit that bill.

We will quickly examine two of Newton’s more famous laws and how they relate to sales and the sales process.

Law – Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

This is the law of inertia.  It relates to us that nothing changes until someone does something to change it.

Example I - A sales professional sits in the office contemplating the future, and trying to figure out how he or she is going to make their quarterly goals.  The sales manager calls the rep in and advises that in the last two quarters the quarterly goal was not met.  The manager advised, “Something has got to change quickly and we will be sitting down and discussing it two weeks from now.”

Object – The Sales Rep

State of Motion – Inaction, lethargy, sitting on one’s rear end

External Force – The manager’s promise that action will be taken and the admonition that it would be discussed two weeks from now.

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Example II – A highly performing regional sales unit, the best in the country for this Fortune 500 organization, was doing everything correctly.  The sales unit recently was noted as 21st out of the 22 regional sales operations for the company.  Sinking so low has been difficult, but it was suggested that it was because of the numerous defections from the sales unit.  They had lost their best sales professionals, and the results showed it.

Object – The sales unit

State of Motion – High performance

External Force – Personnel losses, recruitment of the unit’s sales professionals, depletion of talent

Law - For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The strength of this law is that you must anticipate the reaction when you take the action.  This is the best known, and one that is particularly relatable to sales and the sales process.  If you ever step off of a skateboard onto a platform, you feel the skateboard move opposite the way you are attempting to advance.  The movement of the skateboard is considered the reaction.  If you are not careful, you will fall flat on your face.  It is only logical in physics, and in other activities.

Example – A notable employer plans a lucrative sales ‘sprint’ contest to attempt to spur the sale of widgets as it is the most profitable product in the portfolio.  In the process, the sales of the company’s flagship product, ‘gizmos’, suffers and the organization, long considered to be number one in sales of gizmos falls to the number 2 in the sale of that product and thus loses its leadership position and notoriety.

Action – Imposing a sprint campaign to sell widgets

Equal and Opposite Reaction – Sales markedly decreased in the sales of another important product to the point of losing market leadership; activity and presumably sales increase on widgets.

Law – What goes up…must come down!

We cannot forget the most well known of Newton’s Laws: The Law of Gravity. This one is well known, and very simple.  It is the saying that you heard from y0ur mother, your father, or even your coach.  Don’t act like a jerk when you are on the top or on the way to the top, because very few sales professionals get to the top and never come down.   Success is not necessarily fleeting, but it is obvious that many sales professionals forget that over the long haul it is not promised.

We all know sales professionals that have had problems with that issue.

The Balancing Act!

Everything that is done to the sales force by an employer has a reaction, and everything that you do as a sales professional has some ‘physics’ attached to it well.

Be calculated and careful in your moves and anticipate how those moves will be received, as well as whether they get the intended results.

One of the best manager’s I had the pleasure of working for (J.G.), continuously stressed to me that many actions could have unintended consequences, and we should think things out carefully and be prepared for all consequences.  Sometimes you can do everything right, but affect other variables in a way that will one day manifest themselves as ‘a problem’ as a result of your actions.

I have always said that you should “Do the Right Thing!” (Excuse me Spike Lee!), but in many cases, there is a possibility that there is more than one, “Right Thing”.  Have business confidants (people you trust that have good judgement) that can help you with decision making and always make your decisions in light of the advice you get as well as your best judgment.  Businesses have the same problem that individuals do.  Manager’s who run sales operations need to take the same course as individuals, using proper judgment and analysis.  The difference is that managers who make mistakes usually affect more than one person, and usually several in fact.

Newton’s Laws of Motion (these three) are important as when applied to the sales area they can speak to making decisions and the effect on you, your company, and your customers.  It would not hurt to know them as the concepts are universal.

You don’t have to be a scientist to think about these theories.

Be the Best.

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