As An Entrepreneur, Selling Is Something You Should Celebrate- Not Delegate If entrepreneurs want to achieve stratospheric growth for their new company, then the delegation of selling can often prevent them from achieving this.
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When I started my first business, I remember the idea of being the chief salesman for my enterprise to be something I didn't exactly like the sound of. After all, I saw myself as "the entrepreneur," the "company CEO," and not as the "salesperson" for my business.
As it turns out, this is a dilemma that many entrepreneurs face– do we have to be the chief salespersons of our businesses, or is delegating sales to someone else the smarter thing to do?
Selling can be a scary thing, especially if you've never done it before; however, if you think for a moment, it's very likely that you already have plenty of experience in selling. How, you ask?
Well, think back to when you were a child, wanting an ice cream from your parents on a hot summer day, or even better, wanting to get your hands on that amazing new toy that all the other kids in the neighborhood already had. Without even knowing it, you were engaged in the art of selling to your parents, so that they would buy you the ice cream or that fancy new toy. Perhaps there were also a few pressure tactics involved at that time, but hey, you were only a kid!
As adults, we also face similar situations where we are required at some basic level to "sell ourselves" to other people. For example, it could be during a job interview, or when seeking investors for a startup, or even when proposing to a future spouse. In all of these situations, we had to establish a level of trust, then influence and ultimately convince that person to give us the job, invest in our new company, or (and perhaps the biggest challenge of all) marry us!
Once I discovered that all of us were in fact "selling" to each other as we went through the journey of life, it really helped me to alleviate my own reluctance about selling. Also, I really can't blame other entrepreneurs for being reluctant to sell, given that "selling" has such a negative connotation about it. It usually conjures up images of the proverbial used car salesman, arm-twisting us to buy something we don't really want, through high-pressure tactics.
This, of course, is far from the vision most entrepreneurs have of being the creative geniuses that conquer the world. No, they don't want to be doing endless cold calling, pressuring people to buy something that don't want. But if entrepreneurs want to achieve stratospheric growth for their new company, then, ironically, the delegation of selling can often prevent them from achieving this.
Related: Five Common Sales Mistakes To Avoid As A Startup
It's a shame that selling has developed such a negative reputation, because when done properly and professionally, it truly is what drives value in the world– the exchange of value between a business and a customer, who both walk away with a sense of mutual satisfaction.
"Selling" has almost become a dirty word, and it's for this reason that so many entrepreneurs feel reluctant about it, and this reluctance about selling can even paralyze some entrepreneurs from successfully growing their new business into something big.
The key is to realize that we're all selling from the moment we're born, and that selling is not only a good thing, but something that can be very valuable to both you and your customer.
It starts by choosing to be a consummate salesperson, a professional who prioritizes the needs of the customer above your own revenue and sales quota. By approaching your prospective customers as an expert adviser rather than a pushy sales representative, you're actively building trust and credibility right from the beginning.
The bottom line is, the more trust prospective customers have in you or your business, the more receptive they will be to buying from you. Your job as your company's chief salesperson is to advise and assist your customers to make the right purchasing decision.
In fact, your prospective customers will most likely have done quite a bit of research about you, such as visiting your website, LinkedIn profile, Twitter feed or Instagram account before they even speak to you– so once you're at the point of meeting with them or talking on the phone, it's all about building trust and rapport, rather than ramming product information down their throat.
The answer to growing revenue and making more sales may not necessarily lie in the delegation of selling- it may, in fact, lie in the celebration of selling within your business.
Celebrating selling means perfecting you and your teams selling skills and systems to the point where you're closing the deal time and time again, so when the time comes to delegate, you can do so with absolute confidence.
So the next time you're thinking of ways to boost your business, you need to celebrate sales as a critical function of your role at your enterprise- and not just simply delegate it.
