Sales and the Self-Employed
When you choose self-employment you, to a certain degree, choose a solitary existence. In other words, when it comes to many aspects of running your business you’re on your own. You may not have support staff to take care of accounting, buying supplies, answering phones and all the other little tasks that make up much of the daily grind of business ownership. You are the cook, bottlewasher, captain and deckhand on your ship. This single-handed existence is part of the intriguing challenge that makes many of us feel that self-employment is the only employment we want.
There is another aspect to the challenge of being in business on your own. No one is going to bring customers to you on a platter ready, willing and able to buy your products or services. You may start out with a few select customers from previous work relationships, relatives or friends. These ‘complimentary’ customers can help you get started but few businesses can survive on their limited needs. Eventually you must go out into the world and find and convince new, unknown people to buy from you. This is the sales challenge and those who do not willingly embrace it are likely to fail.
All too often the self-employed business person views selling as a necessary evil. A lot of us would like to work away at our skills, never taking the plunge into the world of prospecting, negotiating, educating and problem-solving that is the world of selling. We have been conditioned from early on to mistrust anyone who is trying to convince us to buy, even when we have a strong need for the product they’re selling. There is a saying in the sales world that people love to buy but hate to be sold. But is it true?
Mention the word salesperson to the average person and the first thing that comes to mind is an unfortunate experience with a car salesperson or a pushy clerk in an appliance store. Even if we have a great experience buying a car, we tend to view it as a battle in which we have somehow triumphed over the forces of greed and evil. Yet everyday millions of people happily buy billions of dollars worth of every imaginable commodity and in almost every case they have dealt with a sales professional. It is a paradox.
The reality is that sales and selling is the lubricant of a market economy, keeping the flow of goods moving, creating every job and making every successful business profitable. There are no exceptions. Without a sales effort, conscious or unconscious, you will not succeed in your business. In fact, small business studies and success profiles show that effective sales skills are the number one requirement for success in any small business. Sales ability is ranked above money, commitment, innovation and intelligence. No amount of these talents without some selling can get you market share and without market share you have no cash flow. Selling is survival.
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