Choosing Customers or
Money
When an entrepreneur makes a
sales call to a potential investor, what results can be either the
beginning of a company or sometimes the end of one. The goal for the
meeting is to persuade the investor that an investment in the
entrepreneur's company is worth the risk. With the amount of money
at stake and the meeting's intended purpose, a successful entrepreneur has
to sell with a focus and vision that gets results. Salespeople can
learn to apply the entrepreneur's methods to their sales strategies.
What's your point? I've
heard investors say that entrepreneurs should be able to write their
concept on the back of a business card. That's how clear they have
to make the idea and how concisely they have to be able to communicate
it. When asked about their business, successful entrepreneurs can
say in 30 seconds, 2 minutes, or 5 minutes the essence of their business
idea. Depending on how much time they have, they're ready to pitch
their idea. They have thoroughly thought through their product,
process and business in advance. They are prepared for any
presentation format. They can present their idea simply and clearly
in various time frames and adapt to all of them.
When you present a new product,
a complex idea or a technical product to a customer, have you clearly
thought through how you are going to explain your concept to your
customer? Would your customer quickly and clearly understand what
you are presenting? You may talk to prospects on the
telephone. You are doing well if your customers ask specific
questions that relate to your product or idea after you have presented the
concept. If they are asking for you to explain before they become
engaged in the conversation, your message is unclear. You have more
preparation to do.
Have you prepared a
presentation that could be delivered in 1 minute, 5 minutes or 15
minutes? With busy and unexpected schedules your planned hour
meeting can get cut short. If your selling message is part of the
last 30 minutes, you've just lost your selling opportunity.
Are
you using your customers? Entrepreneurs will tell you that customers are the best thing to
happen for your business and money is the worst. This is because
money doesn’t add value to your business. When customers use your
products, they provide feedback on whether your product is as good as you
think it is. As daily users of your products and services, they see
things that you haven't. They will also see your product or service
from a perspective that is different than yours. They can recognize
the need for new and different applications. Those applications
could lead you to new and different customers.
Too often when salespeople find
new customers, they are quickly off to look for the next new
customer. Your customers are a source of value to you when they
provide feedback about how they have used your product or service; how and
whether it meets their needs; and what new products they are looking
for. If you are moving on to the next new customer before you learn
from your existing customer, you are missing the opportunity to extract
value from your existing customers.
Entrepreneurs and other sales professionals face
many of the same selling challenges. Entrepreneurs' strategies help
them achieve their business objectives. Selling like an
entrepreneur could be the beginning of many new sources of business for
you.
Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of
Best@Selling (http://www.bestatselling.com/).
She works with business and sales professionals at company and trade
association meetings to make selling easier and more productive. She is
the author of the book Real-World
Selling for Out-of-this-World Results. She can be reached at 972
380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com.
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