Archive

Welcome to the archives. These articles represent many different seasons of my career. You’ll find posts written during my doctoral studies, years of marketing consulting, entrepreneurial experiments, and the occasional reflection on whatever happened to be capturing my attention at the time.

Blogging looked very different when many of these posts were published. Rather than removing them or fixing broken links from now defunct themes, I’ve chosen to preserve them as a snapshot of where I was, what I was learning, and how my thinking has evolved over the years.

Some ideas have stood the test of time. Others reflect the questions I was wrestling with at that particular moment. Either way, they tell part of the story.

Finding Your Voice in Selling – Part 2

by | Mar 29, 2013 | Uncategorized

Light on Selling, Heavy on Operations

In my last article in the series I mentioned that many self-employed individuals go to market under the banner of a larger company.  One path to success here could very well lie in the selling system that the company has put together for you.  I advised readers to explore every last inch of whatever system the parent company provided.  Do what they recommend.

I have found situations where the parent company is really good at providing advice and guidance on operations. Things like

  • These are three choices of signs for your location
  • Here’s how long to cook the fries
  • This is a list of our preferred suppliers

While getting tips and keys on operations is fantastic, you, the entrepreneur, can’t get to operations until you sell something.

Without sales there is no need for operations.

Being that the need to generate revenue is so deep, I have found, comparably, that most systems appear to be very thin on telling you how to generate revenue.

How is a person with bills to pay supposed to find his or her own way?

Know Thyself

So much of my sales coaching relies on the client really knowing herself, and being willing to learn more.

  • Do you enjoy meeting with people one-on-one?
  • Do you like to speak in front of groups of people?
  • Are you comfortable leading a small class?
  • Can you envision yourself selling products through home parties?
  • What was your experience selling cookies or raffle tickets for your school fundraisers when you were a kid?
  • Do you like communicating to people by email?
  • Recall the last trade show you worked.  Was it draining or energizing?
  • Do you like talking to people about what you do?

All this “knowing yourself” tends to come easier for those with more life experience.  Looking back on my early 20’s I would not have made a great salesperson.  I grew into becoming a better salesperson in my early 30’s and eventually won a sales award from the company I was representing.  But this all took time.  If you have patience for it, there is a tremendous amount of growth ahead for you.