Why selling skills are the key
to a firms Success
Sunday Times - May 5, 2002
Successful entrepreneurs all have
one thing in common - the ability to sell.
Patrick Dunne, a director with 3i, the venture capitalist,
says: "It's not just selling products to new customers.
You also need sales skills to get the first people to
work for you.
"And the cleverest ones are very good at getting
suppliers and others to give them credit."
But entrepreneurs often stumble in
their enthusiasm to get started, warn Patrick Joiner
of the Institute of Sales and Marketing, the trade body
for salesmen.
"The most essential skill of selling," he
says, "is to put yourself in your client's shoes.
This is where entrepreneurs fall down. They are often
people with a special knowledge about their industries
or a technology that helped them to come up with their
business ideas.
"But, being totally fired up by their own products,
they're locked into seeing it from their own perspectives.
"Entrepreneurs also tend to be very driven and
enthusiastic, which means that they can come across
as overbearing," he says.
"You should always be trying to build a relationship
with your customer. You need more than just something
different or low cost or even effectiveness in selling
- the market changes quickly and you will keep these
advantages for only so long. What you need most of all
is a good relationship with your customers."
Many entrepreneurs do not focus on
driving sales, according to Professor Colin Barrow of
the Cranfield School of Management. "A lot of businesspeople
think success is down to market forces.
"Sometimes when I ask if they have a salesforce,
they say: "Well, not really. It depends on demand".
But it's only the owners of lifestyle businesses who
expect things to happen to them rather than making things
happen.
.
|
