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Influencers Invited Sales Blog

6 Steps to Sales Success as an Entrepreneur

As an entrepreneur, the ability to create sales is an integral part of success for both you and your organization. These skills are formed based on focused behaviors. As the entrepreneurial journey unfolds, it will be easy to get distracted and burn through resources (time, money and energy). We completed a recent survey based on entrepreneurs we’ve worked with, and found the following six areas had the biggest impact on their ability to create success as it relates to their sales efforts:

  1. Know your pitch
    It is important to have your pitch down, as you only get one chance to make a first impression. In fact, there are many ways to go about working on an elevator pitch. One of the best exercises we have seen was created by Mr. Donald Gritten Jr. from Phoenix, Arizona. He has an amazing short exercise for perfecting your elevator pitch.
  2. Become Calendar/ Scheduling Savvy
    One of the key aspects of being successful in sales is the ability to know where you are going and when you need to be there. With technology at our fingertips, there is no reason to not send out a meeting invitation for all appointments, calls and meetings. It is a good way to get on someone’s calendar and with great apps such as Tempo or Fantastical 2, you can schedule with ease. It is easy to fill up a day with meetings so: (1) Focus on taking meetings that will move your business forward and (2) Make time for yourself even if it means scheduling a date with yourself at the juice bar or yoga studio down the road.
  3. Join an Association
    They say birds of a feather flock together, so take the time to join an association of other like minded individuals. This will provide you the opportunity to collaborate, communicate and surround yourself with others in the same industry, working on the same projects and problems you are facing. You will find a common language and bond as you get to know others in your association. In fact, some associations will have exclusive groups or premium memberships that allow for access to exclusive content, elite coaching and intelligent and educational conversations.
  4. Attend Networking Events
    It is important to get connected, it’s all about who you know if you want to grow your business through sales The easiest way to get connected is by face-to-face interaction, so they get to know, like and trust you. When scheduling your networking events, take the time to do some research as to who will be there, what others have said about the event and attend the events your potential customers are attending. Also, take the time to research the customer so when you meet them, you can build rapport and move the conversation forward. Remember your time is precious and you want to make sure you are investing it into sales opportunities.
  5. Continue Your Education
    Participate in programs, seminars, webinars and conferences to improve your skills. William Burroughs said, “When you stop growing, you start dying.” As an entrepreneur it is all about growth, innovation and creativity. Find programs to participate in that will improve your business or trade skills to allow you to grow as a subject matter expert. Find opportunities s that provides personal development, to improve your emotional intelligence and gain education in various industry and market information allowing you to become a sought after subject matter expert.
  6. Have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solution
    As you focus on sales you are going to end up with a ton of leads , some of which will turn into solid prospects, that you presentation to, with the goal of them becoming a paying customer. With every good sales funnel is the need to manage, monitor, and measure the results. Hence, why a CRM is so important. There are a lot of good options available, including Zoho, Highrise, and Salesforce. With a team it is great to couple one of these with a solution like LevelEleven to take your sales to the next level.

Using these six key steps to sales success as an entrepreneur, you are sure to see sales increase and make an impact on the organization and the bottom line. Remember what you focus on you find. The more you focus on your sales efforts and strengthening your sales muscle, the more sales you will generate.

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