The Fundamental Teachings of an Entrepreneur: Sales

    written by Solarc Inc President Melissa White
In my last blog, I referenced colleges offering entrepreneurship as a relatively new major.  In the Texas Business School, part of the curriculum is teaching students how to sell “door-to-door.”  Their program is designed to weed out the “wannabe” entrepreneurs who lack the courage and persistence.  It is also focused on closing the gap on the perception and reality of sales as an imperative part of the success of an entrepreneur.  All students must pass the Sales Challenge at Sandefer’s in order to complete the MBA program in the business school.

The article also expresses that door-to-door sales may seem antiquated, but Sandefer is convinced that the skills required to sell a product to a complete stranger are fundamental to every entrepreneur.  I appreciated this comment as someone who got my start in business-to-business sales.  I assume that most people lack some basic knowledge of business and sales out of school.  This assumption may come from my own ignorance or lack of knowledge about sales beginning my own career.

Things I learned about sales…

• Sales are solely responsible for creating the revenue for any company to be profitable and stay afloat.  This includes selling an idea or service, not just a tangible product.
• There are many different types of sales: B2B: Business-to-Business, B2C: Business-to-Consumer, D2D: Door-to-Door, Retail Sales, Event and Trade Show.  Each is very distinct.
• There are different sales cycles: Short and Long.  Long sales cycles (larger sales, longer time to process) are what most people are familiar with.  These are generally financial, mortgage, real estate, or car sales. Short sales cycle (smaller sales, shorter time to process).
• Many successful CEO’s got their start selling either D2D or B2B.

1. Marc Cuban- Owner of the Dallas Maverick’s starting selling trash bags D2D, then moved to Stamps and Coins, finally Software.
2. Robert Kiyosaki- CEO of Rich Dad Company and best-selling author did B2B sales at Xerox.
3. Deborah Hazell- CEO of HSBC Global Asset Management started D2D in the financial industry
4. Joe Moglia- CEO of Ameritrade  sold magazines D2D
5. Joe Herring- CEO of Covance started as a D2D book salesman
6. Hilary Hinton AKA “Zig” Ziglar” – did door-to-door sales before becoming a famous inspirational speaker.

Sales skills teaches someone more than just the negotiation process, but about stepping out of one’s comfort zones, time management, and invaluable people skills that are transferrable to anything.

Sales, very often has a negative connotation associated with it; but without sales, business is not possible.  It is the primary basis and fundamental skill necessary to be successful in any kind of business.  Whether the ultimate goal is to start a restaurant, work in finance, become a philanthropist, or even a best-selling author… Sales are key!  Take the hint from some very successful people and learn this very important aspect of business to propel you in whatever endeavor you so choose.

See full article here

I just read this article that inspired me to write about my own experience as an entrepreneur and president of a startup company.

The article was titled “8 Reasons to Choose a Startup over a Corporate Job”
Except for the beer and jeans during work, (which does sound quite enticing) the article couldn’t be more dead-on from my own experience.

I think people generally choose the corporate route because they believe it to be “safe” and have been brought up to believe that the correct path is to go to school, find a good job with good benefits at a reputable company.  These jobs are what our parents would think of as “socially acceptable careers.”  I was no exception to this upbringing!

This was all good advice years ago when those corporate companies kept their employees for many years and paid their 401K and retirement.  Times have changed though, as we are all too well aware.  Those “safe” corporate companies have downsized hundreds of thousands employees in the past few years.  The higher the position and salary, the more expendable you are to be replaced by someone who can do your job at a reduced cost.

There are generally three avenues your career can follow in every corporate environment:

1. Get promoted.
2. Get fired.
3. Get laid off.

Hopefully, your career path follows the first.  Who is safe? The only people that are safe are the people that have a direct connection to bringing in revenue to the company.  That will make you an asset. Those people are usually in sales and they must be good at what they do.

If you are beginning your career in an entry level position, there are probably many other people in the same position if you are in a large company.  There are probably fewer management and even fewer upper management positions.  Therefore, back to the original three avenues, if you do not excel, they will only give you so many raises until it doesn’t make sense for the company to keep you on.

When I interview people for an entry level position and ask them where they see themselves in five years, they generally tell me in a management role, with the idea that it will take that long to get into that position based on their prior ideas of promotion in the corporate world.  Few people tell me that they would like to sit in my seat in less time because they do not believe this to be possible.

As an account executive at a Sales and Marketing Firm, which was also a small startup, I had the ability to take on many responsibilities, wear many different hats, and gain more skills in various areas than most people do in five years in the corporate world.  I did not know if the startup company was going to be a right for me, and I guess no one really does until they try.  But once I was able to understand the opportunity I had to advance, learn, and grow based on my own merit in a startup company, there was no other option for me.

Within a year and five months as an Account Executive, I learned B2B, face-to-face sales, negotiation skills, learned time management skills, managed a team of people, learned HR, administration, public speaking, ran workshops, attended business conferences, traveled, and most importantly learned true work ethic, and how to be a great leader.

In a corporate environment I would have had the opportunity to maybe learn one or two of those valuable skills and I highly doubt I would have had as much fun in the process! Being in an entrepreneurial environment, I also learned that mistakes and failure are inevitable.  If I fell 7 times and got back up 8, I could win.  I learned that it’s ok to lose as long as you don’t lose the lesson.  More important than all of these is the understanding of delayed gratification.  Ultimately, I have accomplished more than I would have in a corporate environment, but when I was going through my growing pains I had to understand that “You can play now and pay later or you can pay now and play later, either way you’re going to pay and either way you’re play, but if you choose the latter the results will be exponential.”

As I watched my friends who had their “safe” jobs, getting a higher starting salary, working less hours, it felt their gratification was immediate and mine was delayed.  Flash forward a few years later, and based upon my experience and learning at a startup company, I have gone on to start my own startup, make my own rules, work environment, determine how much my own salary is.  On the contrary, many of those that chose the corporate environment are still in the same positions, with much of the same job responsibilities.  Some are on their second or third corporate company.

So back to what we consider safe, I have created my own security blanket based upon the value I can create for my clients, and how well I can develop my employees.  My clients want me to grow faster than I have the ability to because of the results we bring them, and I have yet to lay off anyone in the time I have run my own business.  In fact, we are growing exponentially.  I have created my own “safe” work environment because I was willing to work hard and think outside the box.

They say that America will get out of this recession by the next generation of future entrepreneurs that will create value and jobs.  This is why entrepreneurship is now a major in colleges. It is to encourage our next generation to create their own jobs, solutions, and safety for themselves and their future employees.  Which route will you choose?

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Related articles

• Rackspace Startup Program Spotlight: Masterbranch (rackspace.com)
• Creating a Data-Driven Startup (irislol.wordpress.com)
• Learn How To Build Your Startup By JOINING One (juangreatleap.com)
• Helping Others With Startup Mojo (openforum.com)
• Startup Company Job Fairs (charlotte.news14.com)
• Startup Company Growth (smallbiztrends.com)
• A Startup is a Job (battlehardened.wordpress.com)
• Solar startup company to hire 100 skilled workers in California (lincolnedu.com)
• ADDENDUM: Learn How To Build Your Startup By JOINING One(juangreatleap.com)
• Rackspace Startup Program: Looking Back at 2011 (rackspace.com)

Check out the Solarc team attending the Tough Mudder Event!

This is at the starting line of Julian and Elliot’s experience They both placed in the top 30 of the first heat. Elliot came in 5th!

Tough Mudder was founded in 2010 by an ex-British Special Forces soldier and puts competitors through a series of extreme obstacles. It has grown rapidly, from three events in its first year to 35 in 2012, drawing more than half a million participants.

The Beatty event, the first in Southern Nevada, will force competitors through 20 obstacles, including a swim through a pool of ice-cold water, a crawl through mud-filled pipes and a sprint through a field of live electric wires carrying 10,000 volts, before crossing the finish line.

We’re very proud of the guys who attended this event and look forward to more in the future!

Starting Line at Tough Mudder

For this initial offering at the birth of this soon to be renowned business blog, we hope to create an outlet of focused ideas and prompt motivation and hopefully heated debates within ourselves. So without further adieu, welcome to the inner cerebral workings of Solarc.

Always playing to win

Now of course, there is nothing wrong with the mentality of just playing “not to lose” but let’s be clear on where that leads. When playing not to lose, you WILL play small. Playing this way will cause you to miss out on opportunities to excel and make any positive strides towards ones’ goals. Looking at playing to win vs. playing not to lose seems straight forward to most but often times people do what is easy as opposed to what is necessary.

Playing to win in business:

• You take risks. Putting your self in new and often challenging positions because the benefits outweigh the risks themselves. The art of risk taking involves calculating what you expect to accomplish by determining the necessary steps and effort to get there.
• You take advantage of opportunities even if they don’t appear to be favorable on the surface.
• You know when to turn down what seems like “perfect opportunities.”
• You make decisions from the place you want to be, not from the place you are at. Having the “act-as-if” mentality is contagious and propels people to the finish line faster.

Playing not to lose in business:

• You are overly careful with the risks you take (Or you opt to not take the risks at all). Holding back on your efforts will often cause you to fall short. You can’t fill up a hot air balloon 90% and expect it to lift off the ground.
• You avoid trying new things. People are inherently scared to fail and rarely will consider the positive experience and learning benefits that accompany it.
• You make decisions based on what you think you can afford rather than what you need. Okay, obviously there is a big caveat here. This does not mean empty your bank account or spend every second of your time on a single project. What is does suggest is that often people refrain from investing resources (time and/or money) up front because they don’t get an initial return. The delay in investing is often enough to keep people from investing, period.