Are you one of those former employees who are thinking about trading your J-O-B (just over broke) for FREEDOM?

Have you decided it’s time to control your destiny and be the master of your own fate?

Good for you!  Congratulations!

Now, I know even though you’re excited it’s a little scary too.  I’ve been there.  You know you have a good idea, or perhaps you are skilled in a trade and figure you can sell your time just as easily as the company you used to work for.

Good News

The fact you had a job indicates YOU are marketable.  YOU have the ability to trade your sweat equity for dollars.  If you succeeded as an employee you can succeed as a business owner.

YOU can have the financial and time freedom owning your own business can bring.

Not so Good News

Beginning business owners tend to make the same fatal mistakes that crush their potential for success before they even have a chance to succeed.  No matter how great your business idea no matter how skilled you are there are a 3 things you absolutely must be able to do well to succeed in any business.  Those things include:

• Succinctly communicating the one big thing potential buyers get as a result of their purchase
• Nurturing relationships
• Holding sales conversations that convert to business

If you can do just those 3 things you’ll be able to put food on your table and pay your bills.  If you can’t you’re in for the fight of your life.

Communication

photo credit: daoro

Even though these 3 things sound really simple the reality is they aren’t.  Test this yourself by asking a few people around you what they do.

Did you get a long drawn out boring rendition, or a one word answer that told you the industry they’re in or the product they sell?

And just exactly how excited were you about whatever it is they sell?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

When you communicate what you do it should be so simple a 10 year old could understand it yet so important to your potential buyer they think, “That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.”  So for example you would NOT say, “I sell life insurance” you might say,”I help investors lock in a no risk 7% return.”

See the difference?  Who cares if you sell life insurance?  No one.  In fact, if you say that you just made yourself someone to avoid.  Yet, anyone who has just took a big hit in the stock market and isn’t satisfied with the interest rates they can get from a CD will be all ears to hear about a 7% return.

Relationships

photo credit: russelljsmith

Even though most of us are pretty good at making friends we aren’t all that good at nurturing relationships.  We certainly don’t have a process for developing relationships.  Yet, as a business owner you need a relationship process.  If you don’t have a process to develop relationships most of the people you make a connection with will fall through the cracks and never buy.

As far as you’re concerned the world around you contains 4 types of people:

1. People who have no interest and no need for what you have to offer
2. People who have some awareness they could have a need for what you offer, yet, they have no interest in doing anything about it now
3. People who know they have a need for what you offer and are in the process of gathering information and uncovering their options
4. People who have an immediate need for what you offer and are looking to buy right now

Most sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners only focus on the people in group 4.  The people in groups 2 & 3 get lost in the shuffle.  Your relationship process nurtures the relationships you start with group 2 & 3 people so when they are ready to buy you get those sales too.

If you try to force a sale with group 2 & 3 people you lose.  A buyer will not buy until they’re ready to buy and if you try to coerce them into a sale you only ruin a potentially profitable relationship.

Sales

Oddly enough most beginning business owners have little or no sales experience.  On top of that they utterly hate sales.  Strange as it may seem many business owners never think they’re going to have to sell whatever their business does.  After they commit to the business they face the harsh reality that there is no business unless someone sells something.

Uh oh.  If you’re going to have a business and you plan on paying the bills you will have to sell.  You just don’t have to do it in a pushy obnoxious manner like you associate with sales.

Now some business owners pooh pooh sales concerns because they think they are going to hire sales people to do the sales for them.  REALLY!  Hmmm, I hate to burst your bubble but if you can’t sell what your business does your sales people won’t be able to sell it either.

Back to the Good News

You can do these 3 things.  It takes thinking, planning, and action.  The same skills it took to put together a business.  Complete the process of developing a successful business by making sure you can communicate what whatever you sell does for the buyer, develop and nurture relationships, and hold effective sales conversations.  As a result you get the time and financial freedom owning a business should provide.

There’s no need to struggle on your own you could get the help you need in the Top Producers Increase Sales Club Coaching Program