Selling Creativity, 5 ways entrepreneurs can develop their sales

Guest post by Rob King, who is the founder and CEO of creative sales company The Client Key and author of Selling Creativity.

Sales needs a rebrand. What do I mean by this? I have slowly come to realise that there is a problem.  The problem is so big that it holds back many thousands of people and businesses around the world.

Selling Creativity, 5 ways entrepreneurs can develop their sales

This problem is deeply engrained in our collective thinking. It’s a negative viewpoint that is not easy to change or sway. It creates an obstacle that inhibits most small-to mid-sized businesses and their ability to grow. It’s a ball and chain around the ankle. In fact, I would go as far as to say it’s the single biggest threat to any small company and its ability to stay in business. 

Sales has an image problem. A major image problem. It’s seen as negative when it should be largely a positive force to be celebrated and embraced. As with most public misconceptions, this view on Sales is out of date, largely wrong and quite simply unhelpful.

Most of us have all played our part in the great tech revolution and embraced the new technologies we now have at our disposal. However, in the context of start-ups, sales and the business of growth there are many misconceptions that we need to dispel. 

The convergence of powerful new technologies and hyper-connectivity have brought about new changes and behaviours in a very short space of time. Social networks have brought instant connectivity and with them a digitally savvy customer base. Here is a way of reaching virtually every customer in the world ‘without the need to sell’ because the internet will now do that for us. All we have to do is build it and they will come. This has painted the front-footed sales approach as out of date and even old fashioned. Too many startups and businesses believe that the internet and technology will do the sales job for them, overlooking the fact that it is part of the mix, not the complete solution. 

The great irony here is that virtually all large SaaS businesses employ huge sales teams. They have some of the best and most sophisticated new business teams and processes in the world. This is how they grow. Not by waiting for customers to find them. Or by suddenly ‘getting to’ $250M in revenues, but by getting out there into the world, connecting with their customers and selling.

Companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon have armies of salespeople. Even aspiring unicorns (the definition of a tech business valued at a billion dollars) will probably have a sales team of at least 100 people. A tech company with $100M revenues (and that is small these days) will easily have fifty people in their sales team. So, why shouldn’t smaller companies have them? Because they often have a misguided view that they don’t need to sell in the old-fashioned sense.

In its purest sense, the art of Sales and selling is quite simply about making things happen. Specifically, making them happen for you, your startup, or your business. Learning the art of Sales can be simplified as learning to understand people better. Rather than seeing it as you must sell someone something, try reframing the narrative that you are simply trying to understand them. Because once you understand them, then you will understand their needs. Once you know their needs you can take a view if they align with your business and progress the conversation. 

Here are 5 skills to ensure that your startup thrives and rapidly grows:

1. Practice your Pitch

You will be pitching a lot as a startup so get good at it! A great elevator pitch should leave the person who hears it feeling enlightened, engaged and intrigued to find out more about you and your business. (The opposite emotional responses are confused, bored and disengaged but most people are way too polite to ever tell you that’s how they’re feeling!) Keep it simple and human, and focus on the benefits you deliver. The aim is to leave the person you’re talking to excited and ready to talk, not totally baffled and ready to move on. 

1. Qualify your time

Always qualify your leads, prospects and clients – don’t waste your most precious asset and resource (your time) on speaking to people who are not going to engage with you. Always ask yourself why you should spend your valuable time and energy on a prospect. Are they the right person? Will they work with you? Do they fit your company services? Do they have budget? Can you work with them? If it’s a no, then move on. This is what I define as qualifying. 

1. Self-Belief

When you go into a conversation have full belief in yourself, your startup or your company. If you don’t have that belief, ask yourself: what is not right? Trust me, clients will spot a lack of belief a mile off. Conversely, when you’re fully on board, and have 100% belief in what you’re saying, you will ooze knowledge, authority and confidence that clients or investors will find very hard to resist. 

1. The art of timing

Finding the right balance when contacting clients is key. Three to four weeks in real life actually feels like just one to two weeks to a client, especially when you don’t know them that well and they’re still a prospect. Remember this as a general rule: don’t be tempted to follow up every five minutes. You have to sense when the right time is to call, email, meet or follow up. Your instincts and intuition will play a key part here and you’ll learn not to go too soon, or too late. Timing can make all the difference between a ‘yes’, or a ‘no’. Bad timing has been the death of many a sale.

1. Stay the course

These are essential qualities in Sales. Many people give up after the first attempt in engaging new clients and prospects. It takes a committed, persistent approach. You don’t want to annoy people but don’t give up – stay the course!

Rob King is the founder and CEO of creative sales company The Client Key and author of Selling Creativity. 

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