Starting a business is an exciting prospect.  A new business, no matter how small in the beginning, opens the doors to a new future filled with freedom and the ability to set your own direction.  There are many ways to be an entrepreneur. Some people are full-time entrepreneurs, while others fit their entrepreneurial activities within their other commitments.  If you are looking to start a small business, you may want to consider doing it part-time while keeping the safety net of a steady job.  This might help alleviate some of the financial fears that come naturally with a new business venture.

In this article we will review another one of Jim Randal’s “The Skinny On” book series.  This one is called The Skinny on Direct Sales – Your First 100 Days.  For anyone considering embarking upon an entrepreneurial journey, it is important to come to terms with a simple fact in business:  you are not in business until you start selling.  Because sales is such a critical component of a successful business, the concepts taught in The Skinny on Direct Sales are very important to entrepreneurs, whether they are in the direct sales business on in other kind of business.

The other reason why Jim’s book is so relevant to entrepreneurs is that the first 100 days are very critical.  We have all seen the statistics about the success rate of new businesses.  Well, as you will learn from the book, persistence is paramount to success, and getting past that first 100 days will greatly increase your odds of not becoming another failed statistics in the brave world of business startups.

So, let’s get right to it and review the teachings of The Skinny on Direct Sales:

Defining Entrepreneurs

 First, Jim starts by defining the word entrepreneur.  For those of you that are curious about where this word comes from, it is derived from the old French “entreprende” which means “one who undertakes”:

“An entrepreneur is a person who assumes the organization, management and risks of a business enterprise.”

Persistence is the Name of the Game

A successful entrepreneur needs to have many abilities, including determination, work ethic, passion, desire to be your own boss, desire to be rewarded commensurate with your efforts, tenacity and persistence.  Obviously there are no guarantees in entrepreneurship, but the higher the level of effort and persistence, the higher you chances of being successful.

But to be frank, being an entrepreneur is not easy.  You will most certainly come across many setbacks in your entrepreneurial journey.  In order to stay the course despite of these setbacks, you need to be mentally prepared for them.  One important aspect of this mental preparation is to truly understand why you want to be an entrepreneur.  In fact, you should write down, why you want to have your own business, and you should read your WHY statements every day.  When disappointments come, instead of going “Oh No!” you should be going “Aha”, I knew you would come, I just didn’t know when or in what form.

Getting Organized

Being an entrepreneur is also very time consuming.  You need to be realistic about the amount of time that it will require of you.  But if you are well organized, you can become more efficient and “find time” that you didn’t know you had.  One of the best techniques for getting things done is to create a “TO DO” list.  This may seem like we are overly simplifying, but look at what Brian Tracy, author of the book Time Power has to say about the power of to do lists:

“Every effective executive works from a daily list.  It is the most powerful tool ever discovered for maximum affectivity.”

No Sales, No Business

As we said in the beginning, once you decide to go into business, you need to think about sales.  Again, this is another one of those concepts that on the surface may sound simplistic, but if you look at what happened during the dot com boom and bust, where all kinds of companies with not revenue prospects were getting funded, you start to realize how easy it is to miss these basic concepts.  Engineers in particular are very prone to this problem.  They dream up wonderful technologies but do not pay enough attention to how their new inventions will be sold.

So let’s talk about sales.  The Skinny on Direct Sales teaches a number of fundamental concepts that can be applied to any sales situation.  To be successful in sales you need to reach out to others, because sales is a numbers game.  The more people you can reach, the greater the odds of making a sale.  Many entrepreneurs cringe at the thought of reaching out to people to sell their products.  But if you truly believe in your product and you have confidence that it can bring value to your customers, you should feel good about offering it to people.   Think of it as sharing with others a great secret that has not yet been discovered. 

The Prospect Database

But you need to be organized in order to be an effective sales person.  First you need to identify prospects, and then you need to gather as much information as you can about that prospect and keep track of every contact you make with that individual or business.  The Skinny on Direct Sales recommends using a spreadsheet, which may work fine for a very small sales effort.  Personally, I would recommend some type of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database where all the appropriate fields have already been laid out for you and other built-in technologies can help you become much more effective.  There are many low price on-demand solutions out there, where you can “pay be the drink”, meaning, you only pay for what you use.

The Conversion Process

The reason why you need to keep track of you contact with sales prospects is that it takes time to convert prospects into customers.  Unless you are selling an incredibly hot product, it is unlikely that you will make a sale on your first contact.  Here are the four conversion stages delineated in The Skinny on Direct Sales:

1. Build rapport with the prospect
2. Get your prospect comfortable with your product
3. Help your prospect see the reason for buying your product
4. Get the prospect to see the benefits of buying your product now

 

It All Takes Time

Each of these stages of the sales process takes time, and you should not get frustrated or give up on a prospect if you don’t convert it very quickly.  In fact, marketers believe that most buyers need seven impressions (ads, references, discussions, etc.) before they will try the product.

Be prepared for setbacks during the first 100 days, and don’t give up if you don’t feel you are seeing results.  You need time to get your sales processes setup and to start seeing results.  As Winston Churchill said:

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with enthusiasm.”

The Power of Referrals

Another very powerful sales concept highlighted in The Skinny on Direct Sales is referrals.  Nothing is more effective is eliminating the natural resistance to a salesperson than a referral.  For every contact you make, even if you don’t close a sale, you should try to get a referral.  

How to Learn More

We have only scratched the surface on the subject of learning about sales to start your own business.  There is much more to this subject than we can possibly cover in this article.  But if you are serious about learning more about sales and entrepreneurship, I would recommend you read The Skinny on Direct Sales.  Just like all other Skinny On books, this volume is a quick and entertaining read that will get you started on the subject.  If you want to gain even more in-depth knowledge, there are many other great references in The Skinny on Direct Sales.