The Sales Path to Entrepreneurship

I attended DMIA’s Small Distributor Summit and met many great people. Everyone had his or her own special story. Interestingly, everyone was in sales in some capacity.

I’m not surprised because, for as long as I can remember, I’ve always liked salespeople. They always were friendly, made me feel welcome and as though my needs were important. Some talked too much, but the good ones always listened and educated me. Instead of being “sold,” I made good buying decisions.

As I considered a career, the sales profession naturally attracted me. When I told my father that I wanted to go into sales, he tried to talk me out of it. He didn’t think much of salespeople. I never understood why, because he would have been great at sales. He worked hard and believed in always keeping his word, a characteristic that is highly valued in a salesperson. Despite my father’s misgivings I persisted for a number of reasons, but mostly it was just what I wanted to do.

Looking back, I think a sales career was a great decision. To be successful in sales, you need to learn about other people and yourself, and these lessons serve you well in every area of your life. You learn to draw people out so they convey what’s important and you become a quick study on nonverbal cues. You become a good listener. You also organize your activities to maximize your effectiveness, because no one tells you what to do every step of the way.

“We have nearly
1,000 distributorships in DMIA that were primarily started by salespeople who worked hard and were good at it.”

You study your offering and understand how it fits into your prospect’s business. You study the competition and the direction of the market. To stand out from the crowd, you need to understand what makes you and your offering different and valuable to your customer. Then you are an advocate for your customer, caring as much or more that things are done right and that they receive a good value. Great salespeople also are prepared to jump in at every step of the process to assure that their customer gets everything that was promised.

I’ve spent my entire professional career as part of sales organizations. RBO PrintLogistix employs 18 salespeople, and LaserBand LLC employs another eight. Each person is unique, but the best are really good with people and relationships. They read about their profession and try to gain a deeper understanding of what their customers or potential prospects want. The most successful parlay those skills and disciplines into “program” sales. They don’t chase print orders. Instead, they show the customer how to buy in an organized and educated manner. Whether it’s a print management program, a company store or an e-commerce solution, they guide and educate the customers. They show their customers a better way.

A deep understanding of your unique offerings, understanding people, listening, the ability to organize activities efficiently and the discipline to make it all happen are also what it takes to be an entrepreneur and start a company.

We have nearly 1,000 distributorships in DMIA that were primarily started by salespeople who worked hard and were good at it. Eventually, they started their own company because they wanted to do things a little better. No wonder I like this association so much!