As I mentioned, in the last post, I will be talking more and more about entrepreneurship. And, let's keep it real, any honest discussion about entrepreneurship is largely a discussion about sales.
I am sure you have seen the television show Shark Tank. And, what you have probably recognized is that the sharks ask every contestant about their sales. Because, like Gary Vaynerchuk says, “Ideas are shit and…execution is the game.” People have gone into the shark tank with great ideas. But, if those great ideas are not selling, the sharks are not going to bite. Marketing/selling is the unique function of business. Otherwise you just have a hobby.
I am sure you have seen the television show Shark Tank. And, what you have probably recognized is that the sharks ask every contestant about their sales. Because, like Gary Vaynerchuk says, “Ideas are shit and…execution is the game.” People have gone into the shark tank with great ideas. But, if those great ideas are not selling, the sharks are not going to bite. Marketing/selling is the unique function of business. Otherwise you just have a hobby.
Peter Drucker famously said that a business exists for one reason, to create a customer. As such, the two entrepreneurial functions are innovation and marketing.
Innovation is for everybody, not just businesses. Simply put, innovation is about improvement. It is about making things better. Which means that personal development is a form of innovation. Provided the improvement helps you to contribute more and perform better. It is something I wrote about in this post.
Getting a suntan could be considered a form of personal improvement. But, does it really help you better serve people? Some might argue that a tan increases a person's confidence which would then help that person perform better. However, that strikes me as a bit of a stretch. There are much more effective ways to improve confidence, having nothing to do with ultraviolet radiation.
Real, personal innovations are things like listening and communication skills. Leadership skills and empathy. It has been said that we were given two ears and one mouth, and we should use them proportionally. A decent sentiment, I will agree. But it is an overly simplistic piece of advice. You cannot just set there, silently, and proclaim to be an effective listening. Effective listening is a discipline and it is really about asking quality questions. And, the development of the ability to ask good questions is innovation par excellence.
Again, innovation is a task we should all engage in, regardless of whether or not we are in business. I like to think of innovation as organized/intentional evolution. That said let's talk about marketing. As I have stated above, marketing is the unique function of business. If you are in business, and this includes non-profits and NGO's, you must market your organization and its products.
Time does not permit me to get into a deep and nuanced discussion about marketing. For now, I will simply use the terms marketing and selling interchangeably. I fully realize there are some differences between the two functions, but not much.
If you are a small business owner, you need to be a good salesperson. The big boys have the resources to engage in brand awareness (pull) marketing. You do not. You need to push yourself, your organization, and your products into the marketplace. You need to promote yourself
Truth be told, even companies that engage in pull marketing are smart to utilize push techniques as well. Tom Watson understood this. Watson knew that selling was the key to business success. He knew IBM technology was not the best in the world. It did not need to be because no computer company had a better sales force than IBM. History has repeated itself, of course, in the form of Microsoft. I think we all know Microsoft might not have the best technology in the world. But they sure have one hell of a sales department.
As you can see, I am making the case for the importance of selling. Because it is so important, selling is a concept I will continuously expound upon. As it stands, right now, there exists a far amount of disdain for the sales profession. If you dislike selling you have three choices: (1) change your perspective (2) give up your hopes of ever having freedom through entrepreneurship (3) latch onto someone who is good at sales and does not have such a negative bias. But remember, that last choice will require you to give away virtually all of the power. A better idea is to embrace selling and get good at it yourself. That is some serious innovation!
I will leave you with this. I think we all know how Bill Gates acquired the DOS operating system. It was not some great idea he invented. The Gates genius, and the Microsoft empire, was built on promotion. Bill Gates is a hell of a salesman. Remember that.
As you can see, I am making the case for the importance of selling. Because it is so important, selling is a concept I will continuously expound upon. As it stands, right now, there exists a far amount of disdain for the sales profession. If you dislike selling you have three choices: (1) change your perspective (2) give up your hopes of ever having freedom through entrepreneurship (3) latch onto someone who is good at sales and does not have such a negative bias. But remember, that last choice will require you to give away virtually all of the power. A better idea is to embrace selling and get good at it yourself. That is some serious innovation!
I will leave you with this. I think we all know how Bill Gates acquired the DOS operating system. It was not some great idea he invented. The Gates genius, and the Microsoft empire, was built on promotion. Bill Gates is a hell of a salesman. Remember that.
