This article was inspired by a friend of mine, Mark Schenkius. Mark is now a professional trainer and lecturer in the field of procurement, negotiation, and sales. He is also the author of a great book, The Other Side of Sales. In it he reveals to salespeople how buyers think. I would certainly recommend it to anybody in business to business (B2B) sales.
Anyway, Mark and I worked together at Mars, but this article isn’t about us buying stuff there, it’s about building a client base when you first start a business.
The phrase “If you build a better mousetrap people will beat a path to your door” is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. But did you know that the US patent office has issued more patents for mousetraps than any other machine? So, what does this tell us? Well firstly, that lots of people have lots of time on their hands to think about inventing mousetraps, and that maybe some of those ideas were triggered by the Emerson phrase; and the people saw untold riches in their minds as they were designing a “best ever” trap. Maybe it also illustrates how successful in evolutionary terms mice are.
The fact is pretty much every inventor dreams of and pictures their ideas leading to untold wealth and glory, or at the very least being recognised for improving the World in some way. They are also convinced that Emerson was right and all you must do is make the best or be the best and the wealth will follow. Sadly, that is often not the case.
Your best friends can be unintentional enemies
Mark and I talked about selling B2B services the other day, and we both made the same comment. The fact is you really can be one of the best, and very excited about launching your new career, product, or service on the market, but invariably soon after the launch the reality hits you and the sales do not come flooding in. Instead, all those friends who promised to help you with connections, or sales, or work suddenly are not there anymore. I don’t think that they are deliberately misleading you, often they are swept up in your enthusiasm for your idea, they truly want to help and tell you about connections they have, no matter how tenuous. Humans are social animals; we gain reward by being liked often and one of the ways to be liked is to help others. Your friends are not being selfish, they are simply trying to be supportive, but in doing this they can lead you into blind alleys and cost you time and effort. You as the business must be strong for them and just like an army medic in a battlefield you must triage their ideas and offers, whilst maintaining the friendship.
Now, having said this I have been given stellar leads by some of my contacts in the past. This is because I am lucky and have made some great contacts and have some excellent business friends. But I have also had some shocking leads offered to me and had to manage them.
The best way I found to do this is to be honest with your friends. If you tell them why you don’t think you will be reaching out to their potential lead they may actually reveal more about it that makes you change your mind. Remember how I told you in a previous article that the best salespeople listen more than they talk? Well, it’s true in this situation too.
But I do have the best mouse trap!
The fact is your business is unlikely to grow at the pace you think it will. You may have the best mouse trap, but people still don’t beat a path to your door. Very quickly in your business life you run out of connections and friends to call upon and you must find leads in other ways. My rule of thumb is that if you make any sales in the first year of your business consider yourself lucky, and budget that way in your initial business plan.
Even with the most driven individuals, things take longer than you think, want, or expect them to. This is because you are selling to other people and they have different timelines, wants, needs and expectations to you. The fact is they will probably still be able to pay their mortgage and feed their families without you. They simply don’t have the same urgency.
If there is therefore one message you should take from this article when you are starting up your business is plan for next to zero sales in the first year. In other words, be patient.
I get to talk to a lot of people who have started their businesses in the last ten years, almost without fail the businesses that still exist today, or have been sold to others, all saw the same thing, almost zero sales in their first year.
There are of course exceptions, we can all name them, but I think you hear about them because they are exceptions. Most businesses grind through their first year or two, simply surviving, learning, and growing, making mistakes, and correcting them or pivoting and changing their offering. If you expect that to be the case, then you will be set for success. If you can last for the first two years, the odds are you will start to grow and become a success. Not an “Apple” maybe, but something that in five or ten years’ time will be worth several million or more and be set for its next phase of growth, or maybe disposal.
Improving your chances
There are ways you can improve your chances of lasting through those first two years in B2B though. The first, as I have said, is demonstrate patience. Next is listen to good advice and question it. This is why in a previous article I talked about taking “smart money” from investors who really can provide help, sales connections, and sound advice. They are worth waiting for, they bring far more than money to you.
Next use social media wisely. It isn’t about scatter gunning yourself over every platform you know, you probably can’t afford to do that anyway. Use social media well, provide valuable content to those people who you think will be your customers and do it regularly. Post something useful once a week on LinkedIn for example, on the same day each week. Use Twitter as a business application, in the name of your business, and share your content there, on the same day each week. Develop a pattern, be consistent, be business like in your use of social media. You can do these things at no cost in the first instance. Openly use your connections to share and like your posts, ask them to do it. I have found that was far more valuable than the leads they “gave” me. In this way you access their networks and the people there qualify themselves in for your goods or services. Isn’t it better to have conversations with people because they reach out to you? That is where your friends and connections can truly add value to your fledgling business.
Business growth takes time, unless you have the budgets of a major multi-national and can spend money on massive TV and social media campaigns. But then if you were one of those you would probably not be reading this article.