If You Want a Successful Business, Never Ignore These 4 Sales Pillars

Prioritizing them will increase your chances of success.

If building your own business feels easy, you’re doing something wrong.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, there are many things you need to manage. You juggle between accounting, PR, sales, client relationships, and the actual execution of the job.

While prioritization can be a solution, many entrepreneurs fail to do it.

In my previous job as a head of startup scouting, I’ve come across thousands of young companies. I’ve listened to their pitching presentations, analyzed their sales documents, and assessed their business potential.

Many high-potential startups disregard key business development activities and only focus on product development. A few months down the road, they have a great product and zero sales leads or clients, which might be the end of their journey.

Sales and marketing development takes time. Underestimating it can negatively influence the success of your business.

If you want to become a badass entrepreneur, you should never ignore the key activities to help you kick start your business. After reading this article, you’ll know the four sales pillars you should focus on early.

#1 Master Your Sales Pitch

You can’t sell effectively without it. Even if you have an excellent product but don’t know how to convey the message, no one will buy what you have to sell.

You need a compelling pitch to tell about your products or services — this includes an oral presentation and the respective documents to support it.

Despite the product or service itself, people want to know the context. They need information about your team, how your solution solves their issues, what your client references are, and so on.

Your pitch is an opportunity to answer these questions. If you fail to do it, your potential clients will walk away disappointed.

From my experience, the best-performing sales pitch documents briefly describe the product or service itself, emphasize the client’s benefit, provide a competition overview to highlight advantages, and present references of previous clients.

Avoid sharing too many details too early — it overloads the recipient with information. Stay concise and provide enough detail to interest your potential client.

If applicable, create a one-pager and share it with your network on social media.

Your sales pitch is your entry key to the clients. They will only know about your business by reading or hearing it. Producing and delivering your best sales pitch will help you open doors and get new sales leads.

#2 Make Networking Your New Routine

Whether you like it or not, networking is crucial for success.

It can bring you new clients, advisors, mentors. You can also meet interesting people and build a community of like-minded entrepreneurs.

Such a community can bring a lot of benefits. First, you can get referrals and build your client base faster. You might also get inspiration to develop new ideas. Finally, you can share your work and get feedback from people with more experience.

You can build a network by attending events and participating in relevant conferences. Now, many events are happening online, so you can network without even leaving your couch.

Another way is to connect with people on social media. LinkedIn is a great platform to build a network. Connect with people from your industry, leave comments on their posts, send birthday notes and congratulations on their work anniversaries.

Business relationships are essential for growth and success. Building a solid network takes time, but it is worth it. Make sure to focus on it early on so you can use it to your advantage when building your business.

#3 Build Your Digital Presence

An online presence is an essential element of brand building for businesses.

A strong digital presence helps you raise awareness, gain credibility, reach a target audience, and get access to more customers.

In my previous job, I’ve seen startups that offer outstanding results but have no online presence — neither a website nor a LinkedIn page. It is, at the very least, suspicious.

As a small business, if you want to avoid unnecessary expenses, opt for a free version. Set up a LinkedIn page instead of a website. It can be your space to maintain your digital presence, grow your audience and keep it informed.

In the digital age, there is no reason not to have an online presence. It is quick and easy. You don’t have to publish content every day. Just make sure you are staying on the radar to maintain awareness.

Establishing your online presence can help you grow your business, so use this opportunity to your advantage.

#4 Use the Power of Customer Testimonials

Even when you are great at what you do, closing a sale might still be hard. Customer testimonials can tip the scales in your favor.

Your potential clients want to see that what you do can make a difference and solve their issues. The reviews of your previous clients have the power to do just that.

Testimonials create credibility and build trust. It’s a powerful tool to turn a lead into a customer.

Building your track record is vital for your success. Get a customer testimonial every time you complete a job in the form of a short review or a quote.

Make sure to confirm with your client what information you can disclose: the name of the company or just the industry, the person’s name or only the position. It will help avoid any misunderstanding with the client.

Once you have the permission, let your network know: post an update on your online channels, include the review in your sales documents, or send a newsletter to your email subscribers.

Showing feedback about your work creates new opportunities for you. Use it to your advantage to demonstrate your progress and growth. So don’t be shy and ask your clients for testimonials.

Key Takeaway

Being an aspiring entrepreneur isn’t easy. You have a limited amount of time and need to take care of multiple things at once. Underestimating sales activities can be a crucial mistake for your business’ success.

While prioritization is necessary when building your business, you shouldn’t ignore these sales pillars:

• Master your pitch and sales documents to get new clients.
• Networking is key, don’t be lazy — you’ll thank yourself later.
• Establish and maintain your digital presence.
• Get testimonials about your work and share them with the world.

Focusing on these business activities will help you on your entrepreneurial journey and increase your chances of success.

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