3 Tips for Entrepreneurial Sales
Entrepreneurs are constantly selling. Like it or not, it's part of the job...
In this video, I highlight 3 tips to help you pitch, persuade, and close.
Entrepreneurs are constantly selling. Whether you realize it -- or like it -- it’s part of the job description.
Think about the many ways you sell -- motivating the team to support your vision; convincing an investor to write a check; landing a strategic partner; asking a colleague for a favor; signing up a new customer...
The effectiveness of your selling depends on getting 3 things right – and each begins with the letter “I”.
First, IDENTIFY.
You must define and understand your target audience extremely well. Get as narrow and specific as you possibly can in defining their interests and motivations. In some ways…get to know them better than they might know themselves.
Second, INTERRUPT.
No one is patiently waiting for your request. You need to arrest and hold their attention. Any way cut it - You are an interruption - and it’s your job to make it a welcome one. In this busy world – whether through a screen or face to face – it is not easy to interrupt tactfully, creatively, and successfully. And then to hold a prospect’s attention long enough to make the pitch? That’s a challenge that requires your patience and focus.
And finally, INFLUENCE.
Once you get the attention of your narrowly defined audience, find the intersection of the behavior you want and the motivation that currently drives them. What argument, image or hope changes the way they think...and can prompt them to act on that change?
So before your next attempt at persuasion, think through these 3 “I”’s. If you succeed in each step – identify, interrupt, influence – whatever you’re pitching…. will get much easier to sell.
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