Friday June 1, 2018 comments

Being a successful female entrepreneur starts by recognizing the failures you have overcome. There are hundreds of ways failure, the entrepreneurial F word, confronts an entrepreneur. The biggest fears my clients face are around sales. There is a massive stigma against being a salesperson. The title has a negative connotation and very few business owners will admit to being salespeople.   

I have spent over 10 years as a sales professional and the last six as an entrepreneur. One day, it dawned on me that clients who came through my door followed a pattern. I began asking a series of questions that led to one certainty: their businesses were failing because my clients weren’t connected with the sales aspect of their work. Feelings of fear and intimidation, a concern about a lack of experience, and often tears of frustration are common. Despite having an extraordinary passion for the way, they served their clients, there was a disconnect from their methods for driving revenue. Why weren’t they seeing the results they desired?  

In short, they were feeling the sting of failure. So here we are. We are going to talk about the entrepreneurial F word. We are going to use it to become stronger, more powerful, and to reach the goals you have for your business. There is fortune in failure. There is a pot of gold waiting for you at the end of the sales rainbow.  

Finding the fortune doesn’t always look easy, though. I too have shed tears, have become so frustrated I wanted to quit, and have hidden behind all sorts of excuses. I had to learn to look failure in the eye and appreciate what it could teach me as an entrepreneur and a salesperson. The stories I will share with you will sound familiar and show you that sales isn’t really about having that “special something.” This isn’t Maybelline: no one is born with it. Sales is a learned skill, and the approach I am going to teach you starts with a basic principle. There are two things human beings want more than anything in this world: to be heard and to know that we matter. Together, this knowledge is what differentiates a thriving relationship from a failing one.  

Life as an entrepreneur gives us an assortment of relationships to maintain, juggle, and constantly renew. It’s hard enough to be present and accountable in our personal lives. On top of that, throw in the parade of clients, prospects, vendors, partners, and employees, and our work gets complicated quickly. The expectations for creating long-lasting, successful and equally satisfying relationships with each of these people is challenging because despite expectations, no one ever talks about how to keep them from failing. 

Nor is it easy. It takes dedication, grit, awareness, and constant self-improvement to maintain the relationships that keep your business thriving.  So where do you go from here? Being a sales professional whether working for an organization or as an entrepreneur can be a difficult identity if you don't own who you are and show up with confidence. It is my goal to give sales training for female entrepreneurs and sales professionals that is delivered in way that connects, relates and delivers results. It's time to do something different! Learn YOUR way of selling and step in to success. 

The best place to start to get the training you are looking for as a female sales professional or female entrepreneur is to join The Conversation Club. You can join for a little as $30/month and get live trainings twice a month and instant access to The Club's archives of over 60 hours of video trainings!