What I've Learned About Sales By Starting a Business

 In 2014, my goal was to start my business.  I did.  In 2015, my goal was to prove that my concept of sales training was valuable.  I did.  In 2016, my goal has been to turn Get After It Sales into a real, live business.  And it's working!  Here are a few things from my first 6 months of turning this into a business that can help salespeople:

Think Big, Act Small:  I've set large revenue goals for myself in 2016, with the idea to push myself to do a better job engaging new prospects.  That said, I wanted to put pressure on myself, so I instituted weekly touchpoint goals and broke my overall revenue down into monthly goals.  By thinking big and acting small, I'm already at my end of October goal...and I thought that was a stretch.

Creating Real Value Brings You Value:  The more I've blogged, the more active I've been on social media, the more I've engaged through smart, thoughtful content, the more revenue I've created.  People were not familiar with my content, and social media has allowed me to put my point of view into the sports business community in an engaging way.  It has allowed people to become comfortable with me...and hire me.

Never Stop Improving Your Game:  I never thought my renewal business would be as high as it has been.  That has been a truly pleasant surprise in the rise of Get After It Sales, and it has been truly appreciated.  But it's not by accident.  I haven't stopped improving my training, changing my training, or listening to my clients and adhering to their needs.  This attention to detail has allowed my clients to trust that I'm going to bring a new and improved performance every time, which has increased their likelihood to bring me back.

Get No's:  Last year I was terrified to get 'no's' from teams, and I was hanging on each conversation.  This year I have the confidence that any team who hires me will get a home run from sales training, and, if they don't, that's there loss.  This determination has seen me get more 'no's'...but also WAY more 'yes''.

Wear Your Job as a Badge of Pride:  At ALSD in 2015, I felt a little awkward being on the vendor side for the first time, and I'm sure it showed in the way that I interacted with people.  I made good connections from the event, but I did not feel great about it.  This year I focused on being present, available, and confident, and the results were far superior.  I'm confident in the value I can provide people, owned my brand, sought conversations, and walked away far more confident in the value I got from the event.

Each of the points above has truly helped me, in 2016, to grow the company larger than even my expectations.  If you, as a salesperson, focus on these points, I know they will help you, too.  So #getafterit!