Mark Cuban: billionaire. Investor. NBA team owner. Nice guy. Mark Cuban knows a little about making money.
So when he was asked what he would do if he lost everything, here's what he said he would do first:
"I would get a job as a bartender at night and a sales job during the day, and I would start working. Could I become a multimillionaire again? I have no doubt."
Why does he feel that way? Success is based -- in almost any field -- on solid sales skills.
Don't believe me? Granted, many people feel "selling" implies pressuring, manipulating, misleading--the sell-at-all-costs salesperson stereotype.
But if you think of selling as explaining the logic and benefits of an idea, a decision, a project -- of anything worthwhile -- then everyone needs sales skills. Everyone needs to have the ability to convince other people that an idea makes sense, to show bosses or investors how a project or business will generate a return, or to help employees understand the benefits of a new process.
Sales skills are, in essence, communication skills. And since communication skills are critical in any business or career, the best way to learn how to communicate well is to work in sales -- because great salespeople are great communicators.
Gain sales skills and you'll be better at everything: bringing investors on board, lining up distribution deals, landing customers, motivating employees. Especially in the early stages of starting a company, seemingly everything you do involves some form of sales.
That's why spending time in a direct sales role is an investment that pays off for the rest of your life.
For example, when you learn to sell:
1. You learn persistence.
Salespeople hear the word no all the time. Over time, you'll start to see a no as a challenge, not as a rejection. And you'll figure out what to do next.
2. You build self-discipline.
When you work for a big company, you can sometimes sleepwalk your way through a day and still get paid. When you work on commission, your credo is, "If it is to be, it's up to me." Working in sales is a great way to permanently connect the mental dots between performance and reward.
3. You gain confidence.
Working in sales is the perfect cure for shyness. You'll learn to step forward with confidence, especially under duress or in a crisis.
4. You learn to negotiate.
Every job involves negotiating: with customers, with vendors and suppliers, even with employees. Salespeople learn to listen, evaluate variables, identify key drivers, overcome objections, and find ways to reach agreement--without burning bridges.
5. You learn to close.
Closing a sale is part art, part science. Getting others to agree with you and follow your direction is also part art and part science.
Many people find it hard to ask for what they want. If you want to lead people, you must be able to explain what you want -- and then close. That's why great bosses know how to close.
Still not convinced? Think of it this way: The more intimidating or scary a position in sales sounds, the more you need to take one. You'll gain confidence and self-assurance, and the skills you gain will serve you well for the rest of your business -- and personal -- life.
So if you're an aspiring entrepreneur, set aside your business plan and work in sales for a year or two. If you're a struggling entrepreneur, take a part-time sales job. One reason you're struggling might be that you need to improve your sales skills.
"Knowing what my sales skills are and the products that I am able to sell," Cuban says, "I think I could find a job selling a product that had enough commissions or rewards for me."
And that would generate enough seed money to let him start his own business and let him use his sales skills to make money for himself, not for an employer.
Successful business owners -- successful people in general -- spend the majority of their time "selling."
Learn how to sell.
It's the best investment you will ever make.
Mark Cuban says so.
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BrandView Thought leadership for business owners What is this?
Most successful businesses can trace their roots to a similar origin story. The company founder identifies an unmet need or underserved market and comes up with a creative way to capitalize on it.
David Hessekiel’s eureka moment came in 2002 when he was consulting with a number of clients on cause marketing projects. “I had a heck of a time finding any useful information on cause marketing,” the founder and president of Rye, New York-based Cause Marketing Forum, Inc. (CMF) recalls. “I figured there had to be a community of people working at the intersection of purpose and profit that would appreciate easy access to examples of best practices, case studies, industry statistics, and the like.”
He figured right. Cause marketing, often described as “doing well by doing good,” has been growing steadily for years. Corporate cause sponsorship was an $816 million-a-year sector when Hessekiel launched CMF 14 years ago. It’s more than doubled since then, projected to hit $2 billion in 2016, and he has positioned his firm as the nexus of critical resources for business and nonprofit executives looking to create successful company/cause alliances. As the latest winner of T-Mobile’s Unleash Your Business contest, he’s excited about new opportunities to take his enterprise to the next level.
Hessekiel started with a clear vision of a straightforward business model. His plan was to use free online information offerings to draw prospects to CMF’s website and convert them over time into paying customers who attend the firm’s conferences and webinars, enter its awards programs, and become dues-paying members of CMF. He also sought to attract member and non-member sponsors of the organization’s programs.
When CMF held its first event, in 2003, its staff consisted of Hessekiel and one “very part-time” event coordinator. CMF remains a small but mighty virtual team of seven people collaborating on four brands: Cause Marketing Forum and Companies & Causes Canada, its two North American corporate citizenship units; and Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum and Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Canada, its two North American brands that help nonprofits produce more successful walks, rides, and other types of fundraising programs in which supporters ask their contacts to donate to a cause.
Every month, CMF produces numerous newsletters and podcasts as well as between one and three webinars which enable thousands of customers to tap into the brilliance of experts from around the world, Hessekiel says. The company’s Halo Awards competition draws more than 100 entries of corporate social initiatives each year, and its Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum compiles annual U.S. and Canada rankings of the 30 largest peer-to-peer fundraising programs. “The Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Top 30 has become an important benchmark for our industry. It has been cited by the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and many other media outlets,” he says.
“It’s essential for us to upgrade our use of technology to increase our efficiency, improve our level of customer service, and produce more engaging content and experiences,” Hessekiel explains.
Hessekiel plans to use the T-Mobile prize package of services and gear to improve operations, keep up with the growth of its communities, and develop better content. For example, CMF conferences attract hundreds of attendees, most of whom tend to arrive at the same time. That can result in long registration lines and make it difficult for team members to track check-ins in real time. “We are going to give each registration desk staffer a Samsung tablet linked to our attendee database,” he says. “As each person checks in, we’ll be able to access all of their details and note that they’ve been serviced. Being up to date on customer traffic will improve our customer service and post-event analysis.”
CMF live events present prime opportunities to capture case studies and other insights from attendees, but it has missed out on that to date because it lacked the right technology. Hessekiel plans to remedy that by equipping staff members with tablets that they will use to videotape interviews with conference attendees and speakers, providing a treasure trove of source material that can be used for future blog posts and online videos.
“As we approach our 15th year in business, we must never become complacent,” Hessekiel says. “The fields we cover are constantly changing, as are the needs of our customers. No two members of our team work in the same location, so it is critical that we have reliable communications systems at all times; they are the lifeblood of our business. Continuing to run the business efficiently depends on simplifying our processes by digitizing them. It’s my hope that access to this top-drawer equipment and service package from T-Mobile will help us take a quantum leap forward.”
https://www.inc.com/t-mobile/doing-well-by-doing-good.html?cid=mustread1
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