Lessons learned the #hardway
You will hear again and again that the number one skill an entrepreneur needs to acquire is to learn how to SELL. And it is true to some extent, even I talk about that in-depth in this article here.
The one thing you should consider though is, you also need to learn it inside out not just get your feet wet with their own specific, either online, offline or both, B2B and/or B2C, inbound and/or outbound. Only after that you will see that SALES and MARKETING are entirely different concepts that are somehow interconnected, but need to work together as a whole and in a macro strategy.
What you should always be aware of is where is the thin line where one is closing and the other one is starting and what you should be aspiring in the long run is to design this process as a continuous circle for your prospects.
In simple terms MARKETING will get you through the door but only SALES will keep you in business so you better learn to proper make use of each one!
One helps you build and navigate through a funnel, the other one should be designed to help you monetize the funnel(80% — effort / 20% — results rule rings any bell?).
Also depending on the business model they operate on and your level of selfawareness you can use MARKETING as leverage to get more qualified LEADS in order to get more SALES, automation and scaling process that nowadays is mostly done through digital technology.
To get a broader understanding and build an in-depth knowledge on how to do that I recommend using the #TractionDevelopmentFramework based on the “traction methodology” that can be reached here , just go to the left upper side menu to File -> Make a copy and begin completing and iterating your own data on the Marketing/plan sheet and focus on what works highlighted in the Focus<ON> sheet, a preview of which can be seen bellow:
And depending on which side of the fence you might have been operating until now you need to learn, understand and mitigate the frictions that surface during the creation of that kind of process for your business, because in the end you need both marketing and sales to be aligned and work together as a whole.
If this is the case you need to stand your ground and stay humble but agile through the difficult conversation that lies ahead either with your coworkers, co-founders or even your own self!
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So COMMIT first in CHANGING your MINDSET and take your time to read the 10 STEPS to climb ENTREPRENEURSHIP series!
Take a leap forward and use my SYSTEM to develop the right mindset and buy “The MiNDSET game” e-book here!
