I’ve just started up my consultancy and it’s just me and a part-time bookkeeper. Given the amount I have to tackle at the moment, how much of my day should be taken up with selling?
Great question and there’s a simple answer: The reason for every small business failure is a lack of sales. This alone should suffice as an answer to your question.
Knowing this, it really is up to you to decide how much time should be dedicated to the single most important function in your business.
I remember when I started my consultancy business about 10 years ago that I dedicated two hours a day to making outbound calls to prospective clients.
I would send 20 letters a day to a targeted audience, then three days later I would spend two hours following them up. I did this religiously for the first six months of opening my business.
Before too long I had more business than I could get to and I found myself hiring my first staff member, a telemarketer!
That’s right, I did not stop marketing; I just outsourced it so I could concentrate on selling or networking to convert opportunities.
Even today, 10 years down the track, I still spend about two to three days a week selling, presenting, running webinars, etc.
It is something that you really never stop doing. You just get better at doing it and I noticed a move away from one-to-one selling and a move towards one-to-many selling.
Running workshops, seminars and, nowadays, webinars to large groups – it’s all still sales.
So, sales is a core competency for anyone starting a business. Get good at it, systemise it, outsource the hardest part being lead generation, train at it and watch your business grow because if it.
