What It Truly Takes To Succeed In Business
Here is a secret that may be difficult for you to believe, so prepare yourself. It is an extremely important secret that can have a most profound impact on your small business success, or its failure.
Let's start by asking a simple question...Do you enjoy sales?
The truth of the matter is that when many small business owners are asked this question, they respond with answers like, "No way" or "I can't stand sales, let someone else do it."
Why is your answer to the above question so important? No doubt you have seen headlines like the following, which glorify how easy and simple it is to succeed in business:
"The Ultimate Lazy Way To Start Your Own Business"
"Cash In On A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry In Your Underwear"
"Easily Generate A Lucrative Income While Sleeping"
We are constantly being bombarded with these "easy ways" to make a million bucks. Does success in business actually work this way? Not in reality! Is it realistic? Not even close!
The bottom line in operating a successful long-term business comes down to your ability to sell your product...period. It doesn't get any simpler than that. You can either sell your own product or resell somebody else's product. Either way, your success or failure will ultimately depend on your ability to market it. If you don't enjoy sales, you have very little chance to succeed in business for yourself.
The most prevalent attitude of many new business owners is that their product, once launched, will miraculously sell itself. After all, the product is awesome and everybody will absolutely, positively want one. People should be lining up to buy it, right?
Here is another truth about sales. It will take 5-7 sales attempts to close 80% of your sales. Yes, you read that correctly. That's 5-7 attempts before people will say "Yes, I want to buy your product." Running an advertisement one-time or making a sales pitch to a potential customer once in a while does not qualify as effort. Hearing that first "no" and subsequently giving up means the demise of your business and gives someone else an opportunity to turn that NO into a YES.
What most people don't realize or fail to accept is that it may take weeks, months or even years to get a product to sell according to your expectations. You may have to frequently change your sales pitch, web site, advertisement or even the product until you get it right. This dedication and determination is what separates the very few successful business owners from the many "wannabes" and fly-by-night hopefuls.
The bottom line is that to be successful in ANY business you will need talent and the ability to sell, sell, sell.