One of the main things which encouraged me to start my own business, Sales Coaching Solutions, was seeing businesses struggle because they just didn’t know how to sell. Having been an award-winning sales person with 25 years of experience in the sales industry, I knew how difficult selling can be, so I put together my own methodology to teach other businesses and people how to sell their amazing products and services. In this methodology, I created The 4 Key Pillars of Sales: understanding behaviours (your customer’s behaviour and your own), sales process, sales strategy, and confidence. To begin with I was primarily working with large sales teams but in 2015 the closure of the growth voucher program meant that Start-Up businesses could no longer afford the support that they need, and this is where the idea for The Entrepreneur’s Godmother came from as I provide affordable ways for people to receive sales training and coaching whether this be through my online courses, workshops or 1-2-1 coaching.
What three pieces of advice would you give to college students (young and old) locally or internationally who want to become entrepreneurs?
I’d say that the first thing is to find something you are completely passionate about and to believe in yourself and your idea. For me, I am relentlessly passionate about sales because I believe that it’s a fundamental skill that everyone should have and doing it well can turn your ideas into reality. The second piece of advice I would give is to be resilient and determined, being an entrepreneur is not easy, it can be stressful and at times it can be lonely. This leads to my third piece of advice which is to make sure you build a strong support network from your family and friends to networking and meeting other entrepreneurs and businesses.
If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
I wouldn’t want to change the career path that I have followed as it has led me to where I am today. If I had the chance to change something before starting my own business, I would have liked to know more about the numbers and the financial side of running a business.
What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
To be a successful entrepreneur I would say that you need to be forward thinking and innovative in your ideas, try to create a solution to a problem with your products and services. Perseverance is also key, there will be times where you will hit bumps in the road and find it hard to keep going but your grit and determination will pay off eventually. The final skill that I’d say you need to be a successful entrepreneur is to be able to sell yourself, your products and services because if you don’t make sales then you don’t have a business. This is why I do what I do, I love helping businesses transform and growth through sales.
