You may never be great at sales
The story of an entry level CEO and some great advice
The before — When I didn’t want it
“You may never learn to be great at sales,” — said Alan, my business partner as we were both sipping our beers. If he had said that two years ago, I would have given him a cheerful nod and said, “That’s why I don’t want to be the CEO of my company!” I might have asked him to step into the role in my place. I was desperately looking for a way out.
Only back then he was not my partner. He was a model of a sort of person I would have wanted to attract to Lean Street — but first I needed to make my young technology shop into something that a successful executive would want to join. So — the next step was clear, and there did not appear to be much of a choice. Learn to be a CEO. Learn to close sales. Generate enough business. Be good at it.
Being good at it came easy. After twenty years of building software for startups, I’ve seen just about every kind of disaster that befalls a tech team and its business counterparts. I figured out that closing sales was no more than a job interview. I never lost a pitch. Enough business came from referrals — and I found myself getting fairly comfortable with the job of a CEO of a small company that employed 40 people and had helped a dozen clients.
Yet I have not fully earned what I was after — I still can’t attract executives with a fancy salary, nor by showing off spectacular success. Still we turned some heads. It was enough.
The present moment — the whole enchilada
It worked well enough that I am after the whole enchilada. I have been stringing together little projects and having my team build great tech for them. But I hardly changed the world. I need to pick clients that have a chance for spectacular success and be instrumental in creating it. This means, I can no longer rely on referrals from people who respect my work and happy clients — I have to be out there selecting and creating opportunities.
This realization, came suddenly.
“Alan, I want to be one of the best! I can’t back out of it now.” Alan had been telling me for months, I was after the wrong market segment. “You were right, right about everything! And especially right about letting me have it,” was how I started this conversation. I knew Alan’s word was gold. He has never given a client bad advice. He has never been wrong. It is up to the founders he works with to take the advice — and when they do, it takes a lot of hard work to get to success, but the path is clear.
I knew all that… so why did it take him months to convince me I needed to look for bigger opportunities, focus on what I was after, set the bar high? Because I was afraid. I knew I didn’t know how to be a CEO. I knew I didn’t do sales. The fact that people were willing to hire us was a miracle each time it happened, again and again.
I am a tech manager — I focused on execution. No project too big or too small. No idea too out there. No project too troubled. Testimonials came easy, repeat business and referrals trickled in. And we worked around the clock giving each startup we worked with our heart and soul to make sure that the idea they have has the best possible chance. When money got tight, we reduced the size of our team and continued doing our best, absorbing each blow to the client’s business as though it were our own because it was.
Don ‘t get me wrong —I want to keep that part. Our mission is to innovate — be the partner that does it better than a team of developers hired to be on site, and figure it all out from scratch. This is what I choose to do with my life, as do those who have become the core Lean Street team. But I might as well select those opportunities that we can knock out of the park and change the world, the industry,
Now Focus — and change how you think
I was looking to dive inside my half-empty beer, depressed that I had the right advice, and I was so slow to take it. I always thought I would do better than that. But Alan was just getting started.
“Kate, you have to start by learning what the size of the opportunity is in front of your client. This determines the amount of value you can bring.”
I know that. I knew that. He’s been trying to say that for weeks. But I was hearing, “so when they go out of business you don’t get stuck holding the bag!” — defensive positioning. That’s not what he had in mind at all!
“If the client is negotiating on costs, you have failed to sell them. You have already screwed up. Stop and go back to the value proposition. Set the contract aside — you got there too soon.”
I did? I did. Right! They always tell me to just send them a proposal! How am I supposed to fill in the price?!” (and then bite my nails for days to see if I happened to hit the magic number).
“Great salespeople don’t focus on what they can do and how they can solve problems. They spend all of their time understanding the pain and the value that can be brought.”
Ugh. Right. And I run around telling them how smart I am. And I am so proud of myself when they want to hire me as a result! I felt profoundly embarrassed. I played back all of my meetings. I do work with clients to find out what the problem is, then go, “I can solve it! I know how!” like a 5th grader who knows how to answer a teacher’s question. Then just like I did in 5th grade, I give them an enthusiastic answer, they give me a gold star and I get to my homework. My teachers loved me. Clients do too… But it’s time I graduated.
The new present moment — I shall and I will!
I put Alan’s advice to work the next afternoon as I was coaching a team of college kids for a business competition at UC Irvine. When the meeting started, I did my old thing: “I have been building technology for twenty years. I can help you. I am smart. I have a company and clients and all these things. And — have you noticed how friendly and approachable I am? We will have fun together!” They mentioned a problem, I impressed them by knowing a solution. Then as we talked, I shared Alan’s advice because I thought it would be valuable to them.
“Note how I was talking about myself instead of you when we started? Let me try a different approach. You mentioned the problems you had. Tell me, what would happen if you did not get any advice on these? Do you think, you’d be able to bring the project to the finish line?” “I think, we could, said the team lead/CEO. I worry, however, that we would fail to launch the business after the competition without learning how to handle them well.” We continued talking and I learned so much more about him and his business and his passion than I had anticipated. It opened my whole world… I didn’t go as far as I might have if this value-oriented approach was second nature to me, but I got my first taste.
Alan — you did an evil thing to me. You told me what I would have to do in order to be great. And you teased me by saying, few people ever achieve greatness in sales — and I may never do so. Do you see, I am left with no choice now but to succeed? To be one of the best? And most of all… to start my journey by listening to you. Listening more deeply than I have. Listening fully, not defensively. Taking every idea and diving in deep, until those ideas are my own and I can be what you have described is possible. Having you around is not for the weak of heart, and many have learned that if their objective is to hear that they are right, they are great, and their ideas are awesome, you are not the best applicant.
I have downloaded a dozen books this morning. I need a year. My goal for that year isn’t to become great — but to make it clear that I could and I am well on my way. Thank you.
