Some time ago I coined a new term: Salespreneur. It describes not only the true nature of a salesperson—a profession that for years has been unjustly maligned—but also the qualities a salesperson must have moving forward into the vastly changed sales landscape of the 21st century. The word came about after I realized that, in reality, salespeople are “entrepreneurs within the enterprise .”
An entrepreneur sees opportunities others miss, and has the ingenuity to seize and exploit them to the benefit of the market community. An entrepreneur carefully weighs the risk versus the opportunity, and acts accordingly. An entrepreneur would far rather create their own livelihood rather than take a fixed-income job.
Salespeople share many qualities in common with entrepreneurs. Salespeople prefer making their own financial paths and are paid on commission. They have an alertness for opportunity that others don’t have.
The salesperson has the same kind of ingenuity as an entrepreneur, to take advantage of such opportunities. They have an innate instinct for weighing risk versus reward.
To truly succeed in today's competitive and lightning-fast sales environment, however, a salespreneur must realize and empower additional capabilities.
follow up tips dropped from customers; they prospect on social media; they are constantly creating future income for themselves, in addition to leads their companies might be feeding them.
Can you imagine how much more efficient your company would become if every member of your sales force behaved in the ways we are describing above?
Welcome to the age of the salespreneur.