Pure shock was my first reaction. A friend and great salesman that I grew up with, and in business together, was in a medical coma.
He was once the fastest person I knew, but couldn’t outrun Father Time.
Here's some sales lessons that I learned from him along the way. Maybe they can help guide you on the right path.
The Game Has Just Begun
We were both kids and loved playing sports. He was an incredible athlete back then–skilled runner, super motivated, and could work out all day. There was nothing he couldn’t do.
We grew up on the baseball field together. Played for hours every week. After playing ball, he would go run for hours. He was a machine that never seemed to run out of batteries.
I quickly learned that this personality trait of his was evident in almost every part of his life.
In high school, he captured every record and won every competition. He was a champion that set records for the fastest times as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. Not to mention he was widely liked by every group–super outgoing with a great personality and terrific voice. He was a great friend and the real deal (from my perspective).
After high school, we both went into the radio industry. His broadcaster-like voice was perfect for it. He would convince people he was the “movie-phone” guy. Despite having a natural talent for it, his desire for bigger things kept growing as he spent countless hours alone inside of a box-sized room talking on the mic. The radio business didn’t work for him, but he learned that his voice and charm were great for sales.
He began doing sales for various companies and was successful. In fact, he would brag that he could sell anything to anyone, even “ice to eskimos” (his words, not mine). This gave him quite the reputation of being a dependable person.
Now the Fun Starts
A few years went by, and we began talking about some of the latest technology that started coming out at the time–namely building websites and writing code. I mentioned that I could write code and build websites, plus do all of these cool graphic and video things. He became excited and said he could easily sell this to businesses. He would do the sales and I would do the technical work. From those conversations, our idea to start a business together came to life.
What could go wrong, right?
Neither of us really had the experience of running a business so we brought in a couple of partners to help us. Things started off great. We got an office and created a bunch of great marketing materials. Then the fun started. We cut our sales pro loose and let him cook.
He hit a couple of sales networking events to get his feet wet and begin drumming up some business leads. The problem was this was all sort of new to him. He wasn’t very technical and didn’t really understand the product well, but boy, could he talk up a storm. The things he would come up with and convince people that we could do were astonishing. However, they weren’t always accurate or even helpful.
He would regularly sell things that we didn’t know, or services we didn’t have such as hosting or SaaS development. Plus, he always over promised, and loved to discount everything. He would give away his own shirt to get a sale.
We quickly realized that his type of sales technique was good to get quick business in the door, but he wasn’t really locking up high-quality, long-term clients with realistic expectations. He needed to target ideal customers and sell them on practical services that we offered at a fair market price, rather than discount everything just for the sake of making deals.
Often we were left scrambling to either complete projects under extreme deadlines or with minor compensation to where we were losing money. On top of this, he was regularly going on with clients and other folks on the company dime while not generating sales. He ended up draining the company’s bank accounts trying to maintain a successful image on the outside while we were left to produce the services he promised. We tried to manage the budget but it was not adding up.
Related: Tips to be a Great Sales Person
Where the Rubber Hits the Road
It was no surprise in the end when we had to shut down. The company lasted almost a year and ended up doing some really cool things, but our sales strategy just wasn’t sustainable for the long-term. Since we all started the company together, we felt it was better to let it go and part ways rather than trying to push one out and get a new sales partner.
It wasn’t all bad and we made some great connections and life-long friends along the way, but realized there’s more to sales than just pushing deals and undercutting competition. These sales techniques do have their place and could be a good way of securing new business.
Lesson 1: Ultimately a company needs a sound sales strategy that secures customers with capable resources and support on clear understanding of the expectations.
He was the glue that brought us together, but needed more sales mentoring to help us build a successful start-up from scratch. If anything, this motivated him to learn more and do better. That’s how he tackled everything in life, which is what we thought he would do now.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do, which is a great mentality to have in sales and in life. He was always working so hard and wanted to succeed. He was a champion at heart. That’s what made this entire scenario so hard to accept. He was now fighting the most difficult battle of his life and there was nothing anyone could do to help.
Months went by as his body continued to receive treatment. Eventually, doctors felt he might be in a good place to revive him and see if he can continue the treatment on his own. Many of us were hopeful, but yet unsure if he would continue to get better, or if he was just buying time. We knew the fighter in him was strong, as well as his dedication and work ethic, however none of us knew what lied ahead.
The journey for him was not easy. It took almost a year for him in the hospital to get discharged. He wanted to be back on his own, he had goals. There were no shortcuts and many tough days between, but he didn’t give up.
Lesson 2: Being committed and motivated makes all the difference. It’s where the rubber meets the road and separates winners from second place.
What’s the Deal
Long story short, friends are great for many things like dating advice and help when moving to a new place, but not always so great going into business with.
Lesson 3: I don’t recommend getting into a business with a person until they’ve proven what they bring to the table and not just on the merit of their word or impression.
“It’s easy to talk a good-game, but being able to back it up is another.”
There are many professionals in our lives that we turn to for things that we need when our friends don’t have all the answers. Doctors help us with our health. Mechanics help us with our cars. We look towards people that we trust, like friends, for help with things that matter most to us.
Starting a business takes passion. Successfully running that business is one of the most important things for someone in that position
The most important thing at Seamless is helping them find customers that want their passion. Don’t just count on the same old traditional, outdated B2B contact databases.
It’s far more valuable to rely on a trusted professional to deliver the most dependable and accurate contact data to help fill the pipeline instead of always relying on friends.
If you want someone to hangout with to have fun, get your friend. But if you need contact data, it’s Seamless AI. Get started for free today.
