How I Became A Good Sales Manager For My Business

By Jon Daniels

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Despite working in sales throughout my corporate career, I simply was not prepared for how different the sales process is as a business owner.

Without the comfort blanket of a big company offering you security, when I ran my own business I suddenly notice if I didn’t close a deal then I didn’t get paid. In corporate life you still get some sort of basic pay even if you do nothing all month!

I had to bridge the gap between the two experiences.

What made me good at sales in corporate life that wasn’t there in my self-employed experience?

The answer was simple.

A good sales manager!

In corporate life a good sales manager will keep their team focus, happy and on target.

In business ownership land you need to have the same level of responsibility for yourself. You need to be your own sales boss. You need to keep the company of being who will push, inspire and motivate you.

You need to set yourself targets.

You need to push yourself through the barriers of fear around selling.

You need to review and change what you are doing until you get the success you crave.

This is where I noticed having a coach or mentor really made a big difference as I got the opportunity to discuss where I was and what was holding me back, instead of bottling it all up.

This is where being the member of a networking or mastermind group allowed me to learn from others.

Being self-employed is a very different experience to that of corporate land but you can get the same type of support if you just look for it. Don’t let yourself get lonely, find other people to keep you going. Make sure you are always happy and motivated as then you will be that good sales manager that will get you more customers for your business.