 In 1970 Tom Golisano spotted an under-served market in the payroll processing industry. At the time, most companies in the space believed there was no value in serving small companies of one to fifty people. So Golisano invested $3,000 cash, maxed out his credit card, and started Paychex to provide payroll services to small businesses overlooked by larger competitors. Today one of every twelve private-sector employees in America receives their paychecks from the company Golisano started. Although it took years for his startup to take off—Golisano didn’t pay himself for the first six years—Paychex is now valued at $47 billion. I recently spoke to Golisano via Zoom about his new book, The Italian Kid Did It, a memoir of growing up as the son of immigrants in Rochester, New York. The book is part autobiography and part self-help for anyone with a business idea. “When you size up a business, you need to have faith in the jockey,” says Golisano. “It doesn’t matter how fast the horse can run if the jockey has no idea how to ride it to victory.” Golisano says he looks for the following qualities in entrepreneurs: industry knowledge, passion, dedication, a strong work ethic, and the ability to identify a significant market opportunity. But there’s one attribute that Golisano says is most important: The entrepreneur must be able to sell what they produce. “Sales ability is very, very important,” says Golisano. “Many entrepreneurs fall into this trap: they say they have a cash flow problem, but really what they have is a sales problem.” Golisano tells aspiring entrepreneurs that just because they hang up a shingle, it doesn’t mean the world will beat a path to their door. “I warn them the sales process is going to be harder than they can ever imagine. And if sales are low, there will be insufficient revenues to cover operating costs.” Many entrepreneurs and business leaders who don’t have ‘sales’ in their formal titles believe selling should be left to ‘sales professionals.’ What they fail to realize is that everyone is in sales. “If you look at what people actually do all day on the job, they are selling,” sells bestselling author Dan Pink in his Masterclass on the art of persuasion. “If you’re a physician or a nurse, you are selling patients on doing something different. If you’re a boss, you are trying to influence or persuade your people to do something in a different way. If you are a teacher, you are trying to persuade your class.” Pink and his team conducted research that shows most business professionals spend about 40% of their time on something akin to sales: persuading, influencing, and convincing. The good news according to Pink and Golisano is that everyone has the ability to improve their sales skills. A great salesperson educates, simplifies, and inspires.
Don’t get hung up on titles. If you’re an entrepreneur, a small business owner, or a leader, sales skills are critical to your success. As Dan Pink says, “we’re all in sales now.” Source: Forbes.com Image Credit: Megan Rexazin from Pixabay
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Photo used under Creative Commons from La Grande Oregon Economic Development
