Do you want to be among the top 1% entrepreneurs who are considered to be champions in their own fields? Go ahead and learn of the nine things that make a champion entrepreneur – you might just be one.
A lot of people like to think of themselves as entrepreneurs. And while some of them are technically entrepreneurs as they are selling a particular service or a particular product, not all of them can be regarded as a champion entrepreneur. What’s the difference?
An entrepreneur chases after potential clients. A champion entrepreneur is chased by loyal clients.
An entrepreneur is a beginner in his niche. A champion entrepreneur is his niche’s expert.
An entrepreneur has failed ten times. A champion entrepreneur has failed a hundred times or more.
Be a champion entrepreneur by utilizing these top nine things:
1. Have passion in the industry you’ve chosen.
If you’re passionate about the type of business that you want to pursue, this means that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. You’re willing to take the risk, to spend a lot of your time, to shell out a decent amount of cash and to hold on when everyone expects you to let go already. You should be in love with your craft in a way that you believe in it.
And if people realize just how much you believe in your business, they would start believing in its potential as well.
2. Focus on the customer’s needs.
Your customer is the lifeline of your business. If you don’t care about what they want, they surely won’t care about buying from you. Make your marketing emphasize the fact that you are the best solution to their problems. Relate with their emotional dilemma. Get them to trust you by asking about their problems that you can solve. Be friends with them.
Most of the time, customers buy from friends – not from random strangers, so make an effort to get to know them better.
3. Be organized and maintain a system.
Being organized is not just about color-coding your files or buying a new cabinet – it’s about having a system that you can adapt while running your business. This means having set times to address concerns; working on your to-do list every day to ensure that you’re working on the urgent priorities; and having a working manual with regards to operating on the technicalities, among others.
Indeed, being a successful entrepreneur means that you can also be flexible sometimes, but most of the time, you need an established routine to keep you on your toes.
4. Learn the proper art of delegation.
At first, yes, you will be stuck doing almost everything if you’re still starting up. You think you can handle everything because you have all the skills you could possibly need. However, you will still come to realize that you can’t be good at everything! You can’t wear all hats at once. Learn what you’re good at and specialize in it.
As for the others, learn to delegate these tasks to people who specialize in them. Remember, hire people better than you, right? But make sure their character and attitude are worth too.
5. Promote yourself positively in a decently subtle manner.
People won’t just magically learn about you, your services or your products overnight. Don’t expect people to suddenly approach you out of the blue to beg you to sell your product to them either. Get your head out of the clouds and start promoting yourself to everyone you know.
- You don’t need to blatantly ask for a sale upon meeting a person for the first time – just sincerely try and help them so that they will come and trust you in the long run.
- Fill your social media platforms with helpful advice and encourage people to talk to you for a free consultation (initially!)
- Volunteer to help non-profit organizations with their needs by giving them a significantly huge discount or by working pro bono.
- Always carry your professional business cards with you and give them out sincerely – make sure that you and the receiver connected decently. Don’t just toss your cards all over the place.
6. A plan is useless without proper execution.
Don’t waste your time perfecting your Powerpoint presentations or drafting your proposals – nothing will really change if you don’t follow through with your plan. Presentations and proposals can be edited and modified until it’s nearly perfect, yes, but you can’t really manage every little thing in your plans, can you?
No matter how much time you’ve spent on your brainstorming sessions and meetings, you still have to include the cold hard reality in your implementation. Planning is fairly easy. However, at the end of the day, it’s really the proper execution that matters.
7. Differentiate your business in a good light.
Why would people want to buy from you as compared to your competitor? What makes you different from them? Do you give better customer service? How about higher quality? Do you offer long service hours? More flexible payment options?
Market your business in a way that your customers would notice it by emphasizing the benefits that your customer can receive:
- Product: Healthy food products
- Customer thought: How long do I have to exercise to get rid of the calories?
- Product: Clothes
- Customer thought: Will these make me more attractive for my date?
- Service: Accounting
- Customer thought: Will this service remove these annoying headaches for good?
8. Be a man of your word.
In the business world, a lot of entrepreneurs resort to making false promises and fake reassurances just to be able to make a sale. Don’t be one of them. Instead of overpromising during the negotiation process, why don’t you under-promise but over-deliver instead?
Don’t simply drive away your client’s objections just to get them to sign the contract. They are objecting simply because they want their concerns to be addressed. These concerns aren’t just made up – they come from your client’s deepest insecurities. Make sure that you’re actually able to deal with their concerns before closing the deal.
9. The road to championship is long. Make sure you enjoy it.
Being a champion entrepreneur means that you lead a life balanced enough to be able to work on your personal and professional interests at the same time.
Don’t get too caught up in your struggles. Focus on the solutions. And enjoy every inch of the way.
You have a long and fun way ahead of you, champion!
Lianne Martha M. Laroya is a pro blogger & freelance writer committed to providing writing services that produce compelling content to passionate small & medium enterprises. A nurse entrepreneur, Lianne believes in winning at all aspects of life so she founded The Wise Living. To avail of her writing services, simply connect with her on Twitter, @MsLianneLaroya
Image Credit: Shutterstock.com
