Believe it or not, most aspiring entrepreneurs consider selling the most undignified and dirty part of their jobs. Instead, their view is a more romantic one of heroic innovators passionate about disrupting existing markets, hopefully valued so much as to enter the entrepreneurial Unicorn Hall of Fame. They are not sneaky salesmen, wolfing around Wall Street, bilking Aunt Betsy out of her hard earned pension and leaving her penniless. No, entrepreneurs honorably rise above the wicked world of “mere salesmanship” to let their amazing and awesome products sell themselves. To buy their better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to their doors.
Not so much: The reality of being an entrepreneur is that selling is one of, if not the, most essential functions in building great companies. In fact, sales, as “Vini” Onyemah and Martha Rivera-Pesquera point out, is a fundamental pillar of the entrepreneurship process in which value is exchanged between two people so that both are enriched—one with profit, and the other with product and the benefits it bestows on them. As sure as Unicorns are mythical beasts, in the real world no entrepreneur can be successful without riding the workhorse of sales.
I met Vini seven years ago when we both were joining the Babson College community, during an orientation walk around the beautiful Babson campus west of Boston. I was excited that he had been building his academic career on his decades of personal selling experience, as well as academic and practical understanding of the sales process. You would think that sales would be a staple of business school offerings, but I had just spent five years on the Harvard Business School faculty where only one professor believe it or not, out of 200, Frank Cespedes, was seriously committed to teaching students how to sell.
What I have learned since then, having collaborated very closely with Vini on numerous large-scale projects in several countries, is that Vini walks the walk. Every professional interaction he has is a manifestation of the fair and mutually beneficial process of sales, that is, exchanging value. Well, to be honest, anyone who has had the pleasure of being in one of Vini’s classrooms knows that he “runs the run” rather than the walk. He is a bundle of energy and excitement, humorously yet with intent seriousness helping students as well as real entrepreneurs on fire with ambition to grow their ventures. Sales is a calling for Vini, not a profession.
Fortunately, this book brings some of that same energy and practical wisdom to a much broader audience.
By Daniel Isenberg, PhD
Entrepreneurship Is the Pursuit of Opportunity Without Regard to Resources Currently Controlled
This is the definition of entrepreneurship that I learned from Professor Howard Stevenson, my friend and mentor at Harvard Business School, when I began my doctoral program in 1990. The definition captures all of the key elements of entrepreneurial activity—opportunity, active engagement (pursuit), and resources. Notice that it does not suggest that resources are unimportant to success, but indicates that a true entrepreneur is not limited in thinking by only those resources she already has. Securing the resources necessary to deliver on the dream is a fundamental entrepreneurial activity.
Successful entrepreneurs are those who envision a future that will be superior to the present because of the goods or services they can deliver. They then must share the vision and creatively assemble the resources necessary to execute. There are many steps (and potential pitfalls) between that first “light bulb” moment and ringing the opening bell on the stock exchange.
Taking the idea to a viable business concept requires careful research and analysis, thoughtful discussion and customer sampling. When the concept is sufficiently refined to represent a high-quality business opportunity, the entrepreneur has to begin the real work of assembling the human, financial, and physical resources to deliver on the concept. This is where selling and salesmanship come to the fore. I discovered this firsthand when I joined a startup team.
In July 1985, I met a former colleague in the lounge of our local Marriott. He had moved on from the supermarket chain where we met to become president of another company in the Northeast and we had not seen each other for two years. We were meeting that day because he had called me to say he had something very exciting to discuss.
I had heard rumors that he had left his job and was planning to start a new venture. I went to the Marriott that day because I was curious and was willing to offer advice, but I had no interest in joining him, which would have meant abandoning a career I loved.
Tom Stemberg and I exchanged greetings, quickly ordered, and got right into the reason for this meeting. He placed a large 3-ring binder on the table and told me in very confidential tones that it was a plan that would change my life. During the next two hours, I fell under the Stemberg spell. He was the best salesman I have ever met and he was determined to sell me his dream for a new retailing concept, Staples, the Office Superstore.
Tom was able to convince me that the opportunity was enormous, the time was right, and success would be possible for whoever developed the right business model, built an operating plan, assembled a powerhouse team, secured the necessary financial resources, and then executed flawlessly.
During the meeting, he outlined the plan and his reasons for pursuing it but he spent most of the time focusing on me—why I would be the right one to be a key member of the founding team, what I could bring, what I would do, what the rewards could be, and how I should assess and confront the personal risk factors.
When I left what I thought would be a courtesy meeting, I had the plan under my arm, excitement about the prospects, and a commitment to meet again in three days. For me, the rest was history. I agreed to join Tom, giving up my position as director of marketing, with substantial salary and benefits and a promising future, because I was completely sold on the concept and its promise.
My first tasks included helping Tom identify two other key members of the founding team, meeting with potential investors, and looking for real estate sites where we could locate stores. In every single instance, selling was the most critical skill needed.
In order to launch, we needed approximately 75 talented people (many of them senior level, experienced people), three store locations and a headquarters site, an IT system, willing suppliers of products and fixtures, and an investment of $4 million.
We were able to put all those together within the next six months and open our first store in the spring of 1986 because of our ability to sell the vision of the business and the capability of the team. Now, 30 years later, Staples has revenues in excess of $20 billion and a market cap of more than $6 billion.
Innovation—the ability to offer creative solutions to current problems or to anticipate and fulfill new needs—is an essential ingredient of every entrepreneurial venture. It can be as simple as finding a new way to deliver consumer products (Staples, eBay, Amazon) or as revolutionary as putting music in your ear (Walkman, smartphones), or as life-altering as new miracle drugs, diagnostics, or devices. Innovation is necessary to entrepreneurial success but it is not sufficient. The entrepreneur who anticipates a future enriched by his vision must become the consummate salesperson—not just at the outset, but also throughout his career.
Entrepreneurial Selling: The Facts Every Entrepreneur Must Know by Vincent Onyemah and Martha Rivera-Pesquera provides expert guidance on building and using this essential entrepreneurial skill set.
Shortly after I had joined the faculty of Harvard Business School in 1995, the chair of the Entrepreneurship unit suggested I take his place as a visiting professor at IPADE in Mexico City for two weeks the following summer.
During my first visit to campus, I was warmly greeted by many of the faculty and the dean. I was also introduced to Martha Rivera-Pesquera, a recent graduate of the IPADE MBA program who was so outstanding that she was immediately recruited to join the faculty.
Over the next 10 years, I visited IPADE regularly, spreading my wings to teach at the campuses in Monterrey and Guadalajara as well as Mexico City. I developed an extraordinary respect for the institution, its faculty, students, and curriculum. I also had the privilege of seeing Martha Rivera mature in her mastery of teaching, take on substantial leadership roles at IPADE and in the academy, and complete her PhD. She is an accomplished professor who also has experience as a practitioner. She and Professor Onyemah have collaborated to bring you some very valuable lessons critical to a successful entrepreneurial venture.
Myra Hart
BA Cornell University
MBA, DBA Harvard University
Senior Faculty, Harvard Business School