Do you have to be able to do everything?

Do you have to be able to do everything as an entrepreneur? That question got me thinking in October 2011 after I’d talked about my dislike of selling face to face. There were many reactions and helpful suggestions. But I’d actually already decided that particular part of sales wasn’t going to be my job.

Do you have to do everything, or can you choose your strengths?

In the video from our garage sale I explained how difficult I found standing there selling my own things. That wasn’t an exaggeration. I almost have a physical, cringing reaction when I have to do it.

Afterwards, people wrote to me about sales courses, phobia courses and different ways to overcome that kind of thing. Of course I appreciated their wanting to help and offer ideas. There should be no doubt about that.

But it wasn’t because I didn’t know the courses existed. Quite early on, I’d told myself: No, I actually don’t want to sell that way.

I’ve been far outside my comfort zone too

Some might say I simply didn’t dare step outside my comfort zone. But I actually had. At one point, when I was about to go bankrupt, I sat selling over the phone.

I was so terrified of bankruptcy that it was a little like being unable to swim and then getting thrown into the sea. You try everything you bloody can to keep your head above water. It may not look pretty, but you make the attempt.

So it wasn’t entirely true that I could never force myself to do it. I also just had a philosophy that perhaps we’re not made to be able to do everything.

My concern was losing something else

I wondered whether my dislike of selling might be connected to other qualities I valued. If I learned to suppress that feeling I found so painfully embarrassing in sales, what would happen to my sensitivity in other situations?

That was a concern I had, not something I knew. I was afraid that if I put up filters to avoid feeling the embarrassment, those same filters might make it harder to understand other people and the market.

I thought I was good at reading consumers, timing things and understanding what people wanted and what they’d pay for. I considered those qualities more valuable to me than being able to close a sale in a particular way.

I also thought about empathy. Could I end up shutting off something I otherwise used to sense other people? I didn’t know whether there was anything to it. That was just how I imagined the risk.

Pitching an idea is different for me

I was in sales situations from time to time, after all. I explained products and tried to get people on board with ideas, and that actually went quite well.

But I wasn’t the type to finish by saying: Do you want the red one or the blue one? Do you want DKK 100,000 or DKK 200,000 worth? That way of closing a sale just wasn’t me.

My whole explanation about filters might have been something I told myself because I was afraid and wanted a good excuse not to do it. I said that openly too. Perhaps there was something to the concern, perhaps there wasn’t. I just didn’t really dare take the chance.

A good partnership consists of different strengths

When all was said and done, things were actually going quite well. I had good partners in the various companies I was involved in who were incredibly good at selling. That was one of their strengths.

I had other strengths they didn’t have. That difference was precisely what made the partnership good. We didn’t need to be alike or able to do exactly the same things. Also read Iværksætter til jeg dør about my experiences of building businesses with others.

Perhaps we could even appreciate that there were things we weren’t particularly good at. Then we could put our energy into what we liked and were good at, rather than walking around thinking we had to do everything.

That was my thought at the time. I also wanted others’ input on it. Take care. See you before long!