Get Your Hands Dirty. Get "In The Trenches," and Sell!

The “In the Trenches” philosophy is about to be implemented in my new venture, and I am going to drive it forward to the point that it becomes embedded into the fabric of my company’s culture as we grow. What is it? Simply put: Get out and make sales. In person.

Our number one priority for the next 3 months will be to sell to customers; as close and personal to them as possible, whether it is face-to-face, or on the phone, even if Filtered Formulas is an e-commerce business.

I eagerly began Filtered Formulas with my partner Ravi on April 1st, which is when we took out the drawing board for the first time. Somewhere a month or two after was our concept finalized, and August 1st was our launch.

My discovery in the past two months being live: The business activity with the most value-add was getting in the trenches and selling to customers face-to-face. A lot of new entrepreneurs (like myself) come in very flippant when discussing sales as a potential challenge because of a seemingly smug, yet naiive faith in their respective product or service. This, I quickly recognized, is a huge miscalculation. Customers will have challenges and objections that you won’t see coming, unless you hear it directly from them. The sooner you get your hands dirty and get out there, the sooner your business will grow.

What does this mean? It means that no matter how intimidating, or how afraid of rejection you are, or even how confident you are in your product, it would still best serve you to pick the phone up and call your customer, or even better yet, get some face time with him or her. The fact of the matter is, the raw truth about your product, your sales pitch, and your customer will manifest as a result of this interaction “In The Trenches.” If you have identified multiple customer segments you are going for, you will very distinctly recognize varying pain-points. You will be able to truly pick up on what customers are interested in, and what they don’t care for.

Obviously there will be some strategic differences between ecommerce sales, and in-person sales, but that does not matter. Getting in front of customers first gives you invaluable insight that you can most certainly apply to your online store.

Look. I’m the fitness guy and this is a health and wellness startup, so of course my drive will be geared towards perfecting the product, and constantly improving it. But just like many other founders, I get obsessed with my own product and for a second or two can forget about my consumers. Of course, I snap out of it quickly and remember who I am providing the products for: The CUSTOMER. Best way to find out what he or she wants. GET IN THE TRENCHES.