What Small Business Owners Can Learn From Skills Required In These Professions

A wise businessperson understands that they are going to consistently need to learn and develop over time. People in business that do not develop new skills will be left behind as all industries are in constant motion. Technology has left quite a few people behind as instead of learning new computer skills far too many people were comfortable instead of trying to improve. Learning from other professions is wise as everyone wants to close sales like a top salesperson at a car dealership. The following are professions as well as what can be learned from these professions as a small business owner.

Attorney

Attorneys are master negotiators especially if they are working in the personal injury field. A Nashville personal injury attorney will have far more experience negotiating than a common small business owner. Taking a class about the art of negotiating or selling can really help a small business owner that hates the negotiation involved with landing a large contract. Go into pitches or negotiations with a minimum number and try to close on a number higher than that. A small negotiation can lead to thousands more in profits for a month which adds up significantly at the end of the year.

Doctors

Doctors have a tough time in certain cases when it comes to making a diagnosis. The only information that they have is the vitals of their patient along with the symptoms the patient has described. A small business owner can learn to look at the symptoms of a business to understand whether it is healthy or not. A larger profit number is not the only symptom as customer retention as well as scalable processes impact this number as well. Perfect customer retention with healthy sales numbers is a formula for long-term success as a company is only going to grow with quality products/services.

Professional Athletes

The preparation of professional athletes is impeccable with hours per day focused on one part of their sport or another. Failures are common in athletics so getting back to work after a failure is a great lesson to learn. Small business owners are not going to kill it on every order or project but you can improve on the next. Understanding not to get into a slump in terms of quality of work will not only help retain customers but will provide consistency that customers of any business are looking for. Mental preparation is also important as visualizing a pitch or business strategy can change the entire trajectory of a company.

Door To Door Salespeople

The ability to keep a positive attitude might seem impossible for people that do door to door sales. There are positions that can pay very well to those salespeople that have the gift of gab. The business world fluctuates constantly which can lead to some very profitable times and very tough times. Staff is going to look at a manager or owner for guidance when things get tough. Keeping the energy up is imperative as moping around the office sets a terrible example. This also sets a bad precedent as negative attitudes or low energy should not be staples of office life.

Learning is important as a business owner as there will be plenty that you do not know once you run your business for long enough. List out things you would like to learn more about then put a plan into action to learn. Writing this list out can help you stay motivated in terms of educating yourself about he inner-workings of your company.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.