6 Most Important Business Skills Every Entrepreneur Must Have

6 Most Important Business Skills Every Entrepreneur Must Have

You've flushed lots of cash down the drain running a business. I feel I could pull your right ears to hear what I am about to tell you. Look, running your own business means having to wear all different types of hats. Whether it's your marketing hat, your sales hat, or your general people skills hat, you're going to need to know how to court sales, and on the other side of operations, you are also going to need to know how to run a balanced account and continue to grow your wealth. You can say, 'I am a jack of all skills.'

Among the many business skills that a successful entrepreneur will have, the following five skills are the ones that you absolutely need to have a shot at business success. If you miss you them, you should not be running a business.

1. Sales

Be a sales magnet, or a sales dog if you like. Of course you need sales skills in order to run your business! Sales is equal to cash. Spending money in marketing can drive customers in to your business, but sales are going to be what puts money into your pocket and keeps them coming back. It is no wonder why most entrepreneurs actually come from a sales background. You are already an entrepreneur, add the sales to it.

2. Communication

Communication is the key to making your customers get clarity on what they need and what they are buying. It is an underlying primary skill for many others in business. Communication is how you will be able to cultivate loyal employees, charm customers into coming back time and time again, and court investors and other sources for increasing revenue for your business. This skill can also come in handy when dealing with vendors or any other necessary business services that may apply to your venture--being friendly in business-to-business relationships is a sure-fire way to be treated a little bit better, therefore making at least one aspect of your job a little bit easier.

 

3. Curiosity

What is crawling under your feet? Do you care to know what it is? That is curiosity.   One of the best business skill has always been a healthy and competitive curiosity. Being curious about what you do not know will lead you to look into what your competitors are doing. Study strange trends, there is something behind it. It will also drive you to learn, apply and utilize new technologies to the best of your ability. It will also help you to streamline your business and even reach out to new customers. There is no limit to what you can achieve with a curious mind. When the only limit you have is what you can imagine and apply, just about anything is possible.

4. Planning

Failure to plan is planning to fail. You must have planning skills as an entrepreneur even if your fingers are all equal (everything well arranged). Taking one bad step can make or break your business, especially when it is still in the early stages of development. Planning helps your keep succeeding when things change. Entrepreneurs that are successful with their ventures make a plan and stick to it, thinking out every risk, benefit, and cost of an option available to them. They also make their plans realistic and factor in things such as time and budget in order to make their plans a reality.

4. Networking

You are doomed if you are the only one in the market. You will sell and buy from yourself. Since you are not the only one in the market, why not let others know what you are selling. One important skill you must have as an entrepreneur is the ability to network. Attend seminars, workshop, business exhibitions, and lectures. Let other business owners know about your business and services. Leverage on the services others provide to grow your business.

5. Customer Focus

Your eyes are open but you cannot see. Do not get carried away, you must focus on what is working for you. Successful entrepreneurs keep focus on the customer that keep coming back and are paying their bills. They do not forget that everything that they do is for the customers, since the customer is the one providing cash flow for them to do anything in the first place. A good business owner will always have time for a customer, whether they have a complaint or praise. Go after the customer interest. Having good customer focus will mean that you see every customer as an opportunity to do better and grow, versus an annoyance or a difficulty.

Got any question or comments, please drop it in the comments box below.

[mc4wp_form id="488"]