I have come across many who are eager to jump into the world of entrepreneurship but hesitate to take the plunge as they are unable to figure out how to solicit business from a new prospect. This is not uncommon as we have traditionally grown up in a system where conversation with unknown people is restricted. While from the perspective of a child’s security it is not a bad practice, it holds us back from opening new doors in an unknown space.

But does that mean introverts cannot be entrepreneurs or good new business developers? No, that will be a very wrong assumption to make. All it might take is a few conscious grooming steps. And that might apply to all.

A new entrepreneur needs to be a disciplined self-starter and a positive thinker. The person cannot be complacent with the present state and look at each event as an opportunity. On the other hand, it is extremely important not to get burdened with failures. Each failure should be analyzed so that remedial steps help avoid mistakes in the future. Entrepreneurs, by definition, do not operate under a boss and should be hungry enough to set their quotas and monitor themselves against key success metrics. They should continuously look forward to improvement, and not expect anyone else to drive them.

Discipline is a non-negotiable quality that an entrepreneur should possess. Right prospecting and planning have the biggest contribution towards hunting for new businesses. Or else, not only do we waste a lot of time chasing non-existing businesses, we get exhausted before we reach those who actually can give us revenue.

Like it or not, you should want to meet new people. Shying away from networking opportunities will not help in generating new business. Even if you are not comfortable in soliciting, just being visible helps a lot in getting time for meeting prospective customers. But while doing all this one needs to also be conscious and respectful of the schedule of others. Denials should not be taken personally as rejection. It is not that your prospect does not want to meet you, it may be that the person has higher priorities. Persistence in such scenarios plays a key role.

Lastly, and the most important aspect, is to stay nimble. Hour-long slots scheduled for meetings often get trimmed to a couple of minutes. It helps if you have multiple versions of the pitch ready. Elevator pitches need to be practiced, and practiced again, till they become an organic part of your system. Elaborate research on the prospect can never be counterproductive, though you might still want to hear the facts from the customer directly. Listening skills play a crucial role here.

There may be other necessities to counter specific scenarios, but the above aspects should be common to all businesses which require personalized customer interactions.

Please bear in mind that the job does not end with opening the door. In the rapidly changing business environment, entrepreneurs should progressively qualify their prospects. Sweet surprises of getting orders from the least probable ones are not very uncommon. But more on that later in another blog.