Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in brand management line but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Daniel Hackl, owner and founder of Sales Excellence Framework, located in Vancouver, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Mainly small and medium sized businesses that often have a really great product but are failing to establish a sales organization to become successful. Although they hire top sales people, many of them fail due to the lack of strategy, structure, processes and programs to enable sales to be successful.
Tell us about yourself
I started in Product Management/Marketing and realized how big the gap was between the company/product positioning and what the prospects/customers were thinking about the company/product. This is often caused by:
- Dispersed nature of sales organizations.
- Sales working in silos disjointed from other corporate functions.
- High level of technical specification and new feature additions.
- Increasing portion of buying process does not involve sales.
- High turnover rates in sales.
- Gut feeling-based decision making.
- Continuing pressure to increase sales I moved into a sales enablement role and helped my employer to create a successful sales organization.
I then realized that my method really worked and created the Sales Excellence Framework. Since then I've been supporting many companies and I enjoy helping business leaders, CEOs, CCOs, Sales Directors, and many founders identify their gaps in their sales organization and then working on a plan to close them.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I think it is having done the first step and putting something together that I created and then taking it to the wild world. I had invented 2 patents before as a product manager but having created this sales excellence framework and seeing it flourish as I collect more and more data points has been amazing.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Staying focused on doing what you love. There might be a lot of shortcuts to faster and more money but that is just one part of owning a business. When I receive offers to be fully employed to work as a sales leader by a company with a nice big stable salary and benefits, it can be hard to decline.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
1. Do proper market research especially probe your ideas with friends, (ex-)colleagues, acquaintances.
2. Put a financial plan together on how you will bring your product to market and how you will survive after 1 year.
3. Listen as you grow, happy customers will help you improve your market fit.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://hsm-framework.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-hackl-business-leader/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.
