Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Leslie Venetz, Founder of Sales Team Builder, located in Chicago, IL, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business is B2B sales consulting & coaching. My customers are Founders or Sales Leaders who want support in building a high-performing team. I support teams by leading them through my Interactive Coaching Workshop Series & creating repeatable processes that prepare teams to scale.

Tell us about yourself

I started my consulting company, Sales Team Builder, in 2018 as a passion project. I was working as a VP of Sales & Marketing and the #1 employee at a bootstrapped start-up. I thought, if I can build a revenue-generating product & model for somebody else, I can do it for myself. When I created Sales Team Builder, I didn't imagine it would become my full-time focus. I was passionate about making sales a more inclusive profession. I believe that selling well is a craft and skill. I wanted all sales professionals to be shown more respect for our career choice. The more time I spent working with teams and watching them achieve their personal best, the more excited I got about my ability to make an impact. In Q1 2022, I left corporate America to focus 100% of my time on supporting teams who know sales can be better but aren't quite sure how to make it happen.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment is my renewal and referral rate. I take over-delivering and client satisfaction seriously. I have a 9.8/10 rating for my Interactive Coaching Workshop series, which I am really proud of. Every single client I've worked with has either renewed or retained me or referred me to peers that I've had a chance to partner with. That level of trust is the greatest compliment.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The hardest thing that comes with being a brand new Founder is not having support staff! It's such an interesting transition to not having any colleagues, especially when you have a question that you'd usually ask finance or IT!

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Get yourself organized before you launch. Research the tech stack you want & think through the processes that will serve you. Once you launch (if you're lucky), you'll get busy, fast, and those essential foundations are at risk of falling by the wayside, but you'll regret it later.
  2. Leverage your community. Ask for referrals and introductions to help get yourself started. Understand that most people will say no and make it easy for them to say "no, thank you" to avoid awkwardness, but if you don't ask, you don't give them an opportunity to say yes.
  3. Use social media. Find a channel that works for you and your market and take it seriously. Building credibility and a recognizable brand on social media will help you close more deals faster at a higher price point.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I have 3 predictions for the future of B2B:

  1. I believe the lines between demand gen, which is traditionally a marketing activity, and lead gen, which is traditionally a sales activity, will blur. I think the primary trend we will see is demand gen moving from the marketing umbrella to the sales umbrella. Marketing will be left to focus on essential advertising and branding activities. Demand gen will be required to embrace social selling and buyer-centric philosophies and to partner closely with front-line sales reps.
  2. We will see the rise of a C-suite commercial officer, and I don't think the title will be CRO. By 2030, leading organizations will have marketing, customer service, customer success, sales, etc. (anybody who directly touches the customer) reporting to the same C-suite Officer to ensure continuity in the customer experience. We will see a full alignment of commercial operations, but the focus won't be on reporting to a traditional revenue leader; it will be on reporting to a financial and data-savvy customer leader.
  3. Robots will not take our jobs, but the type of work sales professionals spend their time on will change. Elite sales professionals will embrace a next-gen tech stack and seek out opportunities for meaningful automation. The result will be more automation alongside more valuable interactions with customers.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://insidesalesteambuilder.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/b2bsalesteambuilder/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leslievenetz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslievenetz/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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