Sales Without the Sales Title
There is a level of sales aptitude required to be a successful business owner. You need to enter conversations with a deep understanding of how your brand’s offer is positioned in the market against competitors from a value and pricing perspective. You need to be able to read the room, adapt to different personalities, and ask questions that leave an organic opening to pitch and refrain from forcefully steering the conversation. And when you pitch, it needs to be done in a way that directly relates to the problem at hand and makes it clear what the buyer stands to gain by engaging further.
Now, I’ve never held a title with “sales” in the name or had to make a cold call. What I have is hands-on knowledge of the services Armada Digital provides. There is no disconnect between marketing, sales, and operations for me. I will happily wade into the metaphorical marketing weeds, anytime, anywhere!
Building Local Roots in Colorado Springs
While walking into a room full of strangers in any setting isn’t exactly my happy place, I do genuinely enjoy connecting with new people once the initial handshake has been made. I’m naturally curious, a certified yapper, and I find that people are eager to get a real person’s take on their brand’s marketing challenges. But up until my move to Colorado Springs in the winter of 2019, much of my focus was on building marketing strategy and establishing rapport with existing clients.
At that time, I intended to fly back to Austin quarterly since that’s where the agency had been based. What I did not intend was for COVID-19 to hit, causing me to miss the opportunity to establish any real sense of local community before the world shut down.
From Partner to Sales (…Wait, I Was Already Doing It)
Since the pandemic ended, Colorado Springs has been in a constant state of growth, with new businesses popping up all around. My role within the agency had continued to evolve, eventually reaching a point where my focus shifted to working more on the business rather than in it.
By August of 2024, I became a Partner and felt the natural next step was to “do sales.” But in reality, I was already doing it. I was having virtual conversations left and right about what it’s like to work with the team at Armada, tweaking pitch decks to align with our current processes, and following up to demonstrate that I am a person who does what she says she will do.
As a result, we got the opportunity to work with a number of clients that felt we would indeed do what we promised—treat their brand as our own. I did not need to play hardball or try to unseat competitors doing genuinely solid work in order to “make sales.”
What the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC Taught Me About Relational Business
I joined the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC to be in the room with other business owners and decision-makers looking to share their story and connect. Right off the bat, I appreciated that it was emphasized very early on that Colorado Springs, as a community, is more relational than transactional. Meaning, those who only wanted to sell sell sell and take take take would likely be met with resistance. I was happy to hear it, given my approach to anything under the sales or networking umbrella up to that point.
I remember discussing this with Aubrey, and he said something that really stuck with me: “I don’t think a business that would be willing to drop their marketing agency and work with us after 1 conversation at a networking event would even be a good fit in the first place.” He’s right. We often refer to our client engagements as partnerships because there is both a significant mutual dependency and a level of trust that must be established up front in order to be successful. We need to know both what your business does really well and where it falls short. We need consistent and honest feedback and the input and approvals necessary to execute.
First Touch, Not Final Close
Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC events are that first touch, where we get a sense of one another and how each other operates. I consider the event a success if we have an interesting conversation and exchange contact information. The goal isn’t a false promise or a contractually binding handshake. These events have reinforced what I believe service-based sales should feel like and it was refreshing to learn that we aren’t alone in our approach. My hope is that Armada Digital’s reputation will precede me—to be known as the Colorado Springs marketing partner that does what they say they will and treats your brand like our own.
If you’re a member of the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, I hope to see you at a future event. Don’t be shy, I won’t sell you anything that you didn’t ask for. You can find me on LinkedIn.
