“Have I got a deal for you!!” This fast-talking salesman reflects a comical stereotype that suggests that business deals include sales professionals talking an unsuspecting customer into buying what they really do not need. Like many stereotypes, a piece of truth resides there somewhere. Unfortunately, snake oil salesmen still exist. Fortunately, genuine business professionals solving real customer problems largely reflect the current reality. Reaching agreement requires that trust and integrity enter the conversation eventually. The wheels of commerce struggle to sustain progress in dishonest environments. Efficient markets quickly spread bad news. Successful sales professionals realize that over the long-term, communicating value and meeting expectations deliver the most profitable outcomes. Consequently, honesty and accuracy enjoy staying power. In turn, staying power builds wealth for businesses and sales professionals. Still, to start and sustain positive results, buyers and sellers must operate with integrity and efficiency. Positive series of events launch once genuine conversation ignites chain reactions for buyers and sellers to connect and generate commerce.

Conversation Drives Connection

Starting a commercial transaction can be as simple as starting a conversation with, “How can I help you?”. The process of a commercial transaction progresses with insightful questions that bring into focus a problem that the seller potentially can solve. Then, communication concerning goods, services and solutions emerge in the context of social and business conversations. Ideas concerning a specific business problem can also be identified by media or marketing pieces. Content, commercials, and word-of-mouth are additional ways for information to circulate concerning new products and applications.

Professional communities, represented by specific marketplaces, help introduce discussions, images, and problems that lead to desired solutions. Then, the wheels of commerce start turning as ideas evolve into valued solutions. Ultimately, the community percolates and innovates new applications and solutions which drive new sales. The connection between any buyer and seller fundamentally starts with a business community articulating new solutions and products that are available to satisfy specific problems. The resulting connections spread, then launch new growth opportunities and markets.

Community Drives Commerce

Commerce does not launch until the fundamental question, “What do you want?” connects with the response, “I can deliver that”. Again, the solution does not reside in one location, or with one person. The days where the local dairy farmer provides all the eggs for the local community are long gone. Different providers have different points of distinction and value offerings. Likewise, they present different personalities so that they can relate to different customer profiles with sufficient commonalities to create trustworthy exchanges. Without diverse personalities, skill sets, commercial advantages, and individual strengths, then singular offerings will represent the entire marketplace.

The problem with that alternative is that as soon as enough customers realize that the singular provider sucks, then innovation and ingenuity ignite to identify superior ways to deliver better value, services, or products than previously available. Innovation emerges to fill the market’s hole left by the inferior provider. The entrepreneur clearly acknowledges, “Poor performance ignites opportunities”. For innovation to take root and flourish, the marketplace needs to recognize available gaps and possibilities. Specifically, communities in aggregate acknowledge that a hole in the marketplace has produced an opportunity. When that opportunity to improve elevates to the broader community’s line of sight, then innovation leaps into action. Successful innovation results in new avenues for commerce. Literally, the community’s attention exposes the opportunity. The successful entrepreneur then delivers commercial innovation to the marketplace. Clearly communities benefit when conversation drives needs, then new commerce.

Conclusion

Active economies continuously innovate. New ideas, lower costs, more efficient value all result in better solutions for customers. The innovative entrepreneur wins upon developing breakthroughs that produce utility at lower prices, or through more efficient output. Frankly, needs are identified by conversations among professionals dreaming of more efficiency or better profits. “Eureka, I found it!” has become a fairy tale announcing innovation. “Hey, will that let us do it cheaper and faster than that other guy?” is now the language of business innovation! Entrepreneurial zeal to produce more cheaply or create output more prodigiously represents capitalism’s ongoing mission. Yet, without conversation, real problems are not shared, nor solved. If the marketplace does not look for faster, better solutions, then progress never emerges. Fortunately, the rewards of entrepreneurship and capitalism continue to motivate new solutions. Bring together ambitious people looking for profitable solutions that they can replicate, then watch entrepreneurship effectively launch! The conversation, the details, the efficiencies, the value creation are all ingredients for better production. Collaborate, then exchange desires, ideas, and solutions. Identify more efficient outputs, deliveries, or solutions. Reap the entrepreneurial bounty. Then, watch a community thrive! Conversations start commerce. Start talking!

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director, Hunter And Beyond, LLC

Author of “Storytelling Wins the Best Engagements“