In the next episode of SalesTV.live, host Helga Stewart will be sitting down with the dynamic Abdel Camará, an entrepreneur and sales expert who has mastered the art of merging sales with entrepreneurial thinking. We’ll seek to uncover a key question: How can salespeople start thinking more like business owners?

We'll ask questions like -

* How can sales professionals develop a business owner’s mindset?

* How does thinking like a business owner impact daily sales activities and decision-making?

* How does a salesperson's approach to prospecting change when adopting a business owner mindset?

* What are some common pitfalls salespeople face when trying to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, and how can they overcome them?

With over a decade of experience in sales, marketing, and leadership, Abdel Camará helps business leaders establish predictable client acquisition systems and position themselves as market authorities. He brings his extensive knowledge in sales excellence and mindset coaching to help salespeople think like business owners and achieve sustainable growth.

Expect a conversation filled with insights that could challenge the way you see sales. If you’ve ever wondered how to transform your role from a seller to a strategic business driver, this episode is for you.

This week's Guest was -

• Abdel Caramá, entrepreneur, sales specialist, and author of The Power of Sales

This week's Host was -

• Helga Saraiva-Stewart, Founder of SalesShaker

Transcript of SalesTV.live Early Edition 2024-10-08

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:00:03]:

Good morning, vallepreneurs and sales shakers. Yours truly, Helga Saliva Stewart, is back. I'm founder of Lead Results, and I am so glad to be with you guys again. I've missed you. It felt like the holiday months lasted forever, and I couldn't have wished for a better guest today to join me in this thrilling conversation about entrepreneurship in sales, sales entrepreneurship. What is this? I mean, can sellers should sellers be sales, should sellers be entrepreneurs? Should entrepreneurs be salespeople? Abdel Kamara is gonna help us to really figure this out. Abdel, welcome to our show. Welcome to Sales TV.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:00:49]:

It's a pleasure to have you here. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Abdel Camará [00:00:54]:

Hi. First of all, thank you very much, Aldo, for having me here today. It's a massive pleasure to be here with you and sharing all this content with all these people. Who am I? So I am an entrepreneur. I'm a sales specialist specialist and I've got a book on sales called the power of sales and also I help entrepreneurs and businesses on how to grow, the sales using, some techniques we're gonna share here with you guys. But predominantly, I work in all the Portuguese speaking markets and also, based in the UK, which is what I am now talking to you.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:01:35]:

Indeed. And it's wonderful to have you in local soil. I'm I'm still joining you from Lisbon, and it's always great when you're here. You can feel the earth move when you're back. That is for sure. Welcome also to all of Adele's listeners, regular listeners. It's wonderful, warm welcome to you as well. This is the lounge where us sellers talk about all these frank issues.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:02:03]:

And I'll be honest. I I I I felt a little bit like an entrepreneur when I was doing sales, but it was only when I started to run my own business that I really felt like this whole brand new world expanded in front of me because I had to become an entrepreneur and run my own business. So as as salespeople and sales experts really worried about quota every month and every quarter, how can we integrate entrepreneurship into our profiles, and why is it important? Why should we have it?

Abdel Camará [00:02:39]:

I believe that every salesperson should have the entrepreneurial in their veins because being an entrepreneur means wanting to solve a problem or specific problems in the market. And I believe that as sales professionals one of the things that we are, we are problem solvers. So we're here to help our clients solve a specific problem. So for me it's very important that every single salesperson understands this concept because once they do that, they become even better sales people because now as I usually say, sales sales is actually serving. The more we understand that we're serving other people trying to help them solve a specific problem then obviously the better we'll become. And becoming or being an entrepreneur basically is that being disruptive and seeking solutions all the time regardless of how many obstacles we're gonna face in between. So So it's very important.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:03:46]:

I I I love that that mindset. Yeah. I mean, what what in in practical terms, what are we talking about here? So, you know, I coming to work

Abdel Camará [00:04:11]:

I can't hear you. Okay. I think it's back now. Try again. Okay. Yeah. It's back. I can hear it all now.

Abdel Camará [00:04:24]:

Can you hear me now? Yep.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:04:28]:

Brilliant. Brilliant. Thank you so much. So in practical terms, tell us a little bit about it. So, you know, I'm I'm I'm coming into work. I'm a sales manager, sales director. I'm in charge of my own territory. I've got my clients.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:04:42]:

I'm I'm focused in problems. How where does the entrepreneur profile come in, and what what are we doing with it specifically?

Abdel Camará [00:04:53]:

Amazing. So what we're doing is, number 1, we focus in solutions. So we understand the problem, and we are focusing. So what is an entrepreneur? What what do we do in this sort of type of world? So number 1, we are very optimists or optimistic people because we believe that we can change the world in a way and the way we change the world is bringing solutions to the world. So what I believe every sales, professional should have is the mentality. So this mindset that we the world is ours to to to change, to contribute positively so people can live even better. So what I would say is a salesperson comes to to your office, the number one priority should be their clients. Right? So it's not actually because most of the times we think a lot about the products.

Abdel Camará [00:05:45]:

Products and services are important without a doubt. But believe me or not, they're only important because they're gonna solve a specific problem. Products and services are just a vehicle to get your clients from where they are to where they want to be. And what I believe that salespeople take, I can get a great advantage is seeing the world through the entrepreneurial sort of arms, which is, facing seeing the problem, seeing the opportunities, and going after them. How? With the attitude of I can solve this. I can change this. It is possible. I can do it.

Abdel Camará [00:06:30]:

And it's not that you're not gonna face, difficulties. It's not that it's gonna be, easy walk in a park, but if you believe you can change somebody else's life by providing the best product and service that supports the person, because it's not about you. It's about shifting the the attention towards your clients. That's what I really believe. And whenever whenever I'm to I'm working with, sales teams, I'm giving training to them and that's the number one thing I say, shift the focus not in you, not in the product but the solutions your clients are looking for and your product is just a vehicle to get them to where they want to be.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:07:22]:

That's so true. That is so true. You know, it would be lovely maybe just for a few minutes to focus a little bit about on practically speaking, you know, when I'm going out there doing prospecting, minding my business, you know, my book of business, looking for opportunities. As an entrepreneur, I feel like you have a wider scope of vision. I worry about marketing. I worry about social media. I worry about the costs. I worry about finances.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:07:57]:

I worry about, profitability. I worry about, organizing module and productivity. I worry about, you know, all of the the the the types of jobs that may, to anybody, to some people listening out there today joining us, be responsible, be be, allocated to senior management. Right? And I worry about that now because I am senior management. I am the c level suite of my business. Right? And so what are your thoughts around that? Because, I mean, in sales, we can be so focused in prospecting and advancing deals and managing our territory, but we wouldn't necessarily worry about the business as a whole. Right?

Abdel Camará [00:08:52]:

Okay. That is a great question. So I usually say that there's one thing that really changed the the way I see, business as a whole and sales. So for many years, I've worked in sales for 15 years, right, before I actually started my my business. I'm still in sales. I will always be a salesperson And what really changed for me was what you've just said, which is what we call the bird's vision. He's starting to see things from the top to bottom. Right? Do you know when we're flying on a plane and we can see everything from the top? Yeah.

Abdel Camará [00:09:35]:

The helicopter view. That's it. So that changes a lot because many, salespeople, I include including myself when I was when I was starting, we usually see things only what's in front of us. And we don't actually get to see the big picture. So there was one thing that really changed my perspective. When I was working, there was this question I asked, what if this business was mine? What would I do differently? Because become a being a salesperson of a company is one thing. Being the owner of the company gives you a total different perspective and view of the business. And that I believe every sales professional, needs that vision because it's not just about this is my role, this is my job, I just need to go about this one and then all the rest of it, I'll leave it to do all the other people that do no.

Abdel Camará [00:10:34]:

If you think 360 degrees, you'll understand that your input is very, very valuable and is as valuable as somebody in marketing, somebody in HR, whatever whatever. Customer support. Everything. So whenever I'm out prospecting, trying to get clients, because at the end of the day what I'm trying to do is to sell my products not because of the products. I wanna repeat this again because it solves a problem in the market. It's got to be, we have to shift this whole narrative in sales about products and services to clients orientated, clients in the center of that, client first. And if you understand that, client first in a sense that their problems are now products and services, all they do, they solve that problem. But I have I have to have I need to have a wider vision of the whole business regardless if I'm a top or a simple salesperson in the business.

Abdel Camará [00:11:36]:

The whole lot needs to be seen. So that's gonna help me better in managing my time, scheduling things better, how I'm gonna interact with my, colleagues within the business, how am I going to bring solutions because it's not just thinking about what I'm paid to do. So Jim Ron once said a phrase that's, you know, stays with me forever. And he says, it's not about what you've got to gain in the business. It's about who you're becoming in the business. And that is more valuable because money, we can all gonna, we all gonna earn more money, right? But it's who you become optimally becomes your value in the market. As a salesperson, sales is the job and the profession we all need. There's no business without sales, full stop.

Abdel Camará [00:12:30]:

I love that.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:12:32]:

So And we love we love John here. He's he's a guru. We love him here. So let me let me pick up on that because to so many companies, client centricity is still a brand, rather than an actual thing that they do. And, you know, and we advocate a lot about, value selling rather than product selling, but being able to be a client centric, organization, it's easier said than done. But but let us just, I suppose, talk a little bit to the leadership that's watching us here. Because I would imagine that a lot of sellers are listening to us. A lot of professionals are hearing and saying, oh my gosh.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:13:15]:

You know, I've been trying to tell my boss, my manager, my director that same message for years now. But leadership is still focused on, you know, hitting targets and hitting goals on a need to know basis. And so this need to know basis says that, you know what? Go do your job. Here's the list of characteristics and products and and new features that we're launching this year. Here's a new campaign. Go and sell. And so what message could you share to our viewers who are leaders in their space and who still may not see the value of stepping out of this need to know basis?

Abdel Camará [00:14:04]:

Amazing. Great question. So we have to separate the 2 sort of roles here. Right? So we're not saying a salesperson is a salesperson. His or her role and job is to actually bring in more businesses. That's fine, but the the managers, the leaders of the companies, their jobs is actually the number one priority is setting the culture of the business and inspiring and motivating other people to do their jobs. Okay? Obviously as a senior leader you've got the role of knowing all the numbers, understanding the functionality of the businesses, whether this is going this direction, that direction. I understand that.

Abdel Camará [00:14:52]:

I believe what really sets the difference is the inspiration, is what we stand for because people tend to follow their leaders. Leaders are people who actually set examples. Now all every single culture of our business starts from the leader. It's the way you show up, the way you talk to people, the way you present yourself, the way you actually you say you're gonna do something, you do it. But more importantly, in my opinion, is how you support your fellow employees or your fellow, colleagues in achieving their results. And when I say their results, their success, I'm not only talking about the business because we need to understand this. People are people. People are people.

Abdel Camará [00:15:44]:

They are in a job, obviously, but they do have personal issues. They do have personal challenges. So a good leader we all can remember good leaders, good teachers, good professors, good parents. We remember them because of not what their role their roles are, but because of what they actually give to us, what they actually when and where, whatever we need them, they're there for us. So I believe the number one priority of a leader is to inspire, is to motivate, and to and create culture in a business. Yeah.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:16:26]:

If you

Abdel Camará [00:16:26]:

don't have the sales culture, it's gonna be very difficult for you to pass that down to your, the people you manage. And we all can we can all sense if he's a good leader or a bad leader. We all can do it.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:16:39]:

Yeah. But but so do you think do you think that it makes a difference if I'm a good leader? I can still can I still be a good leader and treat my Salesforce on a you know, giving them this type of approach of need to know basis? Look. You don't need to know about our whole business. Just stick to selling. No. Does that make me a bad leader? Can I become a better leader if I open up the scope and, you know, create the resources internally as well as the culture so that every single, you know, tip of the spear seller can actually become an entrepreneur? Does that make me a better leader, do you think? And why and how do I do that?

Abdel Camará [00:17:24]:

I believe so. And then simple ways of doing things is most of times, some of these leaders, it's easier for them in case they've been and they've played that role before, but they don't have to. Right? And being a good or bad leader is not set by what I say is a good or bad leader. Right? We all just know when we are becoming good or bad leaders because we get feedback and the feedback never really lies. And the feedback doesn't come from what people say with their voices. It's it comes back, you know, through numbers, how people behave within the business, you know, how do they actually talk to their clients, are they motivated to be in that job, do they like what they do? It's very important because all these things are feedback. And then as a leader, we have to be willing to take that feedback and adjust, adapt as quick as we can because the business is going it's like think of a ship. Ship is on the sea and we're going.

Abdel Camará [00:18:28]:

Things gonna change. Things gonna have to adapt quickly. We have to make sure that everyone is safe where they are first and make make sure that everyone has got the resources they need to actually play their roles in a better way and just give them respect in a different way. So when I say change the narrative and have a wider vision of the business, it is possible. It's down to a leader to actually pass that down to every single person. Now becoming a good leader has to have one thing for short in common which is the skill of communication. Better leaders communicate better. Even in terms of chaos, even in terms of very uncertainty, we see that good leaders can inspire us through what they say, but most importantly as in their actions, what they do.

Abdel Camará [00:19:25]:

So I believe it's very easy, and it's it's not easy, but it's it's simpler to to to do. Yeah.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:19:32]:

I I I love that. So, I I wanted to grab kind of the the this last part of the show here to maybe maybe should we go a little bit technical? I don't know. You tell me. But, so so if I want to become more entrepreneurial in my approach, so let's just say that we're all great at value selling, centered around the clients. We're great at positioning our differentiators and starting conversations. How do I, you know, in in practice, what things can I be doing to embrace this entrepreneurial profile? I've got so many friends in London, and beyond, and they'll be thinking, okay. Listen. What Adele is saying makes a 100% sense.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:20:23]:

So I do want to become more entrepreneurial. And let's just imagine that leadership is not an obstacle. So I, you know, come in in the morning, start my day. What am I doing differently? Am I adding more spreadsheets to my logistics? What am I doing differently exactly as as as as somebody who's growing this entrepreneurial approach to selling.

Abdel Camará [00:20:47]:

Yeah. Okay. Amazing. So what we do is I usually say your day doesn't start in the morning. It starts the night before. What I mean by that is organize you have to be organized. There are 3 key things I believe every single salesperson or entrepreneur needs to have and they're gonna have they're gonna have to invest in these three things, which is the knowledge of the product that you sell. Fine.

Abdel Camará [00:21:15]:

Your self knowledge like self development and and and constantly developing yourself. K. It's not by chance that they say that leaders or the great leaders, they read on average 30 to 60 books a year. Most people never read 2 books in a year. So Yeah. The the constant growth is very important because the only thing that's gonna take you from where you are to where you want to be is what you know and what you do with what you know. So that is very important. And the third thing is learning more and more about techniques because sales is technique, mindset, and then product.

Abdel Camará [00:22:03]:

These are the 3 things, very important. Now you wanna become a really good salesperson or good leader what you do on a daily basis. I'll give you my example. When I moved to the UK, I could barely speak English. Right? I had a job selling in a business in the office where I I had to pick up the phone and sell. I was working in the automotive industry, high end, and I didn't know how to sell properly, number 1. Number 2, I couldn't speak the language. Here's the thing.

Abdel Camará [00:22:34]:

I was the worst salesperson in the room, and there's one thing I said. I said, look, In the next year or so, I'm gonna become a better version of myself. And what I did, Al, was new habits. I started waking up every single day, 2 hours before my usual time of waking up. And all I did between 5 AM till half 7 was studying sales and self development, studying myself. Guess what happened a year and a half, 18 months after that? I became the top salesperson in the room. Right? Not because I was a genius, not because I knew more than other people, but I'll tell you why. I was doing something most people weren't willing to do, which is investing in myself and putting in the work to to actually learn.

Abdel Camará [00:23:26]:

So there's no magic pill here. You're gonna have to go through things. You're gonna have to learn. You're gonna have to do an input. And that's what I say to most people, get the habit of reading, being in places and environment where people can teach you, become a student. Whatever you are, whatever it doesn't matter what level you're in, become a student all the time. The day starts the night before. Prepare yourself and discipline.

Abdel Camará [00:23:58]:

I believe that one of the things that really, really sets me apart from my peers is my willingness to learn and my discipline to implement. These two things, I believe, regardless of what career path you wanna take, you have to have these things, willingness to learn and discipline to implement. These two things will set you apart for sure.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:24:24]:

Nice. Nice. Let let's just, give a quick shout out to business owners, who don't see themselves as sellers.

Abdel Camará [00:24:35]:

Right.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:24:35]:

What what have you gotta say to

Abdel Camará [00:24:38]:

them? They're I mean, they are sellers. Obviously, they are. You know? They don't see themselves as such. Yeah. They don't. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. And there are salespeople that don't see themselves as salespeople, And I was one of them.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:24:53]:

That's true. I'll tell you why. It's so true.

Abdel Camará [00:24:56]:

That is true. Right? And the reason being is very simple. I'll tell you why. Yeah. Because of beliefs. So we all believe that, not all of us now but most sales people, when I started my sales career I'd never said to anyone I was a salesperson. I used to find ways, I used to find, sort of nice nice ways of saying people what I do.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:25:27]:

Work around. Right? I don't think I'd still say that. I don't think I I I even say that now. That I'm a salesperson.

Abdel Camará [00:25:34]:

I say it now.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:25:35]:

Proud to you. I do say. I say I'm a proud salesperson. Yeah.

Abdel Camará [00:25:39]:

Yeah. But I wasn't. So I I never used to say this. And the reason being is very simple. It's because there are beliefs, negative beliefs about salespeople. Now think about this. When we think sales, we think liar sometimes. We think somebody that's not gonna tell me truth.

Abdel Camará [00:26:00]:

Somebody that's gonna, trying to get to my pocket by lying to me, by doing or saying things. And obviously, if we connect all these negative beliefs with sales, guess what? I'm not gonna sell I'm not gonna say it I'm a salesperson because I don't wanna see I don't wanna be seen as or perceived as a bad person, a liar, or whatever. That really needs to shift. So whenever I see people say, no. No. No. I'm a loyal salesperson. I don't know anything about sales.

Abdel Camará [00:26:31]:

I don't like even selling. People even say that I don't like selling. Well, that's not true because we are always selling all the time every day. Whether we're selling to get, you know, ideas to get past I usually say this in you know, if you are married or if you got a boyfriend or girlfriend, I can tell you you sold yourself very well. Yeah.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:26:52]:

That is true. Children children to eat their suits.

Abdel Camará [00:26:55]:

Children are by far the best salespeople in the world because they don't take no for granted. They don't take no for granted. They go for what they want, and, yeah, children are the best sales, but everyone is a sales. We need to change this mentality. And the way we change it is very simple. If you say to per to a person, selling is serving. Yeah. Selling is serving.

Abdel Camará [00:27:20]:

Then we start changing this, mindset about and around, the negative beliefs about sales.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:27:27]:

That's right. Abdul, have you noticed how 26 minutes have just gone so fast? They just flew by. And flowing by with you is just a breeze, the coolest breeze with the coolest cat. And with these words, please let me thank you again for being here with us. Thank you to the production team and Andy who's in the background there, making sure that we're okay. We love you, Andy. Thank you all for listening. It's been great having you here.

Helga Saraiva-Stewart [00:27:53]:

Come visit us anytime. We're here for you. Watch out for the afternoon show, and we we bid you farewell for just now. Happy selling, selling with value, selling with value. We'll see you next time. Cheerio for now.

Abdel Camará [00:28:08]:

Thank you very much for having me. Thank you.

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