Social entrepreneurs are dreamers, bringing new thinking to old problems. Unfortunately, when they don’t bring their curiosity, humility and intelligence to the business activity that determines whether they will succeed or fail—the activity of selling the product or service they have created—many see their dream become a waking nightmare.
Too many business leaders invest massive effort into market analysis, product design, supply chain development and sophisticated smartphone apps, and then, when it comes to selling—the final yard of the proverbial Last Mile, the distance separating a seller from a buyer—they stop. They stop analyzing, designing and innovating. They just go along with the crowd. They regard selling as a black box, a necessary evil, and they recruit, train and manage sellers in the same old ineffective and brand-compromising ways that it's been done for decades. And soon, they wake up to hordes of dissatisfied customers, slippery sales staff, and callous managers who treat their agents in ways that the entrepreneurs themselves wouldn’t tolerate for a moment.
This tragedy happens all the time, but they can avoid falling into its trap: if they open their eyes and know where to look; if they know how to understand what they find; and if social entrepreneurs know how to develop a sales system that aligns with the values and innovation they brought to the development of their offering.
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