Insiders Story – Starting a business

Becky Smith is a wife and mother of three. She is also the Director of Premium Sales Consultancy. Today we find out how and why she set up the business, how Covid affected Premium Sales and her plans for the future After giving birth to twins, Becky wanted to return from maternity leave to a part time, flexible role. This was really difficult to find, and so with the support of her husband, Luke (who now also works with Premium Sales) She decided to offer her services as a freelance sales executive that specialised in the Logistics industry She started to contact local Logistics companies by telephone, email and LinkedIn to arrange meetings and discuss our offering of an outsourced sales solution. It was then a case of outlining the benefits of using Premium Sales as an alternative or in support of an employed sales team!

The first 12 months…

It was a huge learning curve! “I felt confident with the offering I had, and doing the selling itself for my Customers, but it was the ‘business’ side of things I had no experience of that posed the most challenges” The business quickly escalated. She won business very quickly and so had to scale up and employ a team. Becky had to learn how to run accounts … VAT, Corporation Tax etc. Employing staff was another big milestone for her – recruiting, onboarding, training, mentoring, monitoring, motivating!! She sought the help of a HR company to assist with employment law, and her Accountant sorted a Payroll so she could employee staff. She then followed a fairly straightforward path … the more Customers they took on – the more Staff they needed!

What have you learnt about running a business?

“Not enough!! Just kidding … I have learnt to delegate and trust in the team around me. This is absolutely 100% a TEAM effort and I could NOT do it without each and every one of them!”

The Good, the bad and the ugly

The great thing about being your own boss is having more control over your future and success story (well, being a master of her own destiny took a bit of a knock thanks to Covid-19!). However, the responsibility all falls on her shoulders … sometimes it keeps her awake at night knowing she has to ensure that the business she runs pays the wages of circa 20 people! It’s also hugely difficult at times – like when a global pandemic hits … having to learn and adapt the business in such a short space of time was very challenging indeed! When the pandemic hit, Becky responded quickly. She adapted her systems and processes to ensure her team could work remotely and restructured the team’s roles to meet customer needs.

The Future…

Having come out of the other side of Covid-19, Becky plans to continue very much with the growth path she had set out pre-pandemic “I would like to nurture more young talent – we ran a very successful apprentice scheme before and I think this is key to the future of the business. “

What tip you would give to anyone starting their own business?

“Outsource, outsource outsource!! You can’t do it all yourself, and the best thing is to let the experts help you … so if you need sales … Premium Sales is here!” If you would like more information about how Premium Sales can help your business achieve their sales goals, get in touch with Becky on Becky@premium-sales.com