What is the #1 skill you need to run a successful bath and body business?

Without this most valuable skill, all businesses are doomed to fail. With this skill, though, your chances for success are astronomically improved. This skill is at the heart of every business from the smallest card table at a craft fair to, well, Bath and Body Works! Before you read on, try to think of what it might be.

Is it creativity? Or a "winning spirit," optimism, ingenuity, persistence, or a strong work ethic? No, although those are strong contenders for #2.

In my experience, the most important skill for a business owner is selling. If you cannot sell, you don't have a business. Instead, you are playing business.

It may seem obvious, but if businesses cannot get enough sales, they go out of business. They may have everything else - a great location, good looking packaging, lots of walk-in traffic (or website traffic), unlimited startup capital, good products. But if they don't exchange those products for money, they are not a successful business.

Don't let this happen to you! A cautionary tale...

I worked with a business that had exactly the things listed above: a large, beautiful retail space, professional packaging and graphic design, good quality products with a high percentage of natural ingredients, a chemist from Bath and Body Works, and nearly unlimited startup capital (they burned at least one million dollars). But they could not sell the products.

I joined the company about six months after they opened, and I stayed until almost the bitter end. I became close with the owners and heard a lot of "behind the scenes" stuff that I wasn't supposed to hear. What it came down to was that the owners knew nothing about sales. Not one of them had worked in retail, or even sold Girl Scout cookies door to door!

They hired a good sales staff to represent the products in person, but when it came to promoting the store, they just couldn't do it. They couldn't "sell" the store well enough to get people in the door. They had no idea what to do, and they were stupidly doing the same few things over and over, expecting different results.

And worse, because they didn't know anything about selling, they were slower than a sloth when it came to trying out new products and promotion methods. It took them a month to put out a mailing list signup clipboard. It took them three months to make up a new flyer. Instead, they made themselves feel busy by hiring a designer to make new labels, hiring more lab staff, making someone a floor manager, shuffling papers, etc.

What does this mean for you?

Some of the most common questions I get from aspiring business owners have to do with trademarks, business names, tax IDs, registering a business, bookkeeping, packaging, business cards, storefronts, and stuff like that. It's all irrelevant if you can't sell your products.

Everything you do, especially in the beginning, should be a direct, short path to selling. All the "extra stuff" should be minimized. For example: if you need a book keeping system, but how 'bout a pen and notebook? Don't spend time and money learning Quick Books - it will take you at least a month to get comfortable with the new software.

You may need to register a business in your state, but don't worry about a cute name! Do business under your own name, use your social security as your Tax ID. You can worry about business names and trademarks later. Having a catchy name isn't nearly as important as getting your products in front of potential buyers. They won't care what you're called, just as long as you sell things they want to buy.

"But I don't know anything about selling..."

You may not know how to sell, but that's okay. There's always a lot of learning on the job. At your first craft fair, you may feel uncomfortable even looking people in the eye when they come up to your table. You may have no clue what to put on a flyer or ad. You might not know how to "close" a sale, especially when you write Etsy listings. But you will figure it out, don't worry!

In the future, I'm going to post some articles about how to sell, but I want you to think about it first. You'll learn a lot more by doing your own experiments than anything else. After all, the second most important skill is... well, I'll save that for another article!

Here are three direct selling activities you can do this week. If you do them, they will all put your products in front of more people. Don't worry if you don't know exactly what to say or do for each one. Don't worry if you're not "ready." Just do the best you can - it's only an experiment!

In many cases, what you do will be good enough. Each activity only takes about 30 minutes or less to complete, so you can be sure to fit them into your schedule.

In case you're wondering, I'm going to do them too.

• List one of your products on Etsy. Even if you have no web skills whatsoever, you can definitely handle an Etsy listing. (I'm going to do this even though I have no photos of my latest product. I'll just add them later!)
• Take out a cheap classified print ad in your local paper. (The ones in the San Diego Reader sell for about $10, I think.) I think of it as a weight loss plan because I'm going without my mochas for a few days to make up for the cost of the ad. Do not use the free online classifieds like backpage.com or Craig's List.
• Post a flyer on a community bulletin board. It doesn't have to be fancy - just get out there and do it. Whole Foods is a good choice, as is the local coffee house or bookstore. Heck, you might be able to leave a stack of quarter page flyers or business cards somewhere. If you use the phrase, "I'm a local soapmaker and I'm just getting started," it will open doors. Most local businesses know exactly what it's like to be a beginner and their hearts will go out to you.

Now get out there and do it!

When you've accomplished these three action steps, post in the Yahoo Group about your experiences.