How To Improve Growth Gave Businesses Hope During The Pandemic With The Right Sales Talent, A Founder’s Story with Brisa Renteria

Brisa Renteria is a sales talent strategist who has built her career on helping companies optimize their sales departments by finding the right talent the first time. Before starting Improve Growth, Brisa was a sought-after sales consultant for the largest sales training organization in the world. During this time, she discovered that companies without the right foundation, and their people, cannot succeed with training and onboarding alone. Today, she teaches companies how to recruit top-performing sales talent using a five-step process that predicts whether the candidate will succeed in the client’s selling environment.

Tell us about your childhood and where you grew up

I was born in Mexico City and moved to the U.S when I was 12 years old. My mom was a single mom who worked hard every day yet still ensured she was present and spent plenty of time with my sister and me. She valued education and was adamant about my sister and me learning English and educating ourselves so we could always stand on our own. Because of that, I became the first person to graduate college in my entire family and have had the opportunity to start my own business. Without my mom and all the great things she taught me, I wouldn’t be where I am.

How did you get started as an entrepreneur?

I started Improve Growth three months after my daughter was born. We were in the middle of the pandemic, and many businesses had stopped investing in their business. However, I figured that companies were still looking for talent who could take their businesses to the next level. Many businesses were looking for talent who could keep their business afloat. That’s exactly what we planned on doing for companies. We wanted to give them hope during a crazy time, knowing that there were great employees out there who were looking for new opportunities. Some people thrive in an uncertain environment; those are the best salespeople! The ones who can sell while the economy is down the drain and no one is buying! That’s who we set out to hire for our clients. My biggest challenge when I started this business was my lack of support in all areas of my business and my new life. During the start of our business, my husband worked at a large financial corporation where he worked 18–20 hours a day, my daughter wasn’t going to daycare, and I was trying to figure out entrepreneurship and being a mom at the same time. In addition, many associations stopped training or networking events, limiting our opportunities for exposure. Nonetheless, I secured three clients during our first three months while I cared for the house and a baby who didn’t sleep. In just two years, we’ve grown to a $350,000 company with a mighty team of two people!

What is one business lesson you would tell a startup founder?

Sell, sell, sell! This is what’s going to keep your business alive and going. If you don’t know “how,” find someone who will teach you. Don’t hire someone you think will sell for you. That rarely works when you’re a startup, and you would still need to know if they’re doing the right things to grow your business.