Navigating the Mother Teresa Complex as a Social Entrepreneur
“I just really want to make a difference.”
This is a phrase I hear often from social entrepreneurs. In the early stages of my business, this translated to me not wanting to sell. Like many entrepreneurs, I struggled with my own baggage about sales. I worried people would think I was salesy or manipulative, and that felt really gross to me. Over the years, however, I’ve really embraced sales as a service, and a social enterprise, this core belief has been critical to my business growth.
On the whole, social entrepreneurs are driven by a deep desire to make a positive impact on society or the environment. This is why it’s such a powerful and positive space. That commitment to do good in the world is essential to closing many of the social and environmental gaps governments and non-profits can’t fill, but this sentiment can hinder your business growth if you struggle with sales or the process of building and maintaining a sales pipeline.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the implications of the “Mother Teresa Complex” on your sales journey and discuss how you can find a balance between your altruistic mission and the necessity of effective sales strategies to drive sustainable impact.
Understanding the Mother Teresa Complex
The Mother Teresa Complex refers to the tendency of social entrepreneurs to prioritize their mission over revenue generation through sales. The over-prioritization of your mission, without counterbalancing it with financial sustainability, will ultimately slow or prevent your long-term success and the impact that the enterprise can have.
This can take several forms, but often looks like:
Reluctance to prioritize revenue generation and revenue-generating activities in favor of doing client work or community engagement
Downplaying the importance of effective marketing and sales strategies
Discomfort with sales as a whole and taking a more passive, hope-and-prayer approach to client attraction
Underpricing your products or services
Some of these may hit like a brick in the gut, and while it’s hard, it’s also important awareness. When you’re unwilling to make sales a priority, you limit your enterprise's ability to invest in growth and widen its social impact. Overcoming these challenges requires striking a balance between purpose and profitability, recognizing that sales is a means to further your social mission.
So, how do we navigate this Complex?
Define Clear Revenue Goals
To be a fully functioning business, you have to generate revenue. In the years I’ve been working with entrepreneurs, I’ve seen how much baggage comes with money, but the truth is, having a profitable business is essential for impact.
When you’re doing your annual planning, establish clear and realistic revenue goals alongside your social or environmental objectives. It’s not an either/or. You need both. Your revenue goals ensure that your social enterprise generates sufficient income to cover operational expenses, allows you to invest in growth initiatives, and helps you remain financially sustainable. This stability allows the enterprise to continue its impact-driven initiatives over the long term, making a lasting difference in society or the environment.
Revenue goals also increase the credibility and attractiveness of your social enterprise to potential investors and partners, which is critical when it comes to scaling. Investors want to support profitable businesses - or those that have a shot at being profitable - and they’re more likely to support those enterprises with clear financial objectives and a plan to achieve them because they can see opportunities for growth and impact.
I could go on about how clearly defined revenue goals help with risk management and resource allocation, but you get the idea. You cannot run a successful or effective business without a clear idea of what you need financially to run the business or plan for growth.
Communicate Your Impact
“I don’t want to brag or make it about me.”
Effectively communicating about the positive impact your enterprise creates is not bragging. People want to know about and be part of something bigger than themselves. Consumers are actively looking to support businesses that are doing good in the world… but they can’t do that if you don’t talk about the work you’re doing and how you can help them be a part of it.
Your sales conversations can and should be authentic as you transparently share success stories, metrics, and outcomes. Yes, it builds credibility and trust with your customers. Yes, it may make you and your business look good. Yes, it will probably result in more sales.
But here’s the truth: sales and revenue generation positively correlate to your enterprise's ability to deliver social or environmental impact. When we communicate the impact we’re making and invite people to be a part of the work we’re doing, we can more easily scale our initiatives, reach more people, and effectively demonstrate the sustainability of our impact-driven efforts.
Craft Purposeful Offerings
When our products, programs, or services directly reflect the mission's objectives, it becomes much easier to feel confident in promoting them because we know they’re contributing to their greater purpose.
The offers you make should align with your social enterprise's mission and core values, and when they do, it reinforces the purpose-driven nature of your enterprise. This alignment goes a long way to increasing confidence in sales because we can present them with authenticity and passion, knowing that every sale contributes directly to their greater purpose.
Moreover, compelling offers that showcase the tangible impact we’re making create an emotional connection with clients and validate your enterprise's dedication to positive change. This is massive because your clients are now a part of the work, and they’ll become your biggest advocates for the mission. Their testimonials amplify your reach, which again, contributes to sustainable revenue generation and the long-term viability of your impact-driven initiatives.
Crafting compelling offers empowers you to embrace sales as a means to advance your mission and effectively navigate the balance between purpose and profitability without sacrificing any part of the mission.
Embrace Sales with Purpose
I’ve often said, if you had the cure for cancer, you wouldn’t be hiding behind a screen, sheepishly mentioning it from time to time. When your offers are compelling, customer-centric, and focused on creating real and positive change, we can and should present them boldly, with gusto.
If you hear nothing else today, hear this: Your work is the cure to someone’s cancer.
Shift your perspective and embrace sales as an integral part of your mission. Sales are one of the most powerful tools you have to amplify your impact and reach more people.
Start shouting it from the mountaintops!
As a social entrepreneur, the Mother Teresa Complex is a unique challenge you may face on your mission to create a positive impact on the world, but I hope you’re starting to see just how much bigger your impact can be when you’re bold, customer-centric, and build aligned offers.
By recognizing the need to strike a balance between purpose and profit, you can embrace sales as a means to an end rather than a compromise. Leverage your authenticity, passion, and commitment to change to effectively communicate your mission, engage customers, and drive sustainable impact through your products or services.
Balancing the Mother Teresa Complex and sales is not about sacrificing purpose for profit, but rather harnessing both to create a greater good for society and the environment.
If you are struggling with sales or creating consistent, predictable income for your social enterprise, let’s chat. I would love to help you build a system and a plan that feels authentic and allows you to create more impact in the world.
