Gather the herd by asking them what they want/need/by their pain. Suck them into your evil web and then get their permission to communicate (market) to them regularly .... then produce product to suit them.
Make entry easy (lubricate, lower the barriers to entry)
Identify their pains. Sell them something small first (a.k.a. a monkey's paw). Escalate their addiction to buying from you with regular cross and upsells. Go for value not volume. Better to have a herd of 1000 people spending $/£10,000 a year than 40,000 spending $/£100.
Do the basics consistently well. Take care of your customers as if they were the most precious possession (i.e. look after them, look after their data, keep in contact, speak to them as if you are speaking to them alone not as if you're spamming your entire database - are you listening, don't spam existing customers to buy the stuff they've already bought from you?
When you do communicate, make it worth their while to read/welcome your communication (i.e. welcome you again), speak to their pains, their wants, their interests NOT yours.
Take care to gather their feedback and concerns, take on board (some) of their ideas. 67% of all customers who leave suppliers do so because of perceived indifference (i.e. they didn't feel loved) not average or bad service.
Be ruthless in managing your cashflow. Barter may be smarter but Cash is King.
Learn how to sell, how to manage sales, how to recruit effectively and accurately first time every time, and NEVER compromise on recruitment. Make recruitment hard for candidates so that they are committed and serious before you waste time and offers on deadbeats. Cull your worst and replace with people who fit the best characteristics and behaviours of your evolving hiring template for each role. Recruit for the right habits and attitudes not just for experience and track record.
Promote or hire managers for their management ability not being the best functional operator e.g. the best salespeople often get promoted and make appalling managers.
Measure everything. Manage those things you can manage not the stuff you can't ... like behaviour NOT the numbers as the prospects control who and when they sign the cheques. Sack your worst, most expensive and time-consuming clients even if you won't be liked by them. Encourage them to go to your competition.
Forget worrying about whether people like you or not - get over it. You're in business to make profit first and foremost ...not to get your emotional needs met.
Never discount your gut. Even if it's occasionally wrong, trust your gut.
Never go 50/50 into a partnership - always have a controlling interest. Get rid of freeloading partners, staff, associates, suppliers before they drag you down, prevent you from paying your bills, paying your kids' school frees, paying your mortgage.
Learn how to negotiate well and never give unilateral concessions i.e. always get something of equal or greater value back in return for any concessions your side makes.
Develop a strong network of people who can support you (your employees have a different agenda to you - keeping their jobs - and you're not there to be their friend - doesn't mean you have to be a total monster but keep a respectful distance - you are the "them" in them and us - its lonely being the first to pay out and last to get paid). Build your network to provide you with education, advocacy and pipeline.
Never ever allow delivery to prevent you (or your salespeople) from prospecting - behave as if your best client is about to leave you and you have to replace them. Always be prospecting. Teach everyone in your business to have a prospecting habit - including the technical people.
Learn how to say "no" to do the stuff that is not "not urgent but important". Ask "what other commitment will I have to break if I do this instead or now?" You're known by the promises you keep not the ones you make.
Eliminate the fire-fighting and time-wasting. Ask yourself "what's our operational efficiency?" Seek ways to incrementally and consistently improve it. Always look for and encourage staff to look for tiny, incremental improvements.
Learn how to go for the "no" to eliminate deadbeats, those looking for free consulting, timewasters from your pipeline so you never waste scarce and costly resources - let your competition do this, in fact encourage these people to talk to your competition - what does my enemy harm does me good.
Compensate well and compensate the behaviours you want not those that you don't.
Get good advisors/suppliers, accountants, lawyers, consultants, coaches, marketing, PR, telemarketers - ditch those who are costing you money and have an agenda that is divergent from yours e.g. marketing consultancies who show off their awards are probably after more awards when your agenda is to put profitable, paying customers into your pipeline. Structure your business today for tomorrow. It costs a whole lot less to do this when you're small than fix this stuff later - tax, legal, HR, health and safety, share holdings etc. Does that make sense?
Invest when others are tightening their belt - don't be a total buffoon and cut back on your sales force, recruitment or marketing when the market is tough, invest now and trade through it. You'll be glad you did .... or you'll be broke - but chances are, your business will be dead anyway if you don't and it'll just take longer for you to realise it.
Accept that failure is part of the human condition - you learn most from your failures, not from your successes, so don't repeat the same mistakes time and again, and don't use the stick unnecessarily on employees who risk failing in good faith, treat this as part of your training budget! Reward innovation, hire mavericks, and learn how to steal, secure and manage troublesome talent.
Learn how to establish contracts you can enforce and be clear you'll apply consequences for non-performance. e.g. an employee consistently comes in late or fails to complete their timesheets, they get penalised in their pay packet OR if I do this for you you will do this for me by this date and time OR "at the end of this interview, I'll tell you if there is a job offer, we'll discuss the terms and you'll leave either deciding to go ahead or you'll tell me no thanks and we'll part friends. So we're in no doubt, any offer will be in the region of £45,000-£48,000 basic salary with on target earnings of £70,000-£375,000, a car allowance of £6000 and health and life insurance for you. Before we get started on this interview, is that likely to be a problem?" (If they say it is going to be a problem, qualify why and you can call the interview to a close and get back to doing your day job without wasting an hour to 90 minutes talking to a candidate who couldn't meet you needs). Does that make sense?
These are just a few basic thoughts on what makes a good entrepreneur. But three characteristics override all others to my mind.
1. Their attitude is that they have "no finish line"
2. They always do the basics well 3. Businesses don't fail, their owners give up - NEVER QUIT.
You may fail, circumstances may conspire against you, but great entrepreneurs rise up and learn from their failures. Resilience is a crucial cartelistic and just another acquired skill.
(C) Marcus Cauchi and Sandler Systems Inc 2006 (London1.Sandler.com
Hope this helps. Any thoughts or additions, comments or challenges welcome.
Sales Training London: What Makes Entrepreneurs Successful - To learn more about this author, visit Marcus Cauchi's Website.
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Marcus Cauchi
(Visit Marcus's Website)
Marcus Cauchi is London's first licensed
Sandler sales trainer. 19 years in direct
sales, he's sold physical products,
services and intangibles with varied
success. Over 16 years he left behind over
£56 million in deals he could have won,
but did because he didn't know any
better. He thought you had to qualify for
needs, present the benefits of your
solution, trial close, follow up with a
proposal or further information and the
close. He learned the hard way that when
you "pitch" a prospect lies to protect
himself. When you present and answer his
questions, he'll steal your ideas. When
you close, he'll mislead you or defer to
a higher authority (boss, wife, CFO) and
then when he's got you to document in
writing (proposals) and give away your
confidential pricing, he'll shop that
around your competitors to get the best
deal. When you follow up for a decision,
he'll give you unlimited access to his
voicemail and hide. Marcus teaches
counter intuitive selling. Average clients
increase revenues by 100-1100% in a year.
He's probably not for you though as it's
difficult and expensive.
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