Why prospecting matters more than pitching - not everyone is your customer, and focusing your energy on the right prospects beats spreading it thin.
How do you give yourself the best chance of hitting your sales goals? Hitting your sales goals is a function of your message and the tools and process you put in place for you and/or your team.
One of the greatest fears of the untrained salesperson is hearing objections or concerns
In the early stages of a business, you often have two simultaneous problems that affect the efficiency of your sales process. First, it is often the founder or management team that are the only ones who understand your market's nuances.
As a business grows, pitching becomes increasingly important. As the business seeks investors, new clients, or even new employees, a business owner must repeatedly reveal details about the company to others.
How do you validate your idea to determine whether it can be a business success and help you achieve your personal and professional goals as an entrepreneur?
The entrepreneurial venture is normally characterized by communications that would generously be called "chaotic."
What is emotional intelligence? Emotional intelligence is the ability to read and understand your own emotions as well as others’ emotions in the context of a particular situation to maximize the result.
I recently had an entrepreneur tell me, “No one can perform up to my standards.” I asked her, “What about Steve Jobs or Arianna Huffington or Martin Luther King or Donna Karan or Elon Musk? Would they be okay?”
Values can set a company apart from the competition by clarifying its identity and serving as a rallying point for employees.
In the chaotic world of entrepreneurship, it is rare that entrepreneurs assess how they work, and how they organize and execute their days. We are often running from fire to fire and don’t think about the ways we can be more efficient, more balanced, more rested and more effective.
Developing a deep knowledge of your ideal customer, a concept known in the marketing realm as buyer persona profiling, is critical to increasing the relevance of your efforts.
Pick a market and go after it. Debate with your team and advisors what that market should be. But once you decide what it is, learn as much as you can about it and be committed to making a name for yourself in it
The eight legal documents every startup should have, from articles of incorporation to founder agreements, and the costly disputes each one prevents.
There are times when a business faces issues that are too complex, too time consuming, or fraught with liability issues. At that point, the wisest move is to retain a business lawyer.
There is no magic formula, but there are certainly ways that you can have a better sense of whether your idea has legs.
Advisory boards can be an invaluable source of insight. Think of an advisory board as a collection of mentors that can provide individual expertise, provide you a sounding board for ideas, give you advice, introduce you to valuable contacts, and tell you when you’re potentially making a mistake.
Before you attempt to change the world, you should take a hard look at your company to get a clear picture of its purpose and place. This can be done with a familiar planning tool called a SWOT Analysis.
So if your company is struggling, or not progressing as quickly as you would like, whose fault is it? Yours. Yep, even when you work the hardest. You care the most. You put in the most hours. You are the most dedicated. You are the most passionate. It is your fault.
Figuring out the right pricing for your startup is a challenging, yet crucial, part of building a successful company. The way you price your product or service can make or break your startup.
Most communications throughout the day come and go without much thought. Others, however, set the tone for the organization, and specifically determine how people feel about the vision and their connection to it.
Don’t be deterred by the fact that there isn’t an established path. Most individuals don’t have the inclination or wherewithal to color outside the lines. You do.
Don’t be deterred by the fact that there isn’t an established path. Most individuals don’t have the inclination or wherewithal to color outside the lines. You do.
The number one reason you need an operating plan is to set goals, measure your performance and improve your people, systems and processes. But there are lots of other reasons too. Not only will an operating plan get everyone on your team on the same page, but it will also make you look like a real company before you become one.
Most entrepreneurs feel that they have to do everything. We feel that we are the only ones who know exactly how to get things done. This is a telltale sign of bad leadership. Of course you know more about your business than anyone. You live and breathe it. In the beginning, every activity probably could be done more effectively by you. You probably also feel that only you will provide the necessary attention to detail. This may all be true, especially in the early stages of your business. If you are lucky enough to have a team, you say to yourself, “It will take me much longer to teach someone to do this than to do it myself.” This starts with one issue, but then becomes the mantra for all issues.
