John Whitehead, co-head of Goldman Sachs in the 1970s, wrote the following 10 commandments that guided their business development efforts: Don’t waste your time going after business you don’t really want. The boss usually decides— not the assistant treasurer. Do you know the boss? It is just as easy to get a first-rate piece of … Read more
My definition of an entrepreneur: Someone who has more ideas than resources. “But I don’t have any ideas…” If you don’t have ideas, then you are not an entrepreneur. There are millions of things that frustrate me every day. Find something frustrating and think how to reduce the frustration. If you are not frustrated by … Read more
Sales is 18-3-1. 18 calls.3 meetings.1 sale. It is never any faster, quicker or shorter. There is no easy way. There is no 100% close. There are 7 billion people in the world. 1 billion have phones. 800 million are on facebook. Keep up the 18-3-1. Don’t try to make it into 18-3-2. Never works. … Read more
What is Trust? Trust is the foundation of strong relationships. Without trust, any relationship is weak. Trust is the willingness to rely on the actions of another person. In a relationship of trust, the trustor is willing to release control over the actions of the trustee. Trust has to be earned. It is not given. … Read more
There are 2 ways to call to action as you finish a speech. It is important in a persuasive speech to leave it clear to the audience what action they can take. There are 2 ways to present that action. Do you use effective call to actions when you communicate? Is can be powerful to … Read more
I was thinking about why presentations fail today. Why do so many great ideas fail at the presentation stage? Business plan presentations, entrepreneur pitches, Sales presentations? Why do they fail?There are many reasons: failure to prepare (deliberate practice), failure to clarify what you want from the audience, failure to make the material relevant to the … Read more
Greg Digneo of Cloud Marketing Lab wrote a beautifully simple explanation over at Triiibes of how to test an idea before you spend any money building. Even “small” ideas like hosting a webinar or writing a short/free ebook to give away on your blog can be tested even before putting time into creating it. 4 Steps … Read more
Professor Robert Cialdini in his book “Influence: The Science of Persuasion” outlines six principles of ethical persuasion: reciprocity, scarcity, liking, authority, social proof, and commitment/consistency. Reciprocation – People tend to return a favor. Thus, the pervasiveness of free samples in marketing. In his conferences, Cialdini often uses the example of Ethiopia providing thousands of dollars … Read more
Jeffrey Pfeffer says that there are 4 ways that good ideas get shot down: Confusion – “yes, but how does that address US foreign policy and the social responsibility charter and the challenges of globalisation… and the new tax situation?” Fear mongering – “uff… this will be like X back in 2008 when it all … Read more
A good idea that nobody understands is worth nothing. Do you share your business idea in a way that people understand? The ability to clearly and concisely explain a business is important: in fund raising, in hiring and in selling to early customers. An elevator pitch is a simple outline of the business that quickly … Read more