sales

What’s it REALLY like to be an Entrepreneur?

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Funny story. For several years I was a teacher for the YEA! Young Entrepreneur Academy.  It was an amazing experience – I helped middle school and high school students launch legitimate businesses.  After 9 months, they created a legitimate DBA in the State of CT, asked for money from investors and launched.

On the first day of the class I always asked the students what they thought an entrepreneur was – I wanted to see their vision.  Here are some very real answers:

  • I get to have an office with a chair that spins around
  • I get to be a millionaire
  • I get to have a ton of money
  • I get to do whatever I want
  • I get to take vacations whenever I want
  • I get to be the boss

These were children, but I can tell you that many adults see entrepreneur life through rose colored glasses as well.

Being an entrepreneur IS amazing.  To be honest – I’m not employable – really.  I like being the boss, I like taking vacations when I want – but I also am down for working 80 hours in a week if that’s what needs to happen.

The fantasy driven view of what owning a business is all about is probably one of the biggest reasons many fail – they aren’t prepared for the tough spots.  I absolutely love launching businesses – it’s FUN.  Creating the business plan, designing logos, creating the marketing message, gearing up for the launch – all that is super cool and fuels my soul and creative side.  The rubber hits the road the day after the launch – because that’s when it gets real. You have to run the business, live the business and for most, you ARE the business.

When I was working with the kids and started fleshing out their business ideas – we honed in on what they loved to do and what they were really great at.  When you can combine the combo it works.  Many had hobbies such as sewing, baking, and animal welfare that they felt would make great business ideas.  When I asked them:  Would you like to bake dog treats (or whatever their hobby was) 40 hours a week and spend another 20 working on sales, marketing, and administrative “stuff” – they stared at me in disbelief.  They ASSUMED they would hire other people to do the manual work and they would be sitting in that chair twirling around.

To the children’s credit, they quickly realized that just because you have a hobby doesn’t mean you would want to flip that into a full-time business. Why?  The absolute joy of that hobby could be gone after the first 60 hour work week AND just because it’s a hobby you enjoy doesn’t mean others will pay you for that product or service.

The last point I want to touch on is the money.  You need it and often times lots of it.  I’ve seen many entrepreneurs drain their savings, tap into family and friends, and launch without a solid game plan, solid market research and a long-term vision. The money is gone and the family and friends are far from happy.  Yes, you need to be a risk taker when it comes to money – been there, done that.  You also need to realize there will be many weeks you as the owner will not get a paycheck so you can pay staff and invest back into the company.  Be prepared to be poor.  Some businesses take off immediately and sure, they make millionaires within year one. That is rare – very rare.

To wrap up, entrepreneur life is grand.  It’s hard, it’s easy, it’s frustrating, and it’s rewarding all at the same time.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Client retention issues? I bet I know why.

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I often get calls from business owners telling me they need marketing because their sales have “dipped”.   I dig a bit deeper asking questions about why they think revenue and retention have dropped.  I get the following:

  • My competition is eating me a live
  • I need better employees
  • My customers don’t value me like they used to
  • I’m not competitive anymore
  • No problem – I just need marketing!

When I get these type of responses, it’s the red flag zone for me.  99% of the time there is a deeper issue and marketing is the last thing they should be focused on right now.

My next step is to head to their office – I want to be there first thing in the morning when employees are showing up.  I want to just watch, listen… and learn.  What I typically find is an unhappy situation, a morgue with Stepford Wife type employees who fake being happy there.  Where’s the boss?  In his/her office drinking coffee, with the door closed.  It’s Monday and there is work to do.  The Grind. The Misery.

In my line of work, the #1 reason most companies fail to thrive is due to their culture and the lack of a leader who understands the importance of TEAM.

When you hire the right employees into the right culture with a leader who embraces a culture of learning and mentoring– your customer experience will soar.

It all comes back to the Core Values of the company – the driving principals. The Ten Commandments – it’s how you act internally and how you project yourself externally.  When there is a disconnect with the Core Values of the owner and those of the employees – it becomes a hot mess and those dissatisfied employees become a cancer – which then trickles down to the customer experience.

If your retention and revenues are dipping – please take a hard, holistic look at your business and ask WHY.  WHY are customers not sticking?  It’s rarely because of price or your competition – it’s because of their experience with you and your brand. They left because they didn’t feel the love and someone else was loving them more than you were.

Employees matter.  Culture matters.  Most importantly, how your employees express your culture to your customers matters.

Until you fix this – don’t spend a dime on marketing. You are tossing dollars out the damn door.

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OMG – yes you have to track it.

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I can always tell a good salesperson and yes, the ones that just are going to drive their managers bat s**t crazy and then some.

Rainmakers, top dogs – you know the superstars all have this one thing in common: They are a slave to their data.

They know:

  • Their sales goals, and how close or far off they are at any moment in time.
  • They know their stretch goals, bonus tipping points and anyway they can make extra on their book of business.
  • They are data monsters – they eat it up. They know everything about their top prospects.
  • They know who their Target Client Profile is – they aren’t wasting a lick of time on someone who isn’t going to buy from them. EVER.

Here’s a big one – they have an organized trackable process. Yes, I said process. They know exactly what to do NEXT when they get a lead, they make a pitch, they close a deal. Rarely do they waiver.

Oh Shocker – they track it all in a CRM. Now for some that are old school that may mean a spreadsheet or God Help me paper files – but however you want to track your pipeline is fine, just do it.

If you are a salesperson that doesn’t fit into what I just described you might want to search out another career. Sure, you may sell some stuff, but you won’t be the top dog. Can you change? You betcha!

Managers – if you have someone who isn’t in the “KNOW” – we need to get to the bottom of WHY they aren’t quickly. Trust me, the frustration will only get worse…and worse…until you become a passive aggressive evil boss. Yea – it will happen. Seen it more than once.

Here’s the good news – there are so many training support systems out there. (Like Red Barn – sorry – had to plug us)

If you want to win the coveted Top Sales Dog award at the annual business meeting – then trust me, you need a sales coach. A mentor – or hell, someone to get you organized!

Call us – we rock at the whole sales organization and getting act together stuff.

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It’s all about the Ops…the Ops

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“Help – I’m getting eaten alive by my competitors. I need a marketing intervention ASAP.” I’ve gotten this call, chatted with this person – more than once. When I first started out in the entrepreneurial world – I only offered marketing. Strategy, Traditional print support, that transformed into more digital work – but you know – Marketing “Stuff”. I quickly learned that if Sales and Marketing aren’t communicating or playing nicely in the sandbox together that my marketing will be less effective. So, we added in Sales training and support into the mix. We look at sales goals and capacity to ensure that our marketing endeavors are a cohesive match made in heaven.

But THEN…. I learned. I can have a kick ass marketing strategy and a rock star sales team BUT if there is no process to get the stuff out the door, or the supply chain is running a muck OR the servicing of the client is God awful – then Houston, we have a problem. You got it, all my fabulous marketing and sales guru stuff doesn’t matter because we have unhappy clients. Unhappy clients tell a whole lot of people how they feel.

So – we now start from the beginning. We focus on the operations, the leadership and the culture. Who are the people, what is the process and what is the capacity for growth and scale?

You see it really is about the ops – the operations of the business. The times my Spidey Senses said – “Cindy, this is an ops issue not a marketing/sales issue” yet the client was hell bent on the fact that they had rock solid ops, employees, blah blah blah – it failed. Every Single Time – my marketing and sales strategy failed. Why – because of everything I said above.

You must have a strong foundation before you can grow – or you will topple over. What if the pyramids were upside down? That’s a Jenga nightmare waiting to happen.

Here is how we do it – and you can surely do this yourself, but my guess is adult supervision is needed. (another thing I learned – business owners need to bring in experts to get S**t done sometimes)

1. SWOT of your business. What’s working, what isn’t.
2. Leadership – Do you even have good leadership?
3. Team – are they happy? Are they productive? Are they efficient?
4. Customer Journey and Experience – do you have happy customers? How do you “touch them” along the way?
5. Marketing – what is your “Why” – who the hell are you in the world? What is your story?
6. How will you tell your story – and how much money do you have to do it?
7. Who the heck is selling – every company has to sell something, I don’t care who you are.
8. Who is pulling it all together – who is running the ship, managing the process? PS – often the dude or dudette at the top isn’t the one. They are visionaries, not project managers.
9. How are you tracking successes and failures?

9 Steps – and trust me – you don’t want to skip any of them. Not my first rodeo, I’ve fallen off that bull just a few times and I’ve learned a few things along the way!

If you need that adult supervision –send us an email, send up a smoke signal or hey – pick up the phone and call us.

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Grab a microphone

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I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Perception is Reality” – and for the most part it’s true. People believe what they perceive to be truth. When it comes to personal branding – nothing is farther from the truth.

One of the first things I coach people on when they are trying to build out their personal brand is to hop on the speaking gig roller coaster. Yes, that means you will have to speak in public. If you need help with that take a class with Dale Carnegie or join the Toastmasters gang – but public speaking and effective communication is a must have if you want to be successful.
You know what I always say – “People buy from people they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST”.

More often than not, when you see someone speak at an event or you watch a TED Talk you ASSUME they are experts, if not at least extremely knowledgeable in their field. Your perception of them is that they know what they are talking about and are sharing it with you to help you gain that same knowledge.

Now, don’t get me wrong there are folks out there who spout off words that have no truth or sustenance, but trust me, someone perceived it as truthful.

So, what does this all mean?

One of the quickest ways to build your brand, gain brand evangelists and to heck – sell more of whatever it is your company does – is to grab a microphone and share a story.

Here are some tips:

  1. Don’t sell during your presentations. No one wants to be sold to – they want to learn and be entertained.
  2. Pick topics that are relevant to your audience and will give some immediate results – meaning when they finish listening they can take some type of action that will benefit them.
  3. Don’t read a script. It’s ok to write a speech or have speaking notes – but don’t get up there and read word for word.
  4. Practice and ad lib
    Don’t be a PowerPoint BORE! Use PowerPoint for visuals – but don’t use tons of words. You want people to focus on you, not the screen.
  5. Be engaging. Make sure you don’t have a monotone voice – practice and record yourself speaking OR take a class like I mentioned above.
  6. Watch your non-verbal communication. Be a bit animated – but not a circus clown

Public speaking is a great way to boost your credibility and get you in front of people who are interested in your expertise. If you want to increase your personal brand, increase your revenue and have some fun – grab a microphone and tell the world your stories!

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