My previous 2 posts shared some experiences during a recent seminar I gave on "How to avoid the 3 common mistakes in Getting your Message Across". During the seminar we helped 3 volunteers work on these things.
The 3rd mistake often made is not using examples. Using stories to illustrate what you do.
One of our volunteers had to think a bit & then had a really great story. With some real time feedback we were able to turn it into something that highlighted real business benefit together with something to differentiate them. There was also a really topical feel to it in the present economic climate.
His company develops software systems for companies that have reached the stage where they need bespoke development, but cannot really afford an in house team. A recent client is an Estate Agency firm where they have helped reduce operating costs to a fifth of what they were. They have testimonials that the client really thinks of them as their in house team such is their understanding of his business. This means their client is not only surviving the current property downturn, but taking advantage of new opportunities & increasing market share.
What stories do you have where you can quickly illustrate the problems you fix?
In my previous post I mentioned the NRG seminar I presented on "How to avoid the 3 common mistakes in Getting your Message Across" before. During the seminar we helped 3 volunteers work on these 3 things.
The 2nd mistake often made is not expressing your proposition in a way that is readily understood. What you really do for your customers.
Our 3 volunteers received a lot of hard questioning on this one. One of them was having a hard job explaining how he helped companies make more money from their existing customers with better use of their data.
Someone said "Do you mean so they can use it like Amazon or Tesco?"
Our volunteer said "Yes, exactly!"
The feedback was unanimous. Use that to illustrate your message.
Is there anything you could use that would be more meaningful to your audience?
I presented a seminar on "How to avoid the 3 common mistakes in Getting your Message Across" before an NRG lunch last week. During the seminar we helped 3 volunteers work on these 3 things.
The 1st mistake often made is not being clear about your target market. Who do you want as customers?
In a couple of cases our "guinea pigs" had data on exactly the customers they wanted. However, they were not sharing this & were talking in very general terms. If you know who you want to talk to then share this information. Real company names mean much more then talking about types & sizes of business. Much more powerful then talking about types & sizes of business which can often mean very different things to different people.
Is there any work you could do on naming the organisations that you would like to do business with?
I was speaking with a member of NRG in a 121 meeting last week. He asked how he could get more referrals. I shared a story about someone else in my network.
This person had spent a lot of time networking and in follow up meetings. The results were disappointing from the time invested. He had set himself a target for getting referrals and was not achieving this. Then he changed his focus and set himself a target for giving referrals. As he stretched himself & exceeded this target he began to receive many more.
So the the answer to getting more referrals - give more!
Entrepreneurs, regardless of what industry they are in, tend to follow similar patterns as they establish and grow their businesses. If you want to be successful faster than normal or at a greater scale than normal, you will do well to understand the patterns that lead to problems and the patterns that lead to success.
Discipline…control gained by obedience and training…is the key to putting the knowledge of patterns into play. After all, successful development of your business depends first upon having a good strategy and then upon good implementation.
Many business owners approach starting a new business as though it is an instinctive skill. They think that if they know how to cook chicken, they are fully equipped to open a chicken restaurant. It is this pattern of following your instincts, flying by the seat of your pants, that causes so many people to run into the same problems.
The discipline of starting a business begins with the fundamental three planning questions:
Where are you now? This is about getting oriented to your current situation. If you have never owned a business before, you have a bigger learning curve ahead of you than the person who is opening their third business. If you have vast financial resources, you face a different starting point than the person who is already in debt.
Where are you going? This is where you define your objective? Do you want a solo opportunity that will grant you a few hundred dollars extra income or are you looking to be at the top of the INC 500 in five years? What is it that you want to build?
How are you going to get there? You might think of this as the bridge that you must build to cross the chasm between where you are now and where you want to be. You might call this your strategy.
Slow down to act with discipline. Begin by answering these three questions. You are likely to accelerate your overall success.
No one embodies the concept of discipline more than Marines. Look at how their discipline inspires us to think of them as super humans.
Talk with a drill sergeant. Ask them about recruits getting off the bus on day 1 of Boot Camp. Do you think they achieve becoming…one of the few…one of the proud…flying by the seat of their pants? Are you ready to begin your training? Will you inspire the people who must do business with you… your employees, your vendors, your lenders, your customers?
