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Those Critical 1st 5 Sales for a Startup

Posted in Entrepreneurs, Small business information, Success tools by Steve Ghareeb on the March 11th, 2010

Why are those 1st 5 Sales for a Start-up so critical?

Sales traction turns a beginning product offering or idea instantly into a valid operating business, both for other prospective customers as well as for investors and bankers.

What makes these initial sales are so critical? It is taking an idea beyond being just a “science project…” So what does it really show?

* Validate and prove the technology and product. Does it work?
* Prove out the core value proposition
* Validate the business model and initial go-to-market strategy
* Show that the organization can actually build and deliver the product?
* What is the market and customer acceptance of product?

Will they buy?
Will they pay for it?
Do they like how it works?
Will they buy it again?
Will they be a reference-able customer?

* What doesn’t work? And what do we need to do to fix or refine it?

What about free trials and give-a-ways?
We can learn from them, but they don’t validate most of the paying-value propositions and business model issues.

If you are big-time venture capital funded to get eyeballs for future sales or long term advertising revenue, then none of this applies. Most start-up companies are not playing that game, but are in the revenue and cash flow business.

What do we want from these initial sales beyond real paying customers?

* Reference customers- to get more customers, and for investors and bankers. Make sure they are open to this.
* Cash flow – typically even more important than booked revenue.
* A real, viable offering (product or service)
* A working and viable business model

Okay, now we are in business, are legitimate and for real. We still have a long way to go, but we have just now moved passed the “science project” stage of the business. Let’s go get more customers and more revenue.

How do you get the 1st 5 customers? I will offer some proven ideas on that shortly.

Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

Steve Ghareeb
steveghareeb.wordpress.com

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Small Business Lending and Loan Sharking

Posted in Entrepreneurs, Part time businesses, Small Business Government, Small business information, Your Success is Our Success and Our Mission at MSG by admin on the February 26th, 2010

This is a video that really drives home the point that the “bailout” Washington D.C. is doing DOES NOT WORK, and there are others who fill the void. No matter how you look at it, it looks like small business loan sharking, but it is better than no loan at all.

Would you do business with this type of guy?

So if we can’t find money from friends and family we might have to resort to these types of folks. The regular banks have seemed to turn tail on making loans to small businesses. What I am curious about is if small businesses are the engine that pull the economic train why isn’t there some sort of economic program set up by the SBA to get these types of loans in place? In my understanding the SBA does NOT make loans, they help guarantee the loans that the small businesses must get from the banks on their own merit.

While the lobbying efforts for Fortune 500 companies is substantial there really is very little lobbying for small businesses that is effective. If small businesses we just able to do two things:

1) be able to secure affordable loans

2) be able to get group coverage for health insurance at substantial discounts

We just might see the economy rebound significantly. Think about this just two simple things could get the economy jump started. Instead it seem like we have a snake trying to eat a horse with the new healthcare bill and the snake is not digesting it so well! ;-0)

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What is Business Ethics?

Posted in Personal Development, Secrets to Success, Small business information, Success tools by admin on the February 19th, 2010

In this day and age I am constantly confronted with decisions. I am also constantly barraged with information of others whose business ethics are simply wrong. They know it when they do it but because they can at the expense of their employees or clients. Take for example WalMart. In this CNN Money article there appears to be a trend where they are dumping brands for their own private labels. This is called the power of market share, WalMart owns the retail space. At the same time, the product company has the opportunity to come back should they spend heavily on advertising to get the users into WalMart’s stores.

Technically there is nothing “wrong” with this business practice, however is WalMart doing the right thing? Are they giving their clients the best products at the lowest prices? Maybe maybe not. What if let’s say that Kimberly Clark is in the toilet paper business. Let’s say they get squeezed out by WalMart because they choose NOT to pay for the additional advertising to be on WalMart’s favored status list. Let’s say Kimberly Clark has a $5 Trillion imaginary contract with the largest pulp manufacturers Big Pulp Mfg. Co. What if WalMart also had a $500 Billion contract with Big Pulp Mfg. Co. Kimbery Clark would rank over WalMart.

Let’s say there is a new beetle that destroys most of the trees in Big Pulp Mfg. Co. and demand goes through the roof. Big Pulp Mfg. Co. decides to reward Kimberly Clark with paper allocation and not WalMart. Now WalMart customers run out of ass wipe. Oh my, Houston we now have a problem of epic proportions. WalMart begs Kimberly Clark to sell them their toilet paper. However, the relationship is destroyed and there is no longer any trust, so Kimberly Clark decides to return the favor by selling to WalMart as such a high price it prices WalMart out of the market. This is what is known as a pissing match and no-one wins especially the consumer.

We are seeing similar business model fluctuations with Google taking over the Yellow Pages, Book Publishing, Newspaper Advertising etc. While market supply and demand don’t involve business ethics necessarily many businesses have become dependent on Google either for SEO or PPC or traffic in general, they literally have the power to make a break companies by deindexing them. And have done so for various reasons. So they say, “do no evil.”

Here is a online video from a man who feels his insurance company is committing extortion through price gouging.

So on a smaller scale for small businesses we are faced with similar situations almost on a daily basis just not as visible. When it it OK to bend the rules a little and get the competitive advantage and when is it not? I guess we have to ask ourselves that and search deep down for the right answer, or ask our colleges and mentors for guidance. If you are “too ethical” I have found to be on the losing side so there is a fine balance. In this era of “gotcha” bad news travels fast and it only takes one bad incident to destroy a life time of creditability, ask Tiger Woods.

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Want to be successful? Here’s how. Art Williams Speech on Google video.

Posted in Entrepreneurs, Guru’s, Interviews with Experts, Personal Development, Secrets to Success, Small business information, Your Success is Our Success and Our Mission at MSG by admin on the February 6th, 2009

This meeting was a Jerry Falwell event, but don’t pay a lot o0f attention to him because the message in Art Williams speech is powerful. If your day is not going as expected and you want a “little pick me up” this just might do the trick. Powerful speech by Art Williams.

Learn from a average guy who made it really big, over $100 Billion big in 10 years. Art Williams talks about it, he says JUST DO IT. Harv Ecker talks about it. (Harv says if you have broken leg show up to work, and he is right, I know a guy how had a broken leg and was just starting out his drains business and he could not afford to tak a day off, today it is a successful small business).

Steps to being successful in business

1) Get excited

2) Have a dream

3) Gotta stand for something

4) Be controversial

5) Total commitment

6) Treat people good, make them feel special, we all want to feel that way

7) Have the desire and will to win

Be a leader

9) Do whatever it takes to get the job done

10) Just do it

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8976155746368663848

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Obama appoints Karen Mills a venture capitalist to lead SBA

Posted in Small Business Government, Small business information, Your Success is Our Success and Our Mission at MSG by admin on the December 20th, 2008

President Elect Barack Obama has selected Karen Mills a venture capitalist to lead the SBA. Karen Mills has been president of the MMP Group in Brunswick, Maine, a Venture Capital firm and is a director at Arrow Electronics and Scotts Miracle Grow. Hopefully Karen will provide the desperate leadership that the SBA seeks and will help bring morale to the beaten down agency.

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Obama’s Impact on Small Business

Posted in Entrepreneurs, Secrets to Success, Small Business Government, Small business information, Your Success is Our Success and Our Mission at MSG by admin on the November 8th, 2008

If you aren’t 100% sure how the new Obama Administration will effect US Small businesses, an article in Businessweek will shed a little light on his policies for helping get America back on track. During the end of the campaign Obama put out a “small business emergency rescue plan.”

What the survey concluded is that regardless of the tax rate, small business owners draw a considerable amount of income from their businesses, and if a higher tax is placed on that income, they will have to make tough decisions about where to cut business investments.

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McCain Administration Will Kill Small Business Programs and Maybe SBA

Posted in Entrepreneurs, Secrets to Success, Small Business Government, Small business information, Your Success is Our Success and Our Mission at MSG by admin on the November 1st, 2008

According to Lloyd Chapman, President of the American Small Business League he feels that John McCain will be detremental to American Small Businesses. I can tell you that during the primary I asked to interview him and they felt that I was better off speaking with their campaign finance chairman. I declined the interview which might have been short sighted, however judging by McCain’s ACTIONS and not his words he has no intent to help small businesses. If he was soooooo busy during the primary’s umteen monts of campaigning and he couldn’t speak with My Success Gateway for 10 minutes he does not deserve the White House. Obama, Clinton, Romney, Guiliani all declined as well.

Hold on to your hats folks we are going to get some change and what we won’t see change is the greed, back stabbing, lack of leadership and integrity. Both parties and the public (we keep reelecting the same louses) have demonstrated that we need more of the same sewer antics as we have asked for.

Over 56% of all Americans work in small businesses and those firms are responsible for over 90% of all new jobs in this country. If John McCain is elected President, he will close the SBA, the only federal agency in Washington to help small businesses. Senator McCain will end all federal programs developed to assist small businesses and firms owned by women, minorities and veterans.

You only have to look at Senator McCain’s website to see a glimpse of the future for small businesses under a McCain Presidency. The top issue on Senator McCain’s website under small business is “increased domestic exploration of oil and natural gas.”

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101 Reasons Why Freelancers do it Better

Posted in Articles By Experts, Secrets to Success, Small business information, Success tools, Work at home by admin on the October 31st, 2008

In reading this freelancers post I had to share it with the My Success Gateway community. It really caught my eye since many entrepreneurs have started out with freelancing jobs before forging into small businesses.

A happy worker is a productive worker, and it’s hard to find a happier lot than freelancers. Whether they’re entrepreneurs, Web workers or something in between, freelancers enjoy a better lifestyle than their cube-dwelling brethren.

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How to Boost Sales in Tough Economy

Posted in Articles By Experts, Entrepreneurs, Marketing tools, Secrets to Success, Small business information, Success tools by admin on the October 21st, 2008

As I wrestle with a decision to move to the MAC platform I get an e-mail from a CRM company Avidian. The e-mail is not only spot on, it can make the difference between pass and fail in a business environment. The information James Wong offers are a few simple suggestions and he has the CRM software to to enable the suggestions if you would like a little support.

by James Wong, CEO Avidian

In today’s struggling economy, maintaining strong sales growth can be a greater and greater challenge. It’s OK to sulk for a little while but now that you are done with sulking, it’s time to take action to maintain or continue your growth. One of the most efficient solutions to this problem is to focus on creating better processes and leverage the existing tools you already have while spending very little money. Here are six tips to help grow your sales and leverage your existing resources:

Be more organized. Know who your current customers are, who your prospects are and how you became aware of them. Keep all information regarding customers and prospects up to date so that you have accurate data available when needed. If you are an Outlook user, you can be more organized by leveraging Outlook’s contact, calendar and tasks features. You can also keep an Excel spreadsheet of contact information but that can get arduous if you have many contacts. Some of you might need more sales features than what Outlook has to offer and if that is the case, please consider checking out Prophet.
Focus on the funnel. At any given time, your sales cycle will include various deals at different stages of completion. Tracking where specific clients are in this sales cycle is vital to ensuring that none of these deals fall through the cracks. To keep track of your sales pipeline, develop a list of milestones that you would like achieved by your sales team. These milestones will be different for every business, but should include three to five decision or contact points. For example some contact points might be the initial contact, a follow-up, a verbal agreement and finally a written contract. CRM programs like Prophet can help with this and it’s easy because it’s built right inside of Outlook. Again, you can create a spreadsheet listing each individual sale, where each sale is in the sales process and the estimated date of closure. However if you have many opportunities or want to share the information, getting a CRM application makes sense.
Track who your evangelists are and thank them. It is important to keep track of your customers, but it is also essential to maintain relationships with your referral sources. By noting which sources have referred the majority of your sales, you can begin to see which of them are providing the most sales opportunities and focus your attention more directly on them. Being able to see this documented will help make it clearer who your lead referrals are. If using a CRM solution, see if it has this capability to tie referral information to sales in the pipeline. Every time someone refers a customer to you, thank them immediately with a hand written note or a quick email. This is a common courtesy that many are guilty of neglecting.
Measure your progress. Make sales expectations known to employees and make achievements measurable. One way to do this is to use the stages of the sales cycle as levels of achievement. More sales will be finalized and more revenue will be made when an employee is well informed and knows what is expected. For example, a sales employee might be expected to make ten new contacts and move three accounts onto the next stage of the sales cycle each week. This will make expectations clearer, allowing employees to effectively meet them.
Get out there. It is essential to keep your company and your product in front of customers. One way to do this is to create and distribute a newsletter with items of interest to current and potential clients within your industry. That is why you regularly receive newsletters from us. However, your newsletter can’t just be spam. It must add value to your customers’ life. Another tactic to help keep you on the frontlines is to host an open house at your offices to get better acquainted with your local customer base and try to build better relationships with them.
Leverage your existing tools. Established tools and processes are already being used by your sales team to acquire new customers. As another way to boost sales, capitalize on what your team is already doing and streamline it. If an individual salesperson is using a certain tool or has developed an efficient process that they’re using on their own, find a way to expand it to a corporate level. Reward individuals for sharing their best ideas with the entire sales team.

Enduring tough economic times can be a challenge, but we trust you’ll get through it. Successful sales is a process. Therefore build good processes and habits that will help ensure that success.

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Interview Dr. Ivan Misner Business Networking International (BNI)

Posted in Guru’s, Interviews with Experts, Secrets to Success, Small business information, Success tools by admin on the August 8th, 2008

In this interview with Dr. Ivan Misner worlds #1 networker. Have you ever heard of BNI? (Business Networking International). BNI is the Facebook and MySpace of Business networking, as a matter of fact they have over 5,000 business networking meetings per week

I knew that once I landed the interview with the world’s #1 networker Dr. Ivan Misner I felt that he might be able to share some real tidbits for success and he does not disappoint. He is a passionate man about networking and about helping people. We covered a lot of ground in this interview including Dr. Misners’ new book The 29% Solution which can also be found at 29percentsolution.com. He will teach you a 52 week networking strategy in the book.

What I really enjoyed about meeting Ivan is his authenticity and his willingness to share and not hold anything back. He felt like a long lost friend sharing intimate details and keys to success including his meetings with Sir. Richard Branson and he shares the tips that Branson taught him. He goes into detail on how Branson treats everyone with respect no matter their background or income. Misner also talks about his experience in visiting Branson’s Space Port in the Mohave.

Most full time college professors who teach business have never been in business, unlike professors of medicine who are actual doctors who teach medicine, same is true for law professors who are real lawyers, but not so for business professors. This information is coming from a “professor,” Dr. Misner. The point here is that networking is not taught in schools but it is taught by Misner and BNI.

“Success is the uncommon application and commitment of common knowledge,” says Misner. We all know what it takes to be successful, passion, vision, hard work, luck etc, but we have to apply the uncommon application in order to be a success.

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The Categories

The Meta

The Pages

The Search

The Associates

The Storage

Those Critical 1st 5 Sales for a Startup

Small Business Lending and Loan Sharking

What is Business Ethics?

Want to be successful? Here’s how. Art Williams Speech on Google video.

Obama appoints Karen Mills a venture capitalist to lead SBA

Obama’s Impact on Small Business

McCain Administration Will Kill Small Business Programs and Maybe SBA

101 Reasons Why Freelancers do it Better

How to Boost Sales in Tough Economy

Interview Dr. Ivan Misner Business Networking International (BNI)