Get to the Money Conversation

There are thousands of great ideas and concepts that in theory sound groundbreaking. You won't hear anyone tell you "that is a bad idea" or "no one will ever pay for that"

But the question is, will anyone actually pay for it? If so who and how much. Projections are more an exercise of seeing how much you understand your operating expenses and marketplace. The truth of it is that with any new service it is all a guess until you have actual sales and sales processes to build upon.

Too often we build first and sell second. What are we building for if no one is willing to buy? How much would it cost to put together a demo, a biz dev presentation and set a meeting? A couple of weeks maximum. But when you are done you will know what will work, what won't, what is worthy of an actual sale and at what price.

All of the guessing, planning and building is a waste of time if you don't know if anyone will buy. Sure, some people get lucky and get it right.. Most get the market right, the objective right but the product and deliverable wrong the first couple of times.

I remember the first time I heard Josh Kopleman say "run as fast as you can into a wall, then run as fast as you can in another direction until you stop hitting walls" Probably not the exact quote but you get the picture. At first I thought, is that really a good strategy? If you have no focus how can you succeed? The point is that if you spend all of your time building and planning but have no idea what the market is really willing to do you are wasting your time and investors money. Here is what I would do.

1. Test: Do you have a small budget? Build a few landing pages. Create SEM campaigns and drive people to these landing pages and see what they do. What messages resonate and drive visitors to the "sign up".
2. Keep it simple. Once you have an idea of what fills the pain you are trying to solve, solve the pain. Forget features; solve the pain quickly, easily and cost effectively.
3. Sell. Get it in front of people and get to the money conversation.

Remember that in any sales process there are 3 main steps.

1. Why buy
2. Why buy now
3. Why buy from you

Don't build a "platform" until you know you have a product or process that can get through these three steps to a sale.

I used a lot of terms that imply a definitive "never" or "don't ever"... This doesn't work for every business and every product. However, for the most part the core concept of prove that there is a market willing to buy through an actual sale... that is the best way to build a business.

Stop Chasing the Hot Girl!

Too many entrepreneurs and companies in general spend all of their time chasing the hot girl. The problems with this strategy are that the line is too long, the competition is steep, the attention span is short and the expectations are unreasonably high. When starting, managing or growing any business or functional department focus on where you can create real wins that will make the hot girl pay attention.

So who is the hot girl in business? It is the whale in your sector; it is Google, Comcast, Facebook, GE, Experian, Apple... the large entity(ies) that can turn your interesting business into a very successful enterprise.

The problem is that too many of us try to go in too early and we get shot down... time and time again. Instead we should be focusing our time on creating quick wins through successful smaller conversations that create awareness of and interest in our existence. Business, much like starting a conversation with the opposite sex, comes down to three things;

1. Control: The person that controls the nature of a relationship or negotiation is most often the one being approached. They are in the position of power because you are showing your interest in them.
2. Interest: There must be a common interest. Be realistic with your expectations of the value that you bring to the table. Having an "idea" or what you believe to be "great game" is often not enough value to garner the interest of the other party.
3. Engagement: Once you have their initial interest you have to be able to engage them in your vision and passion. This comes down to your personality. People's belief in your business starts with their belief in you. Gain their trust and respect and you will have the opportunity for a second date.

The key to success is creating a logical path.

• Who to approach
• When to approach
• How to approach

This is different for each business and must take into account the stage of your business, existing contacts with prospective partners and market factors that effect your impact on the other party's business and their appetite for new partnerships or investments.

There is a reason why the expression "you never get a second chance at a first impression" has lasted and been passed on so much throughout time. You can always have the conversation later, you can never take back the initial impression you make.