Hiring new people can be a daunting process for small companies. Just one new hire can affect a startup’s culture and success, yet many don’t realize this process should begin long before you even post a job opening. I’ve spent a long time developing the best way to identify whether a candidate is a good fit for our company and ultimately realized one thing: To identify the right…
How to Get Potential Customers Without a Product and on Zero Marketing Budget
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Finding Customers• Startup Advice / December 23, 2013“Your product SUCKS.” He said it to my face. Cold, objective, but straight to the point. Yeap, thats exactly what my 13th potential customer told me in 2007. It was an EDE – ego destruction event. It was a harsh reality check and I was down for the count. Having spent 18 months of my life with my partner building up this prototype for my 1st startup and…
Ten Online Tools to Boost Your Marketing Strategy
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Finding Customers / December 14, 2013When we first launched our company, we were tracking everything in Excel. We were making hundreds of calls every day, sending emails out by the thousands, and marking notes on every interaction we had in painful detail. In short, we were wasting way too much time trying to keep our data organized. We needed to find tools that would improve our efficiency and enable us to properly scale…
How to Get Startup Ideas by Interviewing Customers
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Finding Customers• Startup Advice / December 11, 2013“By far the most common mistake startups make is to solve problems no one has.” – Paul Graham The first step in building a product people love is to identify a problem that some group of people have. Solutions to clearly defined customer pain points make for the most compelling value propositions. You don’t need to start with a “startup idea.” By learning what problems people have you…
4 Reasons to Consider Short-Term Client Contracts
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Finding Customers• Startup Advice / December 5, 2013Many CEOs of small- or mid-sized businesses view long-term contracts as a sort of arrival. If your young company can acquire a big, long-term client, you’ve “made it.” You can relax a little, resting easy now that you have an ongoing source of revenue. But while longer contracts may give you a (sometimes false) sense of security, short-term contracts offer many benefits that are often overlooked: 1. Demonstrate…
A Hollywood Power Broker’s Top 5 Sales Fails
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Finding Customers / October 24, 2013Recently, the Hollywood gossip site Defamer posted an article about Mitch Grossbach, an agent at the powerful CAA talent agency in Los Angeles. The article discusses how Grossbach is seeking to move his fashion representation team to another talent agency, and how he’s using a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Agency Expansion Opportunity” to explain why he should be hired. According to Defamer, Grossbach is having a difficult time…
Do you know what REALLY sucks? Trying to convince people that they should buy your stuff. I know as an entrepreneur, I’m supposed to be selling and hustling 24×7. But selling as in convincing you that you should depart your hard earned money with my suave & charms, isn’t in my blood. The only counter to any sales objection I have is doing the gangnam style elevator dance…
How to Maximize Conference Season (and Not Go Crazy)
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Finding Customers• Travel / October 17, 2013Conferences are the best, right? They have interesting people, great speakers to learn from, and the potential for numerous business deals. If they’re so great, why do conferences wear us out so much? Why do we so often feel scattered and unfocused? Are they even worth the money? The Two Secrets to a Great Conference While there are a lot of factors that can make or break a…
5 Human Commonalities and Why Company Decision Makers Should Remember Them
by / ⠀Finding Customers• Startup Advice / September 10, 2013During the past 31 years, I have traveled to 134 different countries. Of all the countries I’ve visited, I’ve lived and worked for six months or more in 23 of them. I have been fortunate enough to live with people from different ethnic groups, socioeconomic strata, and educational backgrounds. They all had varying religious beliefs, cultural diversities, and values, but by allowing myself to be open to listening…
4 Free Channels To Attract New Customers
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Finding Customers / September 7, 2013So you’ve created your very first business but you’re struggling to find customers? It’s a really common problem. Don’t worry though; there are hundreds of marketing channels out there that will drive customers straight to your door! If you’re on a budget (like lots of new businesses are) then you’ll be hoping to generate some business with little or no cost. Well I suggest that this is entirely…