Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

As a business consultant and angel investor, I often ask for your own assessment of marketing ROI , or customer acquisition cost (CAC). Leaders and investors need to know if you have and are tapping into your key sources of relevant data, including web analytics, sales management data, and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Acquisition Technical Review 100

Berkonomics

JANUARY 12, 2023

Management undertakes a simple exercise of calculating the increased profitability of shutting down all R&D, sales and subordinate operations, and universally notes with shock the high net profit that results – from shutting down all operations except customer service to recurring customers (as in software support operations.).

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Sales Customer Custom SaaS 296

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2023

Instead, they need to validate a customer problem and real market need first. Don’t create solutions looking for a problem , since investors ignore these, and customers other than early adopters will be hard to find. I say again, customers buy solutions, not technology. Look for customer willingness and ability to pay.

Customer 110

Customer Custom Social Media Technology 110

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2012

“Yeah, but I’m just going to execute this [channel sales deal, international license of my product, new industry, new operating system, biz dev deal] and then it will pretty much run itself.” I always tell teams I meet with, “The scarcest resource in your company is management bandwidth. I hear it every week.

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Resource Startup Product Ideas 415

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2013

Every sales organization with more than a handful of reps or that is across multiple offices or time zones would benefit from having a sales methodology. Simply, this is identifying a customer need that has economic value to them if they can solve it. This solves the customer question, “Why Buy Anything?”.

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Sales Customer Custom Examples 328

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 27, 2022

He stated, “Too often it seemed our internal staff was more focused on getting the ‘work’ (daily tasks) done and not enough on the ‘job’ (supporting subordinates with resources and encouragement.)”. I recall one of my CEO’s when I was his chairman, stating, “If you are not serving our customers, then you should be supporting those who do”.

Resource 156

Resource Customer Custom Coach 156

Berkonomics

MARCH 3, 2022

…should not be positioned as “cheap,” or your potential customers will question your message from the start and will be more critical of the delivered product than if offered as one or the other, but not both. If it becomes a part of your long-term sales message, there is risk that you will set expectations you cannot achieve.

Resource 156

Resource Sales Pricing Startup 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” These decisive moments, and how to respond, are outlined in Robert H. Build a relationship and trust quickly.

Customer 124

Customer Custom Startup Course 124

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Does your business have a visible positive strategy, or do your customers and employees still see your primary focus as closing more sales and killing competitors? Certainly that has been the strategy of many companies, and has worked in the past, but today’s customers and workers are looking for more. Marty Zwilling.

Competition 110

Competition Sales Customer Custom 110

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

This is part of my ongoing Sales & Marketing Series. In the first part of this post I talked about how sales in a startup is often evangelical , requires as consultative sale and needs constant adjustments based on customer feedback. We had 4 or 5 sales reps that had been around since the early days.

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Sales Newsletter Technical Review Activity 286

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

Depending upon the size of the companies and complexity of the products or services involved, it is fair to assume that you’ll need to dedicate a resource to this effort, sometimes a full-time resource at that. Consider a sales relationship where your product will be in the bag of salespeople from the partner company.

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Press Sales Training Resource 156

Berkonomics

MARCH 18, 2021

Sometimes, you can reduce your personal risk by taking in other people’s money in various ways, perhaps starting with a consulting contract with a customer, purchasing a going business where profit or loss is known, or spinning off an existing revenue-generating portion of an existing business. So, let’s dig a bit deeper.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Resource Statistics Customer 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2015

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Then always measure customer results, not work. Recovery efforts are wasted resource which rarely succeeds.

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Resource Startup Entrepreneur Training 105

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Indecisive prospects diffuse a startup''s focus and slow down its sales velocity. Thus, startups must quickly determine which prospects are most likely to purchase in the near term and focus their energy on delivering these prospective customers an incredible experience. product, geography, customer segment, etc.).

Sales 215

Sales Outsource Development Metrics Resource 215

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2018

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Then always measure customer results, not work. Recovery efforts are wasted resource which rarely succeeds.

Resource 52

Resource Training Entrepreneur Activity 52

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

Well, even though that acquisition is still playing itself out on the field of battle, it appears quite clear that the new parent has directed its new subsidiary to abandon the lower end of the market and focus upon the larger sales, corporate customers, and major brands. Been skewered for slow customer service?

Resource 156

Resource Competition Examples Customer 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2013

This is part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. The “P” stands for Pain or the reason your customer needs to implement a new product. In order for somebody with IA to be your champion he has to be actively helping you through the sales process.

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Sales Help Organization Product 322

Berkonomics

APRIL 21, 2022

What resources do you already own? Since then, that company has grown to the largest influencer marketing company in the world, with over $100 million in campaigns, $2 billion in measurable sales and trusted by 60% of the Fortune 500 companies. But now there’s new media…. The post How powerful has new media advertising become?

Advertising 156

Advertising Media Social Media Newsletter 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Then always measure customer results, not work. Recovery efforts are wasted resource which rarely succeeds.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Berkonomics

MARCH 24, 2010

First customers are critical. Your first customers for any product or service form your reference base, the important group of allies that your marketing and sales people rely upon when attempting to create buzz and make a mass market for a new product. Make your customer a partner in the process.

Customer 149

Customer Custom Resource Sales 149

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. From time to time, include customers and sales members in ideation sessions.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

But if you level up , raise capital and grow customers, revenue and staff – life changes. Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. Most companies that are scaling have CFOs, heads of HR or talent. As CEO, do you step in?

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 14, 2013

If you have your eyes and ears open, you can discover sales lessons in unexpected places, including the cable TV show, Say Yes To The Dress. There are a number of solid sales techniques on display by the Say Yes team. Throughout the sales process, they continually probe and modify their sales approach, based on the bride's feedback.

Sales 251

Sales Startup Activity RSS 251

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2022

The canvas is a visual chart with elements describing your value proposition, structure, finances, and customers, to help companies identify and align business activities. I look for evidence of the nine major elements of the model canvas, as paraphrased here from the author’s key points and how they apply to teams: Customer segments.

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Funding Activity Customer Custom 133

socalTECH

APRIL 16, 2019

According to the two companies, Forrester will use "technographics" from HG Insights, to help Forrester's customers see technology adoption trends in more than 45 different markets worldwide. READ MORE>>.

Research 133

Research Marketing Santa Barbara Sales 133

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2021

It’s a project that will create solar-powered home batteries for eligible ConEd customers. We’ll cover every aspect of company building: Fundraising, recruiting, sales, product-market fit, PR, marketing and brand building.

Southern California 237

Southern California Company Companies Glendale 237

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 29, 2016

Management undertakes a simple exercise of calculating the increased profitability of shutting down all R&D, sales and subordinate operations, and universally notes with shock the high net profit that results – from shutting down all operations except customer service to recurring customers (as in software support operations.).

.Net 226

.Net Sales Customer Custom 226

Berkonomics

JUNE 2, 2022

Looking for an entrance into a VC, an angel group, a bank, a CxO for a sales opportunity, or any other entity? Few of your contacts will be willing to use their valuable social or political capital helping you with a sales effort, and you will definitely strain your relationship with the intermediary if not a close friend.

Ideas 156

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2014

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s recent book, “ The New Experts: Win Today''s Newly Empowered Customers.” These decisive moments, and how to respond, are outlined in Robert H. Build a relationship and trust quickly.

Customer 98

Customer Custom Entrepreneur Startup 98

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). For those of you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control. The post Need money?

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2015

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” These decisive moments, and how to respond, are outlined in Robert H. Build a relationship and trust quickly.

Customer 101

Customer Custom Startup Course 101

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

I suggest looking for painful problems to solve, rather than “easier to use” or “nice to have” solutions, for customers with money. Customers line up to believe and buy from people who are viewed as leaders or experts relative to a specific solution. Collaborate with customers to tune your solution.

Outsource Development 154

Outsource Development Social Media Software Review Customer 154

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

This is not the total opportunity out there, and not the total target market, but the subset of customers who have and will spend the money you need to cure their pain. Selling too early triggers customer defenses and drives them away. This is not just sales traction, but a proper balance between resources, product, and customers.

Education 151

Education Customer Custom Sales 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them? You need to clearly convey what makes your startup the only choice for your customers.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

The result is fewer and fewer new ideas are volunteered by prospective leaders and key team members, and the business suffers from poor customer satisfaction or loss of market share. Input from outside experts and real customers is always a credibility booster. The suggested change won’t create desired results.

Ideas 116

Ideas Netflix Resource Customer 116

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

Often, despite your passion and expectation, customers don’t immediately see the value and need that you see, and you have no idea why the initiative is stuck , and what could be the real customer issue or fix. Customers won’t buy what they can’t find or don’t understand. Customers need supporting approvals to fully benefit.

Product 141

Product Services Technical Review Artificial Inteligence 141

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136