Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

Satisfy the seller’s need to claim a higher sales price victory by moving a substantial part of the price into a future earn–out or using the target company’s own cash to pay part of the price, or asking the seller to finance a significant piece of the sale. Offering too little in an acquisition to satisfy the seller? What power!

Pricing 156

Pricing Sales Examples Tool 156

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

Tech.Co

MAY 31, 2023

But while competition remains fierce, the advancement and accessibility of smart solutions are making it easy than ever for startups to find their feet. Business tools — from customer relationship management ( CRM ) platforms to accounting software — help to save startups time and money by automating key processes and maximizing efficiency.

Tool 131

Tool Startup Software Review Technical Review 131

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 Custom 156

Berkonomics

JULY 26, 2018

These are so succinct, so well defined, so precise that everyone in sales and everyone involved in marketing must be able to answer these three questions without pause, and convincingly. It would pay you to work over this set of questions in a special session with sales, marketing and senior management in the room at once.

Sales 226

Sales Custom Customer Pricing 226

Berkonomics

APRIL 16, 2020

Email readers, continue here… ] DURING THIS CRISIS: Having no plan is like having a bad plan. Are you salespeople making few if any sales because your prospective customers are distracted by their own problems? What are you doing today to modify behavior during this crisis? What is the plan for after it’s all over?

Layoffs 218

Layoffs Sales News Marketing 218

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 Custom Customer 226

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know that you can use an email system with this to track my open rate, whether I forwarded the email, the IP address where I read it, whether I was on a mobile device or a wired computer and you can tell who else read the document. Competition isn’t won or lost by your marketing decks? What should not be in your deck?

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Competition 239

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 3, 2020

Imagine the room in which several graduate business school student groups have gathered, tasked with coming up with an idea for a business plan competition. Then find a short list of users, customers, and consultants in that industry who are known to be advanced in their thinking as demonstrated by their prior work. A thought exercise.

Startup 156

Startup Ideas Custom Customer 156

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2022

There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. This gives rise to the personalization and customization that we all want. Analytics will soon drive nearly all business decisions for any company that wants to remain relevant to its customers. Crowdsource: putting your audience to work beyond customers.

Startup 126

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 126

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 21, 2021

Salaries or hourly wages must be within reasonable limits set by the industry and matched by the competition, both regionally and for the same job classification. And there are some industries where tools such as stock options are considered mandatory for a company to be competitive. Some obvious qualifiers. First, be rule specific.

Design 156

Design Examples Competition Pricing 156

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.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features.

Organization 280

Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Berkonomics

JULY 18, 2019

By definition, your core is your intellectual property foundation, the thing that makes your business most valuable to customers, investors and perhaps someday to potential buyers of the business. Email readers, continue here…] Sometimes we protect our core with effective branding and marketing.

Patents 120

Patents Resource Training Advertising 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. o On 1/11/05 his daughter was born at 8AM, at 6 PM email showing first million dollar rev day for the company and 8 PM term sheet from Experian to buy the company – all on the same day! He told them it was now or never.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2012

As I visit the websites of many startups, as well as more mature businesses, I still too often see a “contact” page offering nothing but a sterile form for customers to submit, never to be heard from again. Customers are not all like you, and they have choices, so a “one size fits all” customer service is no longer a viable option.

Social Media 91

Social Media Customer Custom Media 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2013

As I visit the websites of many startups, as well as more mature businesses, I still too often see a “contact” page offering nothing but a sterile form for customers to submit, never to be heard from again. Customers are not all like you, and they have choices, so a “one size fits all” customer service is no longer a viable option.

Social Media 99

Social Media Customer Custom Media 99

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

If so, is it one critical customer or a trend? Is it time to focus more resources upon collections, credit research, or even time to “fire some customers” who continually break your rules or take up too much of your resources? Are receivables collections slowing? Keep the information to yourself? Bad things happen to good people.

News 120

News Statistics Resource Sales 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. Display ads on mobile devices, including video and audio, also offer a new opportunity to reach target customers. Email marketing. Display advertising.

Marketing 114

Marketing Invest Social Media SEM 114

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 19, 2015

Computers and the Internet have now brought in a new era that relies on data to make profitable business decisions in the competitive environment. Below is a full explanation of how small businesses can leverage technology to earn a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Cloud Services. Social Media Automation Tools. CRM Platforms.

Competition 40

Competition Technology Social Media Tips 40

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Looking for an entrance into a VC, an angel group, a bank, a CxO for a sales opportunity, or any other entity? Every sales person with a bit of street history will resonate with this question. Email readers, continue here…] Using your attorney or accountant to find who is close to the decision maker sometimes works.

Ideas 120

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 120

Berkonomics

JULY 9, 2011

These are so succinct, so well defined, so precise that everyone in sales and everyone involved in marketing must be able to answer these three questions without pause, and convincingly. It would pay you to work over this set of questions in a special session with sales, marketing and senior management in the room at once.

Sales 222

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 222

Berkonomics

MAY 16, 2019

Certainly Walmart, Target and others have gotten the attention of their potential customers using price as the primary leader to drive sales. Ford recently returned from the land of the nearly-dead to become not only profitable but a desirable alternative to the dominant Japanese cars by emphasizing quality at competitive prices.

Company 120

Company Companies Pricing Competition 120

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 13, 2016

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 120

Resource Competition Examples Custom 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2016

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. Display ads on mobile devices, including video and audio, also offer a new opportunity to reach target customers. Email marketing. Display advertising.

Custom 60

Custom Customer Marketing Social Media 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Funding is depleted before customer sales ramp up. One of the pitfalls of optimism is the expectation for early customer growth, and understating the real costs of design, development, and inventory. Don’t underestimate your own value as customers arrive, establishing a line of credit, and borrowing against inventory.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 131

Berkonomics

JANUARY 26, 2017

Satisfy the seller’s need to claim a higher sales price victory by moving a substantial part of the price into a future earn–out, or using the target company’s own cash to pay part of the price, or asking the seller to finance a significant piece of the sale. Offering too little in an acquisition to satisfy the seller? What power!

Pricing 120

Pricing Sales Tool Equity 120

Berkonomics

APRIL 25, 2011

Without constantly improving or increasing products to offer, a company today is quickly overtaken by its competition. Email readers continue here.] Without the “M”, effective marketing and or merchandising, sales people and distribution channels quickly dry of leads and must fight for attention beside better branded competitors.

Resource 136

Resource Competition Sales Marketing 136

Berkonomics

MARCH 6, 2014

Imagine the room in which several graduate business school student groups have gathered, tasked with coming up with an idea for a business plan competition. Then find a short list of users, customers, and consultants in that industry who are known to be advanced in their thinking as demonstrated by their prior work.

Startup 176

Startup Ideas Customer Custom 176

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. Email updates frequently. Key point – if your emails are as long as my blog posts you’re forked. Make your emails actionable.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital Blogging 365

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2019

There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. This gives rise to the personalization and customization that we all want. Analytics will soon drive nearly all business decisions for any company that wants to remain relevant to its customers. Crowdsource: putting your audience to work beyond customers.

Technology 97

Technology Social Media Startup Entertainment 97

Berkonomics

AUGUST 23, 2012

By definition, your core is your intellectual property foundation, the thing that makes your business most valuable to customers, investors and perhaps someday to potential buyers. Email readers, continue here.] Sometimes we protect our core with effective branding and marketing.

Patents 159

Patents Training Resource Advertising 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2021

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on paid search results (appear on the first page of search results, despite low SEO rank). Both have the same end goal of getting people to your website. Cost per action (CPA).

PPC 154

PPC SEO Paid Search Search Engine Optimization 154

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 25, 2012

If so, is it one critical customer or a trend? Is it time to focus more resources upon collections, credit research, or even time to “fire some customers” who continually break your rules or take up too much of your resources? Email readers, c ontinue here.] An alert does not have to be too detailed or too long.

News 166

News Statistics Resource Sales 166

Berkonomics

JUNE 15, 2012

Certainly Wal-Mart, Target and others have gotten the attention of their potential customers using price as the primary leader to drive sales. Ford returned from the land of the nearly-dead to become not only profitable but a desirable alternative to the dominant Japanese cars by emphasizing quality at competitive prices.

Pricing 149

Pricing Competition Coach Sales 149