Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2019

Too many business owners still think of “ customer support ” as an after-sale process to rectify customer problems with completed transactions. With the advent of instant communication and social media, customer service starts at the first hint of interest by you, and never ends for repeat customers.

Customer 84

Customer Custom Company Companies 84

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2020

These must be countered by a focus on changes and training that benefit your people, as well as your business. Set up training courses that highlight agility, and adopt agile working practices. One effective intervention is to take a step back every few months, and review how things are going.

Metrics 122

Metrics Training Satisfaction IBM 122

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

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. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Customer support is more than handling exceptions.

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

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. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2022

If you aren’t yet adapting to the market and your customers, you are falling behind. I define business agility for my consulting clients as the ability to change your business rapidly to meet customer and environmental changes, with minimal organizational disruption and cost. Adopt some key metrics to measure your change agility.

Competition 148

Competition Metrics Demand Customer 148

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

He closed stores for a day to update employee racial-bias training. Make sure that metrics and goals are set up front, and not modified as the project progresses. Delegating control means having the right information, the right tools, and the right training to make the right decisions. Provide assessments based wholly on facts.

Startup 132

Startup Training Metrics Examples 132

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Yet the average perception of customer experience has not improved. You have to start with hiring only people who are willing and able to make serious customer service happen.

Competition 99

Competition Services Startup Training 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Customer receivables collection and vendor payments.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

The challenge is to recognize the people with the right traits to get results, and to train yourself to work on the right things. Sets goals and milestones, with metrics to track progress. They define metrics for each goal, and diligently track themselves against these metrics. Investors like happy teams.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Metrics Ideas 106

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

In business vernacular, targets are usually called metrics. A good metric has to be easily measurable, and directly correlated to results, rather than hours worked. For example, for a sales person, this metric number would likely measure new revenue or new customers. Evaluate where technology and training can help.

Metrics 124

Metrics Entrepreneur Satisfaction Study 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

TechEmpower

OCTOBER 9, 2023

So let’s summarize what we've already found to be different about searching with LLMs: What’s Different About Search with LLMs Search methods powered by LLMs stand out as transformative tools, offering businesses an edge in their information retrieval and customer engagement processes. Strive for a balanced outcome.

Generative AI 348

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence Tool Knowledge Base 348

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

Common revenue streams are consulting, training, support, customization, upgraded versions for corporate applications, etc. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO?

Southern California 150

Southern California CTO Coach CTO Hire Social Media 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Explosive growth to an enterprise normally requires a scalable sales model, a well-documented process with incentives, training, and metrics for tracking and management. Of course, customer relationships, and penetration into new market segments are also critical elements. Isolate marketing from sales for maximum customer focus.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entree on customers. You know the basic ingredients, and you can visualize the results you want. You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

For the business to prosper, every employee, and your customers, must know and relate to your core values, such as product excellence, care for the environment, and personal integrity. Implement the key business metrices you will live by. Increase you focus on coaching, training, and mentoring.

Metrics 140

Metrics Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction 140

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2022

That means making sure the right people are hired, trained, and in the right place at the right time. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization. Growing the company means growing people through mentoring and training. True entrepreneurs love the tactical and problem solving challenges.

Startup 137

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 137

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

I was on an airplane 2-3 times / week meeting potential customers, investors, employees, business partners and the press. Dinners were consumed with customers or in hotels and often past 10pm. I took the night train that night to London to try and hold investors firm. I scheduled runs with teammates and even with customers.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

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. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Customer receivables collection and vendor payments.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always great to see that first surge of customers, but that’s just the beginning of your work. With the real data from that surge, you need to take a hard look at business model realities, cost of customer acquisition, inventory costs, and other key metrics.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2014

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Startup Training Statistics 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

If you can’t provide a memorable customer experience, your startup won’t survive very long these days. You now need more than loyalty from your customers -- they need to be your best advocates. The days of pushing new and marginal performers into customer service are gone. Every job on your team drives your customer experience.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

A broken process or a subtle quality issue can generate a flood of customer satisfaction problems, cost overruns, and loss of market share. Without this mindset, and the determination to make a decision, nothing happens, and customers find alternatives. Provide training and tools to upgrade solution skills.

Satisfaction 152

Satisfaction Mentor Study Startup 152

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2020

That means making sure the right people are hired, trained, and in the right place at the right time. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization. Growing the company means growing people through mentoring and training. True entrepreneurs love the tactical and problem solving challenges.

Startup 125

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 125

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We have customers from so many different industries like software, financial services, healthcare, and media. We could also spend time talking with customers rather than updating investors. Within six months we launched with a minimum feature set that a few customers were willing to pay for.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 94

Startup Marketing Training Statistics 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Potential customers these days rely more and more on name recognition for credibility and new brand adoption. These days, customers are drawn to support worthy causes, such as saving the environment or feeding the hungry. Focus on a customer pain that your solution satisfies better than any competitor.

Marketing 116

Marketing Resource Training Startup 116

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2015

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Customer receivables collection and vendor payments.

Outsource Development 99

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 99

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2015

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Customer support is more than handling exceptions.

Startup 107

Startup Sales Customer Custom 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2019

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 94

Startup Training Statistics Summary 94

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 93

Startup Training Statistics Summary 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. It’s your job as a leader to be the model high performer, quantify the team view with metrics, and expand awareness to the best outside competition and new tools.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

Based on my own many years of experience as both an employee and an executive, here are my key recommendations to improve your business productivity, traction and momentum: Implement business metrics, and tie incentives to results. In most businesses, 80 percent of the revenue comes from 20 percent of the customers.

Training 105

Training Entrepreneur Tool Metrics 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2019

Yet if you run a business, you know things won’t get done, and most customers won’t buy, unless they trust you. According to current reports , both your employees and your customers have to feel they know you, and you know them, before levels of trust can accrue. Make sure your team and your customers have a role.

Customer 92

Customer Custom Mentor Training 92