Biz-Dev Talks | Scoop.it

The single biggest reason why startups succeed

Daniel Trahtemberg — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 09:17:46 GMT

Bill Gross has founded a lot of startups, and incubated many others -- and he got curious about why some succeeded and others failed. So he gathered data from hundreds of companies, his own and other people's, and ranked each company on five key factors. He found one factor that stands out from the others -- and surprised even him.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

The Ideal Length of Everything Online

Daniel Trahtemberg — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 05:43:31 GMT

Every so often when I’m tweeting or emailing, I’ll think: Should I really be writing so much?

I tend to get carried away.

Solid research exists to show the value of writing, tweeting, and posting at certain lengths.

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
We constantly engage in on-line content creation in our work and in our personal lives.This post gives some tips and rules about how to achieve maximum content exposure and reader's attention.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

The 7 P’s To Start Your Business

Daniel Trahtemberg — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 09:52:10 GMT

It seems that everyone wants to go into business these days. But before taking the huge step of going into business, you need to ask yourself whether you have the right personal characteristics.

Here are just some of the skills you may need to succeed.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

Lean Startup Concepts

Daniel Trahtemberg — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:39:30 GMT

Lean startup enthusiasts and practitioners throw around a lot of terminology and concepts that may seem alien or not particularly meaningful to you. Let's examine and demystify the basic lean startup terminology with a rich and concise conceptual model.
Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
The relatively new and exciting business philosophy "Lean startup" has a lot of confusing buzzwords. You may find this conceptual model clear and easy to understand.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

41 Marketing and Sales Terms Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Daniel Trahtemberg — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 12:38:12 GMT

Have you ever been in a business meeting or on a sales call, and the potential customer or business associate says a marketing or sales term in the middle of their fast sentence and you find yourself pondering what they heck they are talking about?

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
Well, here is a jumpstart with 41 Marketing and Sales Terms Every Entrepreneur Should Know!

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

The Year Of The Social Small Business [INFOGRAPHIC]

Daniel Trahtemberg — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 07:44:59 GMT

Did you know that 9 in 10 small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) use or plan to use social media in 2014?

More than half of SMBs have increased their spend on social media compared to 12 months ago – higher than any other marketing channel – with almost two-thirds (61 percent) saying that social media helps them find new customers.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

The two simplest and most powerful tools to identify your top priority

Daniel Trahtemberg — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 09:44:17 GMT

Two of the simplest and most powerful tools to brainstorm ideas, create canvases and decide on your most important next action:

1. Dump and sort.

2. Covey's decisional matrix.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

The Art of Crafting a 15-Word Strategy Statement

Daniel Trahtemberg — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 07:22:32 GMT

In a 100-page strategy document you can state everything you want, which makes everyone in the organization feel comfortable. The trouble is that managers then interpret the 100 pages according to their view and aspiration of the company’s strategy. The result: one planning document, many different strategies.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

How To Say “This Is Crap” In Different Cultures

Daniel Trahtemberg — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 19:04:08 GMT

All this can be interesting, surprising, and sometimes downright painful, when you are leading a global team: as you Skype with your employees in different cultures, your words will be magnified or minimized significantly based on your listener’s cultural context So you have to work to understand how your own way of giving feedback is viewed in other cultures.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

The Net Promoter System on a Napkin

Daniel Trahtemberg — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:07:25 GMT

The NPS is a wonderfully simple indicator of customer delight and an important leading indicator of business success. However, it has to sit in the context of broader customer feedback around the things customers like and dislike as well as the ultimate measures of success: revenue growth and profit margins. It is most useful as part of a well-balanced business performance management system.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

The Foundation of Customer Discovery: Understanding Customer Needs

Daniel Trahtemberg — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 10:14:56 GMT

When people tell you that you should figure out your “customer’s pain,” what they really mean (or should mean) is that you must understand your customers’ needs broadly and then prioritize them based on how important they are to the customers. If a customer doesn’t perceive a need as important, even after you’ve explained why, then addressing it will never be that valuable.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

New business idea? Make sure you know the market first.

Daniel Trahtemberg — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 11:18:34 GMT

"First you fall in love with your concept, but then you have to get over that and fall in love with your customer"

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

Measuring What Matters: How To Pick A Good Metric

Daniel Trahtemberg — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 17:45:18 GMT

A detailed look at some of the considerations in picking the right metrics to measure business change.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

The Big Lie of Strategic Planning

Daniel Trahtemberg — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:36:25 GMT

The problem is rooted in people’s natural aversion to discomfort and fear, the only remedy is to adopt a discipline about strategy making that reconciles you to experiencing some angst. This involves ensuring that the strategy-making process conforms to three basic rules. Keeping to the rules isn’t easy - the comfort zone is always alluring - and it won’t necessarily result in a successful strategy. But if you can follow them, you will at least be sure that your strategy won’t be a bad one.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

5 Lessons From 2 Years of Using Email Newsletters in our Content Strategy

Daniel Trahtemberg — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:07:51 GMT

Getting started: moving from product news to content emails
1. Content performs much better than promotion.
2. Timing of campaigns is not entirely critical.
3. Having numbers in the Subject lines helps the open rate.
4. Piggybacking on famous brand names doesn’t really work.
5. Not having enough relevant content to send is by far the #1 hurdle.

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
Five short but very interesting insights from 2 year analisys of using email newsletters.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

10 tips for achieving 100% customer satisfaction

Daniel Trahtemberg — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 17:39:28 GMT

As a furniture manufacturer and e-commerce retailer in High Point, North Carolina, Simplicity Sofas specializes in furniture for small spaces. And after more than six years in business and $4 million in sales, they have never had a negative review. How they achieved it?

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
A smart list of easy to understand principles for customer satisfaction by focusing on earning the respect and recommendation of your customers.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

4 Ways to Increase Your Email Opens, Today

Daniel Trahtemberg — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 10:37:45 GMT

It seems that something like 97% of small businesses use email marketing to connect with customers. This makes sense. It’s inexpensive, fast, and offers great opportunities for data analysis.

But what exactly are the best methods right now for increasing open rates? And are there hard and fast rules, or do you have to be flexible depending on what type of product you are selling.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

What is Biz-Dev?

Daniel Trahtemberg — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 08:08:04 GMT

Biz-Dev can be many things. In my mind, however, the role of Biz-Dev is to find new strategic opportunities and start on the path to execute them. It is not uncommon for Biz-Devs to have a combination of strategy, marketing & sales, finance, legal, and operations background.

Biz-Dev has 3 different levels: product, commercial & corporate.
At the product level, basically it means developing a new product or technology.
At the commercial level, it imply prospection, it means hunting new customers in new segments or markets.
At the corporate level, is when organizations have to decide whether to make or to buy certain organizational competencies, the focus is not at the product nor the commercial level but the business, financial and legal level: M&As, JVs, strategic alliances, etc.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

10 Reasons to Create a Simple Marketing Plan

Daniel Trahtemberg — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 07:34:26 GMT

A small business needs a simple marketing plan that outlines all the important pieces needed to successfully and consistently market your business.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

Online v Offline Lead Conversion – Which is Better

Daniel Trahtemberg — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 16:19:55 GMT

Last month Salesforce put together a great infographic detailing the differences between online and offline leads. Since live chat deals primarily with leads coming from online sources, it’s useful to step back and consider some alternative methods of obtaining leads and how these leads can affect conversion.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

22 Crowdfunding Sites (and How To Choose Yours!)

Daniel Trahtemberg — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 11:01:28 GMT

Here's a road map.

Crowdfunding used to be pretty simple. Artists, inventors, and filmmakers posted their ideas, and funders chipped in a few bucks to make something happen.

Kickstarter, the site that triggered the crowdfunding movement, was the cornerstone. In three years, the site has helped launch more than 95,000 projects.

But all sites are not created equal. Some specialize in nonprofits, or in certain types of products; others offer consulting services in addition to sourcing funding. In an increasingly crowded and complicated marketplace, where should you turn to fund your endeavor? Follow our map.

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
The simplest road map I have seen in a long time!
This is a must-know info for every entrepreneur.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

6 Ways To Promote Your Small Business - Infographic

Daniel Trahtemberg — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 11:05:06 GMT

In this weeks Infographic we look at a few quick and cheap ways in which you can promote your small business without breaking the bank.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

6 Small Business Marketing Trends For 2014 - Business 2 Community

Daniel Trahtemberg — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 11:22:16 GMT

Although I’m not a huge fan of complex marketing plans, I do believe having a plan is more important for small businesses than they realize. A marketing plan focuses your efforts and helps you avoid wasting time and money doing things that aren’t moving your business towards your goals.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

Have Facebook Fan Page Benefits Gone As Extinct As The Woolly Mammoth?

Daniel Trahtemberg — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 11:15:22 GMT

"... we really need to clarify WHO is having trouble with fan pages at the moment… because it’s not everyone.

Marketers with a solid, sustainable, advertising budget, who are willing to learn to do ads the right way, really are not having much trouble. Yes, their reach is down a bit but it’s an inconsequential issue since they have a funnel that monetizes on the ad strategy.

The people most impacted are those relying on “free” reach of social media and avoiding using paid media..."

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
Last year's changes to the edgerank algorithm governing fb news feed policy had a huge impact on "free" advertising for SMB that used fb to reach a broad audience.Now the rules are "Pay to Play" - the same as google, linkedin, and others.Learn and choose well before spending your advertising budget.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

Richard St. John: 8 secrets of success

Daniel Trahtemberg — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 22:47:08 GMT

Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
Passion. Work. Focus. Persist. Ideas. Good. Push. Serve.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

'Cold Calling': is it dying or will there always be a place for it?

Daniel Trahtemberg — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 22:08:11 GMT

With increasing numbers of Companies (and their Directors) electing to not take unsolicited 'cold' calls by joining the Telephone Preference Service, is the age of 'cold calling' becoming extinct?

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
One channel of contact with those potential customers is using "cold calls" (call first without any previous acquaintance without getting a call request for information). Using this tactic is controversial due to the low success rate against the costs required to run it.

I found the comment thread attached some information and interesting directions.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks

Why only fools write code first

Daniel Trahtemberg — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 21:00:48 GMT

You should start by understanding your market.

This is vague. More precisely, you should understand:

who your customers are

the specific problem your potential customers have

why this is a problem for them

how painful this problem is for them

what happens when the problem is not solved

how they are currently solving this problem, and

what else they’ve tried

how much this problem, when solved, is worth to them

how they find out about solutions to this problem

the words your customers to describe this problem

The best way to do this is by talking to real live people: picking up the phone, going out to coffee, etc, asking good questions, and listening.

Daniel Trahtemberg's insight:
You have an idea and you have the technological capacity to develop it - Stop! Do not fall in love with your idea, think first if you can sell it to the target audience.Not only to think and examine the feasibility of product / service as well try to sell it.

See it on Scoop.it, via Biz-Dev Talks