First, there are quite obvious ‘roadmaps’ which involve step-by-step instructions to setting up a business and being successful. These are great because they provide you with a list of all the different things you have to remember, but they often fall down somewhat by being overly simple.
Second, there are books which address the ‘attitude’ needed to get started, keep going, and, um, keep going some more. These are often awe-inspiring, but sometimes give you the feeling that you should stop and wonder if you are right to be taking it all in. What if all the positive reinforcement is just a load of baloney?
Third, there are the ‘biographies and autobiographies’, from which you normally have to extract the lessons yourself. These are great because they show that all the stuff you’ve been reading from the other two categories is actually possible. Someone actually went out there and did something great, just like you are trying to as well.
They may not have read any of these books (and in the cases of older autobiographies they most probably didn’t), but you should be able to hear when the things you’ve been learning about resonate in the real-life story of someone great who succeeded before you. Business biographies and autobiographies are sometimes criticized for being exaggerated - but this often only highlights to serve the lessons which are being illustrated.
Here, then, are the 3 business books which I keep coming back to - and which I believe have the power to transform any business:
If you’ve ever wanted to get into the mind of one of those hardcore, slick, 80s American salesmen you always promised you’d never turn into (like you could have if you wanted to), then check this out. This is subtitled ‘The Closer’s Bible’, and it covers all the technical aspects of closing sales.
Be warned, though - this book is all about seeing the prospect as an adversary who needs to be conquered. If you find yourself using words like ‘collaboration’, ‘teamwork’ and ‘partnership’ a lot, and you’re always aiming for a ‘win-win’ , get a glimpse into the dark side of how others play the game by reading this book.
How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors : Winning Every Sale at Full Price, Rate, or Fee
This is a great book if you’re tired at getting beaten over the head to offer lower prices and bigger discounts to ‘potential customers’ who don’t end up buying your products or services anyway. Sound familiar? Yep, me too. It also explains why you shouldn’t waste any of your time with so-called ‘price buyers’…as well as how to identify them and how to get away from them.
Better, though, it explains that if you’re selling at a 35% gross margin you would have to sell almost twice as much stuff if you dropped your prices by just 10%, and it clarifies this apparently counterintuitive fact so clearly that you will never feel comfortable caving in on price again.
This will drive you to justify your standard pricing with confidence - and best of all, this book even tells you exactly what to say!
When you find that you’ve spent an hour feeling that you’re losing your motivation, reach for this book. It’s full of very short stories of normal people going through exactly what you’re doing, but when you get to the end of each story you discover that in most cases the company they built turned out to be a massive one you know well.
The great thing about this book is that it makes you realize that all those faceless, anonymous, successful companies out there all started in the same place - with a real person going through the same steps you’re going through to get it off the ground.
To see the link between what you are doing and what the end result looks like is truly inspirational, and this book can really help you get back on track. Each story takes less than 5 minutes to read, and each one should get you fired up about getting back to building your business.
These 3 books are ones which I come back to time and time again - and if you want to get energized about your business again then you will be well rewarded if you read these titles.
Happy reading!
]]>If you’re stuck in a rut, here are 10 ideas you can use in order to think about whether or not you’re spending too much time in one area.
They’re all taken from actual examples of strategies we’ve implemented when we’ve been looking to give our own sales a boost.
- Hit the Phones - call up the 10 companies in your target market closest to where you are who you’ve never spoken to before.
- Grab a Map - send an introductory email to 10 foreign companies which could use your services, and tell them what you do.
- Get Brainstorming - ask everyone in your team if they know anyone from back home who might be worth asking for some leads.
- Start a Blog - choose a topic related to your business, start a blog, and invite your current prospect list to check it out.
- Create a Group - create a group on Facebook relating to a humorous aspect of your industry, and then contact whoever signs up.
- Ask for Referrals - call up your current clients and ask if they know of anyone who could use your products and services.
- Go to the Top - look up some Private Equity companies in your area and see if they own any companies which you could potentially partner with.
- Think About Customers Laterally - take a good look at your products and services…is there a type of customer out there who you’ve never served before but could feasibly use what you are offering?
- Think About Products Laterally - could the product or service you’re offering be metaphorically ‘repackaged’ or described in a different way that would open up either new markets for you or enable you to sell at higher margins?
- Expand Your Market - could you be offering your products and services in an additional markets without incurring any incremental costs?
- Always overdeliver. (That’s why there are 11 tips here, not just 10).
Put these tips into action this week, and hopefully one of these will create a spark which gets you back on track.
]]>1. Never offer someone work on a “commission-only” basis.
“Commission-only” deals sound like a great idea - you have a great product, and if anyone helps you sell it then they can get a cut of the profits. You’re not out of pocket, because their commission is paid for out of the revenue from the client. Genius, right?
Not quite. If this were such a good idea, everyone who had their own product would become an instant billionaire. Ever wonder why they’re not?
It’s for two reasons. First, you love your product and believe that everyone is going to fall over themselves to buy it. They’re not. Second, if someone is pounding the streets on your behalf and you’re not paying them, then they are going to realize that your product is a dud long before you do.
Guess what happens then? Yep, they quit.
The flip-side of this is not to be suckered into doing any work for anyone on a “commission-only” basis. If you’re doing quality marketing work for someone, make sure you get paid.
2. Don’t Pee in the Pool
Once you start doing some good work for people, and it starts bringing in some cash, you’re going to get asked to do all kinds of ‘non-core’ things - joining new business ventures, opening nightclubs, and working on tons of other projects without getting paid for it (see number 1, above). The amount of random opportunities which come your way once it’s seen that your business is real could blow your mind, especially as a lot of them will sound like ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities.
Just one word - don’t.
Instead, focus on building your business without getting distracted by the offers which come in. Sure, it’s flattering, and it might make you feel like Richard Branson for a while, but introducing outside elements into your ‘winning formula’ is a sure-fire way to make it not so ‘winning’ any more.
3. Be Useful
If your main talent is turning up, fitting in, and doing what you’re told, you may be best suited to working in an office for someone else. You may find it hard to break out of your current situation, especially if you can’t take step back and figure out a way of making yourself useful.
You don’t have to be ‘indispensible’ during the early days of growing a business…but you do need to be useful.
Think of it this way - what are you doing to help? And why should you be paid for it?
]]>- Unless they are a massive corporation and you feel like you don’t mind begging for their business and putting up with all the aggravation you get in return for acting like a subordinate, you should always feel a sense of partnership with you clients. You’re both in this together and you both succeed thanks to each other…and if you lose that feeling, it might be time to move on.
- If you spend a disproportionate amount of time chasing your client for payment, consider no longer extending credit to them. You’ve provided a service - and you should be paid promptly. They are not ‘doing you a favour’ by paying, so be firm when it comes to collecting your remuneration. If this is a continual problem, find some other clients - it will save you money in the long run.
- If your client has lost interest in their own business, get ready for some major changes. Assume that they are going to wind it down, and switch from fighting for their business to maintaining and servicing their account. Start looking for customers who you want to join forces with in your bid for success.
- If your client starts treating you like you work ‘for’ them, as opposed to ‘with’ them, go along with their antics and do something only an employee is entitled to do: consider looking for another job. If you work ‘with’ someone, on the other hand, you have to stick it out - when a partnership faces big difficulties from the outside, this should strengthen your relationship. If it doesn’t, you might be working with the wrong clients.
- If you provide a service which facilitates certain aspects of your clients’ operations, such as consulting, or acting as an agent, you don’t want them suddenly becoming an expert on the back of your knowledge and either trying to cut you out, or feeling that you are surplus to their requirements. Before you sign a deal, then establish their take on what happens 5 years down the line when everything is up and running…and if they won’t commit t telling you exactly how you fit into their plans, then fire them!
Every quarter, whilst your sales team is churning its prospect list and identifying which prospects are not worth their time, you should be asking yourself which of your actual clients are hindering the productivity of the rest of your business.
Identify ways in which you can politely withdraw from serving them, and make sure you don’t burn any bridges. If you’re good, they won’t know they’ve been fired…they will simply see your integrity as you introduce them to others who can better ’service their needs’.
Good luck!
]]>Fear not, though, because help is at hand.
Think about it…if you could redesign your business somehow, so that you could be exactly where you want to be, wouldn’t that be great?
When I decided to start doing my own thing, I put just as much thought into ‘where’ my customers would be as I did into what they actually did.
I’m from the UK, but instead of looking for customers there, I thought it would be far more exciting to look for clients in Denmark, as it would give me an opportunity to see a new place and maybe even learn a new language. By doing this, and because I now work with several Danish companies, this has meant that I have since got to know a new city and new culture.
A lot of people believe that they won’t be able to do this until they retire, but no matter what business you’re in, you shouldn’t need to stay stuck where you are if you would rather be somewhere else.
If you need help identifying which aspects of your business would enable you to do this - or if you think it’s simply not possible - then fill out the ‘request more information’ box on this page and we will get you started.
Doing business development on a Pacific island may not be possible, but take a look at where you are now, and which aspects of your business could be performed in a location in which you’d rather be.
Then simply give yourself that job - after all, you’re the boss!
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Here’s a question for you…even if your business is healthy and you’re not looking for investors:
If you had to spend US$1,000,000 on your business, where would the money go? What would you spend it on?
The reason why this is an interesting question is because it really highlights the next steps your business should take. You can then start figuring out how you can get close to the same results without spending US$1,000,000.
Would you open up a couple of international sales offices? Would you buy better equipment? Would you open a flashy new office in the smartest part of town? Do more market research? Do a series of trade shows…or get a massive booth at a single show?
Would you spend it systematically on a series of advertisements or commercials? Or blow it all in one go on a Superbowl ad?
Would you pay your suppliers more so that you get better product? Would you hire more people? Would you hire better people?
With all these different approaches, imagining you have a load of money which has to be spent on your business, it forces you to identify your weaknesses and what your real priorities are.
Let’s say you feel that an extra $1,000,000 would enable you to fulfil your dream of having offices in New York, London, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Well guess what? You haven’t got it…you’ve got to do it for free - by contacting a few companies to see if you can partner with them.
If you’d be more likely to spend this imaginary money on getting better people, then there are obviously aspects in which your current team is not as good as you’d like it to be. Why not? What elements or characteristics are you missing? Are they factors which could be covered by the addition of one person? Or does your whole team need a lift?
The idea here is really to start thinking about which aspects of your business you would improve if money were no object. That way, you can start focusing on your real priorties in order to address the major issues standing between where you are now, and where you want to be.
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