What do people actually care about?

I was sitting around Googling Justin Bieber (as usual) when I stumbled across this great write up about an amazing start-up call Rally (www.rally.org).

Quoted from AllThingsDigital.com:
"There’s an old maxim in fundraising: It’s better to get one dollar from 100 supporters than it is to get $100 from one supporter. Or, you can just get Justin Beiber to tweet about you."



In the article written by All Things Digital's Drake Martinet, they describe how CEO Tom Seres was able to take a white label fundraising platform that was intended to be the backbone for online fundraising initiatives, and convert it into a low friction, highly functional, way for each individual user to "rally" behind any cause they want, and allows them to do so very quickly and effectively. Tom goes on to talk about how this provides people with a quick and easy way to create a streamlined web presence and help raise money for the causes that they actually care about.

Here is a video of Tom Seres demoing his product and communicating his vision for his online fundraising revolution.





You know a good idea when you wish it was yours!



Link to the Article.

OMG!! A word in business so dirty even Mike Rowe won't touch it!

There is a dirty four letter word in business that no one ever really seems to want to embrace. It isn't as scientific as marketing or analytics, isn't as glamorous as being an executive bigwig, or even as simple as being an intern. In fact this word is so loathsome to a lot of people that it needs a whole FIVE letters to describe it!

SALES. Scary, stomach wrenching sales.

Regardless of what you may think, no business can function without sales. One can argue that marketing is what gets the message out, or analytics helps us figure out who to get the message to. The fact remains with no sales there is no revenue. No revenue is a surefire way to tank your business. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. What good is it to be passionate about something if you can't sell it?

Believe it or not we sell everyday. We sell ourselves to potential employers, we sold ourselves to our significant others. So why is there such a nasty misconception of selling? I'm no genius but I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the hard sell. If you don't know what a hard sell is you aren't looking hard enough. Have you ever heard things like "If you don't put an offer on the house now you risk losing it"? Or, "Don't make the biggest mistake of your life and not buy this car". If you haven't directly experienced this surely you know someone who has been in a high pressure sales situation at some point in your life.

Selling doesn't need to be high pressure though. In fact it can be a pleasurable experience if you remember these 3 things.

1: The worst thing that can happen is you will get a no. How awesome is that? You will not be sent to Guantanamo Bay. You will not be physically harmed. You will simply hear one tiny 2 letter word. The best part of a no? It allows you to ask questions! Once a person has decided to not purchase your wares all the pressure is off of you as the salesperson. This is a great time to ask for more information as to how they formed their decision. The information you get from them is front line market research! You didn't even have to pay someone to sit down and figure this out because the customer is giving you the feedback right then and there!

2: The decision to buy is emotional. If you want to see yourself in a Porsche GT3 RS, what good would it be for me to try to get you to buy a Porsche Boxter? You made a connection with that GT3 RS. It stirred your soul. You knew this was what you wanted. There is an emotional connection that you made before I even met you. It is my job as a salesperson to help you realize that. No one wants to buy something they aren't going to love or enjoy or feel good about.

3: Selling ain't telling. It's understanding. Listen to your customers. Understand their needs, wants, and desires. Don't bombard then with reports, graphics, features, benefits, or advantages unless they ask for it. Ask open ended questions to gather information about your customer and what exactly they are looking for. Then tailor your presentation accordingly. If all your customer cares about is how your new widget is going to streamline her operation, don't spend your time telling her about your easy low interest payment options. She won't buy it from you.

I could go on for pages about selling but you would probably fire up angry birds at some point. What kind of salesperson would I be if I let that happen? If you have any questions, feedback, concerns etc feel free to post in the comments. We would love to hear your thoughts.

PS. We here at Startup-Post think Mike Rowe is awesome.

Zero moment of Truth - Google's Marketing Strategy

All the marketing buzz is with regards to Google's new ZMOT or Zero moment of truth.

They outline the new strategy in their free eBook available HERE.

Here is a little video explaining what they mean.



I haven't read the eBook yet but I intend to this weekend.

Kind of interesting.

"The Greatest Barrier to Success is The Fear of Failure"

I was watching my 2 year old son at his basketball practice and had an interesting conversation with the coach's father the other day. We were discussing how great it is to see the kids learn about the game and, more importantly, experience first hand what teamwork is. As we delved deeper into the conversation we started to talk about the old "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game" adage.

This is where we parted in our thoughts. My argument was, while that sentiment certainly holds weight, it is absolutely essential that the children learn what it feels like to win, but more critically what it means to lose. In sports you have clearly defined winners and losers. It's not meant to be all roses. Somebody has to lose. That's the way sports work. What is important is teaching our kids, and ourselves, how to deal with the loss. How do we pick ourselves up after playing what we thought to be the perfect game only to lose to a heart breaking last minute shot?

As entrepreneurs we need to recognize that no matter how great our plan is, how much financial backing we have, or how much talent we have acquired, at some point we will fail. It is inevitable. Chances are you will fail a lot more than succeed early on. How we respond to the failure is what is going to dictate our success down the line.

I have worked for two failed start ups in the last 10 years and both failures were surprisingly different. I'll tell you a little about Company 1 today and maybe in the future we can discuss Company 2.

Company 1 violated one of Sun Tzu's cardinal rules in the Art of War. "Do Not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but rather let your tactics be dictated by the infinite variety of circumstance" They decided to offer nearly identical products across different partners thinking what worked for the 1st partner would work for the second. Because they were so successful focusing on the end user, they neglected small and medium sized businesses which would have paid a premium for their service. As a result profitability decreased and costs went up until a new CEO was brought in to make tough decisions. The New CEO ultimately shut the company down to salvage what he could for the investors. I was fortunate enough to stay on until the very end and raise as much capital as possible before the doors closed as a last ditch effort in trying to save a company that had given up on thinking outside of the box. I learned a lot from that company and made some terrific friends. The biggest thing I learned is to never think you are too big to fail. Failure is always an option.

"Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called failure" - Soichiro Honda. If any quote captures the truth about success this is it. We have to pull ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back into the fight. We aren't toddlers. We are people with ideas. We dream big, risk it all, and work towards success. If you bet the farm and lose it, I'm pretty sure the next time you are ready to bet the farm you will look at it differently. Failure gives us perspective. Don't be afraid of failure, embrace it. It might just do you some good.



Title quote: Sven Goran Eriksson

TED - David S. Rose - How to pitch to a VC

Every once in a while I like to share a video that I find to be completely invaluable.

David S. Rose explains in under 15 minutes, how to pitch to a Venture Capitalist or VC firm. Starting with the most important traits that VCs look for and ending with bad habits to avoid and how to give a "Steve Jobs caliber" presentation.

Top 10 traits VCs are looking for.

1. Integrity
2. Passion
3. Experience
4. Knowledge
5. Skills
6. Leadership
7. Commitment
8. Vision
9. Realism
10. Coach-able

Prove that you are all of these things in 18 minutes and you could be cashing a very big check.

Chemistry

As we start to go beyond business plans and analytics we are faced with the important challenge of finding the right people to help us achieve our goal. Do we hire a headhunter and tell them to only bring us the best of the best? If we go that route, do we run the risk of drying up the coffers before we are even ready to launch? Or do we take an ad out in Craigslist and sift through countless emails of people "axing" us questions or showing up to interviews in their spiffy Jordans? Do we offer commission only, stock options, hourly wages or salaries? Surely that is enough to drive the even most sane person stark raving mad.

One school of thought is to be the best you need to hire the best. Though I don't necessarily disagree with that school of thought it hasn't exactly gotten Lebron James a ring yet. Maybe Mark Cuban knew something we didn't when he decided to not trade for Kobe Bryant 4 years ago.

I think one of the keys to success is chemistry. Find people who are talented, and have a contagious work ethic. With the proper leadership, and enough raw talent we can take most average employees and help them thrive in a culture of success. We may not all have ginormous payrolls or be willing to give up an arm and a leg to land a fortune 100 executive, but we all have access to social media platforms, and networking. Leverage tools like Linkedin and your own personal networks to find people who have proven track records.

No matter what direction you choose. Know this, the success of your business begins and ends with you. If you don't take the time to train employees, develop a culture, mentor and coach your team, don't be upset when the star employee you hired jumps ship.

Build a Deep Understanding of Your Customer or Risk Irrelevance.

Here's a pretty interesting article I found on Mashable. It brings to light the evolution of marketing from television and limited demographics to our current capabilities with analytical data pulled from social media. The differences between Demographics and Pyschographics is astounding!

So what does this all really mean? Perhaps it means we should use all the tools available to us and cater to individuals and not a group. The results may surprise you.