In This Edition:
New Workshops!
Success Tips
What I'm Reading
Comments & Suggestions
New Workshops!
August 21, 2003: Planning: Modeling Masters Series: Heroes From The Past: 1904-1912! Amadeo Peter "A.P." Giannini of Bank of America, Joyce Clyde Hall of Hallmark Cards, Leon L. Bean of L.L. Bean Inc.
August 28, 2003: Entrepreneur Flight School Series: Planning: Modeling Successful Airlines! Let the millions of dollars that other companies spend on finding successful strategies work for you! Leverage proven strategies to catapult your business towards success!
September 4, 2003: Modeling Masters Series: Heroes From The Past: 1923-1947! Walter Elias Disney of Walt Disney Co., J. Willard Marriott of Marriot International Inc., Burton Baskins & Irvine Robbins of Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream
Visit
http://www.youthbiz.biz to register FREE today!
Success Tips
Success Tip #1 - Don't Underestimate Customer Education!
Introducing an innovative product or service will usually require changing the habits of your customer. This is always a time consuming and difficult process. Try to make it as easy as possible for your customers to use your product or they will go back to their old ways, no matter how inefficient they may be. You have to educate the customer not to be afraid of your new product!
Success Tip #2 - Entrepreneur = Salesperson!
One fact that many entrepreneurs overlook is that they are in the selling game. In an Angus Reid survey only 4% of respondents thought that good salesmanship was the key element in entrepreneurial success. In an entrepreneurial organization everyone must always be selling - do not wait for others to come in and do it for you!
Success Tip #3 - The Secret To Selling: Listening!
A good salesperson sells much more by listening than by speaking. The more you can better understand your customer's or partner's needs the better you will be able to fulfill those needs. You would be surprised at how frequently you don't truly know what your customers want and how nobody has ever really taken the time to listen to them!
What I'm Reading
Leadership (5/5)
Leadership is written by former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The book examines his career as a corporate lawyer, US attorney, and mayor and uses real life examples to back up his good leadership formula. So what does this have to do with running a business? Well, it takes strong leaders to take the helm of any organization or project be it an up and coming new business or one of the world's largest cities. Three of the more interesting lessons for entrepreneurs are:
1) See everything with your own eyes. Don't simply follow the opinions of the people who surround you. Whenever there is a critical business decision to be made, from a serious customer problem to expanding into new markets, make sure you are at the helm. When you blindly go along with those around you, you are subject to their biases and personal motives. Learn enough about the topic to form your own opinion and be confident in it.
2) Sweat the small stuff. Nothing can take the place of solid preparation. If you are trying to close a customer, partner, or investor you must prepare relentlessly. Do not assume that you know their problems or their questions. Prepare from every possible angle so you are not surprised if you get hit with a particular question - you have the answer for it already. The worst that can happen is you've prepared information for questions that never get asked which is much better than the alternative of not having the information ready for the tough questions.
3) You are responsible. No matter what happens in your company, as the CEO, you are responsible. If your distributor mismanages an order or if your employee insults a customer, you are responsible. Do not try to deflect the responsibility to someone else. Care for your company as you would care for yourself and you will achieve greater success that those around you.
Overall it was a quick book to read and tells a great story. It is very easy at times to picture yourself right next to him in the courtroom, meeting, and especially during the September 11 attack. I would recommend this book for anyone who is thinking about taking a leadership position by starting their own business or within a company or organization.
Comments & Suggestions
If you have any comments or suggestions, e-mail me at
evan@evancarmichael.com - I'd love to hear from you!
