Some words on Entrepreneurship from a man whose been there...

Some words on Entrepreneurship from a man whose been there...

 I had the pleasure today of attending  a great presentation on Entrepreneurship today given by Fancisco Fernandez CEO of Avaloq (the company about to create 500 jobs in Scotland).

Francisco gave a succinct and informative talk on the key attributes that anyone seeking to be an entrepreneur should posess or aspire to including: 

Be a contrarion, be disruptive...dont settle for the perceived wisdom and challenge it wherever you find it.

Embrace diversity in the people you surround yourself with - they can al lbring something new or a new way of looking at things to your venture.


Dont seek money as the only reward but  rather let it come as a result of seeing the dream unfold.


Seek Blue Oceans at every stage and dont let the venture die at the end of the product life cycle.

Do not over anlayse a good idea in to a bad one.  Act with agility to take advantage of the opportunity.

It's not the idea but the excellence of execution that matters.  Share your ideas to finds the best peple to help you make the venture a relaity.

Francisco also went on to explain that they chose Scotland for the base for their new operation as we had the best fit in terms of culture, high education standards and travel distance for European markets.

His key nessage ccentred around the principles:

• The right People
•  The right Culture
•  and the right Processes to enable them to flourish 

Just a "wee" infographic I found on how Linkedin works and can work for you and your business...like you didnt know already!!  But how much do we actually capitlaise on?


How LinkedIn Works by Infographiclabs

SMEs to save the world?

SME vs globalisation michael Jarman http://goo.gl/mag/UCmPJ

Some interesting thoughts on SMEs as the sustainable growth alternative (as opposed to the short-termism displayed by PLCs,) in this article.


It is interesting to note the level of support for startups, entrepreneurs and the larger GDP creators from the public and enterprise initiatives that would seem on the surface to ignore the M of SME.

Have they got this balance of focus wrong?

Keep it Simple Stupid- Especially in your marketing!

The drive to simplify our offerings

I've been reading alot recently about how marketing has changed and how we need to simplify the offer for our customers.

We marketers used to bang on about 4 or 7 touch perinciples, depending on whom you listened to, and the need to get your message(s) in front of the potential customer this often before they would buy.

Now the latest thinking is suggesting we ditch this approach in order to help our customers make the purchase decision.

We used to have the buying funnel where we would have broad general idea of whom we might buy from and then whittle down the  choice based on our perception of the value offering.

Now we are faced with what os being caleld the tunnel approach where the buyer heads directly to only one source, discounting all others, for fear of getting lost in the mixture of messages and value offerings, al lslightly differnet and confusing in the decision makig process.

Why?

Quite simply because we are now all over loaded with messages from every concievable angle and channel; web, offline media, mobile, apps etc.  all making us bewildered as to where the really useful information is coming from.

I also had a chat with a printing acquaintance this morning at Business Banter that reinforced the message.  Our discussion revolved around the inability of customers to cope with the level of choice that he can offfer and whether or not he should offer everyhting tat he can.

My suggestion was to streamline the process and offer a few standard products for whatever format he was willing or most able to do and then offer a premium service for the bespoke route.  Many customers want a nice simple buy and are frustrated and flummoxed by the range of offerings , bells, whistles and thimgamaybobs that we want to give them.

So what do we do about it?

Quite simply, make it easier for the buyer to find, select and purchase an offering that fits their needs. But and it is a big BUT, be prepared to step outside of this and offer a bespoke service for those who wwant it.

So, ask ourselves, does every customer need all that choice?  if not how do we simplify.  Can we use the Simplificatin Process shown in the diagram to make the buyong decision easier?

A tierd approach with standard products may wrk for some segments and not thers it is up to us to determine where to stop or even idf to simplify based on ourt knowledge of our target markets.

Further Reading:

What Do Consumers Really Want? Simplicity, HBR Article

To Keep Your Customers, Keep It Simple

These articles are FREE to view to registered users of HBR.org a FREE service form HBR.

Inspiration for when the buggers try to get you down

The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had means, time, influence and educational advantages; the question is what he will do with the things he has. The moment a young man ceases to dream or to bemoan his lack of opportunities and resolutely looks his conditions in the face, and resolves to change them, he lays the corner-stone of a solid and honorable success. - Hamilton Wright Mabie

Remember this when you come across the nay sayers and blockers in life

Great articles for busy people

If like me you only have a finite amount of time (and who doesn't) that you can devote to reading business related articles you could do worse than grabbing one of the McKinsey Quartlerley widgets for various topics, including marketing and strategy, from their site (and embedding it on Google home page if you are signed up for one).

You can review the various widgets here: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/widgets

I've added the marketing version to the sidebar of this blog too for you to review.

Happy reading

Brian

Telesales reading list and a good cause

I recently had a most enjoyable meeting with Deborah Hackett from "4 the Love of Sales".


Deborah is a truly interesting character who combines her telemarketing skills with commentating at rural events, including the Highland Show.


I was chatting to Deborah about possible networking and referral opportunities and she volunteered to share two publications which she says have helped her in her career as a Telemarketing professional; 

Cold calling for Women. Opening Doors & Closing Sales, by Wendy Weiss. Publisher is D.F.D Publications. It is available on Amazon UK at prices ranging from £5.62 - £12.15 for new copies.  (Deborah assures me its good despite being American!)

The other title is out of print but can still be found, at  a price on the usual online outlets;

“The Easy Step by Step Guide – Telemarketing, Cold Calling and Appointment Making by Pauline Rowson & published by Rowmark. (Reliably British by all accounts!)   

If anyone else has suggestions of this kind I'd be more than happy to share them.

Now, Deborah has been very kind in providing this free advice and I'd like to repay her in a small way by suggesting that a few of us sponsor Deborah in her next venture in walking 20 miles for Breast Cancer Care at the Scone Palace Pink Ribbonwalk.

You can sponsor Deborah by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/deborah-hackett.

Thank you for stopping by.

Brian

P.S. Should you wish to contact Deborah  forr her services I'd be pleased to put you in touch.