Flickr: ghewgill

Lists of entrepreneurial qualities abound on the web.  Heck, I even ran a couple surveys when I first started this blog.   After a couple years of working with entrepreneurs and start-ups, I’ve come to the conclusion that while entrepreneurs in aggregate do exhibit many similar personal qualities, the success of their start-up is a different issue altogether and tied to a much more subtle and extensive set of factors.

That observation combined with my natural orientation to practical, real-world information, and I’ve personally grown very tired of talking about entrepreneurial qualities.  I’ve met plenty of passionate, committed, tireless, social, driven, etc., etc., etc. entrepreneurs whose start-up didn’t succeed.  I’ve also met a handful of very successful entrepreneurs.  While it is true that they exhibit quite a lot of the qualities generally subscribed to entrepreneurs, I personally think that success requires much broader support than simply the personal qualities of the entrepreneur.  (Not to mention that any tight cohort most likely exhibits similar qualities.  That’s why they are a cohort.  Let’s not confuse shared experience with success.  While most squirrels in my neighborhood are brown, simply being a brown animal doesn’t make you a squirrel.)

So my personal “scorecard” for initial evaluation or entrepreneurs includes both personal factors and opportunity factors.  I typically look at four factors in each category.  What follows is a quick overview of my though process in an initial meeting with an entrepreneur.

Personal factors

There’s an old cliche in the investment community that they would rather invest in “an A team with a B product, then a B team with an A product.”  This speaks to the importance of the people involved in any start-up, and truly I tend to judge the entrepreneur before I judge the idea.  Following are the four factors that weigh heavily in my evaluation of the personal side of the entrepreneurship equation.

Passion and Commitment

Just about every article you read on entrepreneurial qualities talks about passion and commitment being critical for success and I couldn’t agree more.  Building a successful business is hard enough with passion fueling complete focus and commitment to keep going when the going gets tough.  Whenever I meet a new entrepreneur I’m constantly looking for signals that tell me their force is strong.   Things like working evenings and weekends on their startup while they work a full time job speak to passion; and investing personal money or not being dismayed by a couple failures tells me a lot about their commitment.

“Inner Circle” support

The first few years of a startup tend to require almost exclusive focus and commitment.  This can be very hard on family and friends.  Many an entrepreneur I’ve talked to has spoken of past divorces due to their focus on the business.  Work/life balance is hard enough when you’re an early stage entrepreneur.  If you try to do it without having a real-world conversation with your spouse, family and close friends, you’re asking for trouble.  I will specifically ask questions of entrepreneurs in this area – not only have they had the conversation, but is their family behind them.  Having the most important people in your life in full support of the crazy ride you’re embarking on can be a tremendous help.  Just remember, it IS possible to be successful and stay married.

Realism

I’m also on the lookout in those first meetings to get a sense of the entrepreneur’s sense of reality when it comes to starting a new business.  Are they aware of their risks and chance of success?  Have they overestimated the potential of the business?  Have they underestimated their capital and resource needs?  An entrepreneur with a clear head and sense of the risks, and rewards, of their start-up shows me they’ve done their homework.  The entrepreneur’s realistic approach helps shield them from disappointment and provides a sound basis for business planning.

Ownership

Finally, on my scorecard, it’s highly important that the entrepreneur demonstrates ownership for their own success.  Too often I have entrepreneurs in my office that think it’s my job to find them money or get them started.  Any entrepreneur who demonstrates in any way a mindset that their success is dependent on the actions of other presents a huge red flag and is a topic I will immediately address.  If I challenge an entrepreneur on this topic and they become defensive or angry, and I don’t believe they can be coached out of their beliefs, I wish them well and send them on their way.  In my corner of the world there are all kinds of support resources for entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes to tap into, but your start-up’s success is no one’s responsibility but your own.

Opportunity factors

Even an A team needs something to sell, and when I say “opportunity” I mean the product, service or concept the entrepreneur has at the core of the start-up.   Opportunity factors, for me at least, get weighted differently than personal factors.  First – as I said above, the personal factors are always important and almost always where I started asking questions first.  Second – the nature of the opportunity impacts how deep I need to dive and how critical it is to success; the discussion is much different if I’m talking to someone opening a pizza shop versus a medical device start-up.  The questions below speak primarily to the bulk of my current clients: high-growth potential start-ups in the technology space.

Something that’s real

I talk to lots of technologists with plenty of exciting ideas.  However, there is a big difference between an idea and showing that idea works.  Whether it’s a prototype, or a pilot, or lab research, the entrepreneur that can prove, even if it’s on a small scale, that the technology works is light years ahead of anyone with simply an idea or research.  Of course, the challenges don’t end there and the next hurdle is to show the technology can scale into commercialization, but if you are technology start-up and you have a meeting with a potential investor, be prepared to answer this simple question: “Does the technology work?”

Market need, and a way to get there

We all have our personal cliches and one of mine is “not every good idea is a great business.”  A crucial part of any evaluation I have with an entrepreneur is understanding why someone will take a dollar out of their wallet and give it to the entrepreneur for their product/service.  This is critical and I can’t count the number of entrepreneurs that either aren’t focused on sales or underestimate the effort involved in selling.  You simply must be able to tell me (and more importantly your future customers) why they should buy your product.  The more compelling the argument, the better.

The “way to get there” is equally important and speaks to how the entrepreneur intends to get the word out.  Almost as hard as getting a customer to take a dollar out of their wallet, is getting the opportunity to try to convince them to take that dollar out.  So I look for what the entrepreneur’s plan is to get in front of potential customers.

Team that can deliver

Team, team, team – I can’t say it enough.  Once I’m done evaluating the founding entrepreneur(s), the other team element is to look at their support team.  The basic service team (legal, financial, etc) is not so important in my mind as their advisory board, if they have put one in place.  Most people think of the value of an advisory board as the coaching and mentoring they can provide and certainly that is invaluable, but more so to first time entrepreneurs.  The real value in my eyes though of the advisory board (or “real” Board, if they are that far along) are the technical and sales contacts they can provide.  To an investor, this lowers risk by providing not only high-level introductions, but an accompanying “instant credibility” that helps make those early sales more likely.

That said – I don’t want to overplay the board of advisor, nor understate the founders.  The people running the company on a day to day basis still have the greatest impact on it’s chances for success and a high level of scrutiny is given to that person or team.  I’ve had many a “tough love” conversation challenging an entrepreneur to convince me they have what it takes to start, run and grow a company.

Profitability

You would be amazed at the number of pitches I hear where the entrepreneur doesn’t tell me how they are going to make money.  Not how much money, or how big the company will be in five years – simply no information on where revenue comes from.  Sometimes these are presentations to reviews committees I sit on for 5 – 6 figure loan/grant funds.  So before I go any further, entrepreneurs please get out your checklists and add “Tell them how my company makes money” to your pitch list.

When you do tell me how you are going to make money, I’m looking for a well-reasoned approach that fits your market and your sector.  If you are proposing a revenue model new to the market, then walk me through why you are passionate about the new approach and convince me that your customers will positively respond.

Hand in hand with how you make money is how much of you get to keep as profit, so a basic understanding of your financials and operational costs is part of this analysis.  Investors will probably be categorizing your business model and I admit I’m no different (high-value; commodity; up-sell potential, etc.).  This leads into what most folks call “scalability”, or now that you have a handful of customers and you’re hopefully making money, how do you make a lot of money?  So for profitability, you need to tell me two things: first, how you make money then second, how you intend to make a lot of money.

Your thoughts?

So that’s my scorecard, what do you think?  It’s not intended to be anything other than an initial vetting tool as obviously deeper information is needed to truly judge the potential of any start-up.  However, as a tool to evaluate early stage entrepreneurs and their businesses it has served me well and I can tell you that many of these areas are also important to my peers.

Entrepreneurs – how do you fare against this scorecard?

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

My entrepreneurial scorecard

• On-time delivery
• Project management expertise
• Local presence
• Senior staff

I remember thinking these sounded more like must-haves as opposed to key differentiators.  The thing is if you’re going to start talking about key differentiators, aspects of your business that  set you apart from your competitors, they really should be different.

So was born the seeds of my “so what” question.  I’ve since turned the question into a facilitated process I run entrepreneurs and personal clients through.  It can be helpful in a variety of ways, but I find it’s best suited to helping companies get to the bottom of what is really special about their company/product/service.

The basis of the game

It’s a “game” I play with entrepreneurs or anyone really who is working hard to represent the true value essence of their business.   Every time they portray an aspect of their business as “strategic” or “game-changing”, I ask them: “So What?”.  I usually get this look that conveys something along the lines of “What are you, crazy?  So what?  Isn’t it obvious?”.  We then have a chat about the difference in perspectives between business owners and their customers and how too few business owners judge the value of their products through the eyes of their customers.

My service is available online through a SaaS (software as a service) model.

So what?  So are a thousand other companies.

Sometimes I have to explain the game, sometimes they catch on quickly.  The point here is to both weed out talking points in your pitch that aren’t truly strategic while getting to the root of what is strategic in others.  The goal of course is to move your message “up”, making it more strategic, while simultaneously connecting deeper with the value you are truly offering your customers.  You know you have a winner when you can connect your strategic value to a customer’s emotional driver.

My product offers features not currently available in this space.

So what?  Maybe no one wants those features.

So you can see the game might sound a bit blunt, and to be honest it can be.  My experience though is that almost all the entrepreneurs and personal clients I’ve worked with that truly are committed to succeeding, take no offense.  In fact, they see the game as quite the opposite and generally embrace challenges to their business model as an opportunity to either reinforce their value proposition or identify an area that needs improvement.

I only work with non-profits.

So what!?

Turning the game into a process

So this idea had been rummaging around in my head for a while how to turn my little game into a process, and several months ago I got the opportunity.  An entrepreneur I’ve been working with had an important funding presentation upcoming.  She had a good product, but one that suffered from an image problem – the potential of the opportunity was getting lost in aspects of a business model that came off sounding small.  She also suffered a bit from having a technical background.  I find technicians to have no shortage of big ideas, but sometimes they can struggle conveying them conceptually without retreating to the comfort of details.  And, stereotyping here, technicians are horrible marketers.

So, in a coaching session, using a large whiteboard, I drew five columns with room for headings and asked her to name up to five key/strategic differentiators of her product.  Those things that truly set her apart, would ultimately make her a success and were essential elements of her value proposition to customers.  She came up with five key differentiators and we boarded those as headings for the columns.

Why up to five?  This is just my number, one that “feels” about right.  I say that if you have more than five key differentiators then you have way too many to start with.  Likewise, I would say that you should try to start this exercise with at least three differentiators as I’ve found the process may lead you in directions you hadn’t anticipated.

Working the board

So, after the starting 3-5 key differentiators are on the board as column headings, I work one column at a time.  There’s no magic here and I generally work left to right unless there is some over-riding reason to attack a particular column first.  For each column, I start by re-stating the key differentiator, then asking:

So What?

From there, you whenever a answer is offered to that question, I follow up with another “So what?”.

Obviously, it’s not quite that easy and there is much more to facilitating a strategy session than asking a simple question.  It helps to have a background in facilitation and knowledge of the entrepreneur’s industry.  In my days as a consultant, I ran many facilitated sessions and went through a variety of training sessions on how to facilitate. All that training really helps these sessions as many times you need to draw the entrepreneur’s thoughts out and help them answer that So What question.

It’s also important to be able to “work the board” as more and more information gets posted in more and more columns.  What I often see arise out of these sessions is interesting linkages between thoughts in columns and new messages arising out of other comments.  Staying aware enough to recognize when these new pathways of discussion present themselves can help take the session in important new directions.

So when do you know you’ve answered the So What question?  I really don’t have a good answer.  With very few exceptions, you just get to a point when the subject of the session answers the question and you just know that what they said is important enough, strategic enough to qualify as a So What.  I know that sounds kind of soft, but I can say that most of the time my client’s have agreed with me.  I think it helps to have a seasoned facilitator who is both brutally honest about what is strategic or not, and also has a fair amount of business perspective to bring to the session.

Frankly, the other option is the column is simply crossed out.  Sometimes after extended conversation, it just becomes obvious that the differentiator really isn’t all that special, and the discussion isn’t leading in the direction of a replacement.  Crossing out a column is an opportunity to hone your message and focus in on those differentiators that truly are special.

Outcomes

So obviously, the main outcome is the more targeted strategic differentiators for the client.  As I’ve mentioned though, all kinds of other linkages and information can arise out of a So What session.  In particular, I have found the following to be quite common:

• Central themes – in a session with the Marketing Director of a regional park system that has several extraordinary spaces available for rent, we uncovered two central themes aligned with two different target markets.  The information spoke to potentially two separate marketing campaigns for the spaces.
• Emotional drivers – any time you can connect your brand with emotional drivers you have the potential to create especially strong ties with your customer.  Working with an entrepreneur offering an online service targeted at college students, we uncovered emotional drivers of laziness and fear; two very strong emotional drivers in support of their brand.
• New directions – sometimes, like the session I most recently ran for a consultant focusing on C-level services, between columns crossed out and answers to repeated So What question, we find the general theme of the company’s strategic differentiators heading in a completely new direction, or uncovering new themes.  In this particular session, a theme rose out of several columns and ultimately became an important new direction for the consultant to market their services.

How do you approach defining your key, strategic product differentiators to your clients?  How would you answer the So What question for each one?  Are you sure your differentiators are important to your clients and not simply what you think is important?  Feeling uncomfortable answering any of those questions?  Let’s run a session together…

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

So what?

• Are a source for great testimonial quotes.  Put these on your website, in your brochures, on your resume.  Nothing helps make your delivery claims real like a quote from a customer.
• Offer yet one more touchpoint for your sales and/or marketing folks to ask for referrals, cross-sell and up-sell, etc.
• Present a chance to capture honest, real-world feedback on your products and services – potentially identifying opportunities for improvement or growth.

I am very bullish on customer satisfaction surveys and strongly feel they should be a component of every company’s sales and marketing strategy.  For those of you who feel differently, I’d love to hear your thoughts via comments.  In this post, I’d like to share three very different customer satisfaction survey models I’ve seen over the years and where each might be used most effectively.

The “One Question Survey” Survey

I’ve written before on the Net Promoter Score that consulting firm Bain & Co. developed and trademarked.  The execution of this survey couldn’t be simpler; you ask your customers one question:

How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?

Customers rate that likelihood on a 0 to 10 scale with 10 being extremely likely they would recommend you.  Based on their responses, customers can be categorized into one of three groups: Promoters (9-10 rating), Passives (7-8 rating), and Detractors (0-6 rating). The percentage of Detractors is then subtracted from the percentage of Promoters to obtain a Net Promoter score. A score of 75% or above is considered quite high.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) has several benefits.  First, it’s simplicity and brevity may increase your survey response rate.  Also, since the NPS results in a percentage metric, it can be quite useful in benchmarking exercises.  Finally, I feel the NPS can be a powerful motivator for organizations focused on excellence.  The metric is not without it’s detractors however, and the Wikipedia article linked above has a good overview of some of the criticisms.

I feel the NPS is a good choice for your customer satisfaction surveying when your customers have short attention spans (hence why I am considering using it with my entrepreneurs!) or you are focused on a benchmark for your pursuit of increasing delivery excellence.  Given the controversy surrounding the metric and the effort it would take to explain it to prospects, this survey is probably best suited when you plan on keeping your survey results internal.

The “Are you satisfied?” Survey

This is the type of customer satisfaction survey I think most of us are used to seeing.  The questions tend to be a mix of “How satisfied were you with our delivery” and “How likely are you to do business with us again?” type of questions.  Typically, customers are asked to indicate their answers on some sort of scale, allowing for aggregation of responses into a numeric metric.

While this type of survey is probably the most practiced, and does create satisfaction metrics in a form that is easily published, this is probably my least favorite type of customer surveying.  The main complaint I have with it is it’s prevalence.  If your company goals are excellence and growth, to simply do “what everyone else is doing” does little to separate your organization from the rest of the pack.  However, this doesn’t mean I don’t see any value in this type of survey.  You have to start somewhere, and this is an easy place to start.  Also, since many organizations do nothing, there is a good chance your competition, or some portion of your competition, doesn’t survey.  Therefore, simply getting started with a basic survey could help with some differentiation.

Even though I’m framing this type of surveying as the most basic, don’t forget that you need to examine your operational processes to support the surveying process.  Remember the last time you gave really bad marks on a survey and thought even less of the company when they didn’t followup?  Don’t let that happen to you.  Even worse as a missed opportunity, is not following up with customers that leave glowing remarks.  So, make sure to look at customer surveying as a lifecycle process and make sure it becomes embedded in your current procedures in order to get the maximum value out of it.

My current employer has tweaked the basic survey in a very novel way that generates some extra value from the survey.  Since we are an economic development non-profit, it is very important for our funders to understand the impact we are having regionally for the dollars they have given us.  The popular public sector term for this is “leverage”.  So our post-project customer satisfaction survey, in addition to the standard  “how satisfied were you” questions, include a number of questions related to the economic impact our project had on our client.  These impacts include cost savings, jobs saved or created, increase in sales, etc.  This allows us, in real, customer-reported numbers, to compute a leverage number for our funders stating something to the effect of “for ever dollar given to us, we generate X dollars in economic impact”.

More importantly perhaps, it allows us to do the same for our clients.  It can be very powerful to tell a client that for every project dollar spent with us, on average, our clients tell us they get X dollars back in tangible economic impact.

So while I don’t want to discourage you from “standard” customer satisfaction surveys, I would urge you to think how you can make the results relevant for your customers.

OTACE

Finally, I’d like to talk about the best customer satisfaction process I’ve personally been a part of: OTACE.

OTACE stood for On Time Above Client Expectations; so right out of the gate, the very name of the surveying process communicates a commitment to excellence.  The way OTACE worked is:

1. At the start of a project, the customer picked 3 – 5 project management characteristics that were important to her.  These characteristics were things like quality of deliverables, cost, on time delivery, communication, etc.
2. The customer then ranked the importance of each characteristic on a 1 – 5 scale, with 5 being very important.
3. Once the project has completed (or during the project for longer engagements), the customer scores how you performed on each of the project management characteristics they selected.
4. Now for each characteristic, multiply the score you received by the weighting factor from step #2.
5. Finally, simply divide that total score by the total of all weighting factors for your final satisfaction score (with a 5 being perfect satisfaction).

That sounded confusing and it’s really not so let’s look at an example.

You’re getting ready to start a project with a new customer so you sit down with them to review your OTACE process.  They really like the commitment to quality delivery this process sends and they select Communication, Quality of Deliverables and On Time Delivery as their project characteristics.  They rank Communication a 4 in importance, Quality of Deliverables a 5 and On Time Delivery a 3.

After the project is over, you sit down with your client to review how you did.  In this post-project process, they rank your delivery as follows: a 5 on Communication, a 4 on Quality of Deliverables and a 3 for On Time Delivery.  So your raw score is 49 ( (5*4) + (4*5) + (3*3) ).  Divide that 49 by 12 (the sum of their weighting factors) to get your final quality rating for this project of 4.1.

You can see this process is a bit more complicated, requires more customer involvement, and probably requires more education and training not only for your sales staff but potentially your customers.  So why make the effort?

Unlike any customer satisfaction process I’ve seen in my career, OTACE not only demanded a commitment to quality and excellence, but in return offered explicit data you could show your customers as to how you were performing, as rated by their peers.  Assuming you were performing well, what a great sales tool.  Ah, but there’s the rub – you need to be willing to share your performance with your customers and not every organization is comfortable with that.  Frankly, not every organization is ready for that either.  This is an evaluation you will have to make for yourself and your own organization.  Don’t think you have to be perfect though.  You will undoubtedly have a project or two over time that a customer will rank very low for factors out of your control.  What I found was that having a mechanism to not only transparently show those scores to our clients, but show them in context of all our other scores, help create a level of trust in the sales process at a stage where it rarely exists.

The other benefit to this process that I hope is self-evident is that your customer tells you what is most important to him on this project, before the project starts.  How many of us would have loved to have know this information on bad projects of the past?  So while it’s no panacea for constant communication and involvement, it can definitely help give you a head start on understanding your customer’s motivations.

So what do you think?

What customer satisfaction approaches have you seen or been impressed by?  Do you currently survey your customers?  If so, how (and if not, why not)?

UPDATE (12/09) – I just noticed an article posted on Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends blog entitled 10 Customer Service Trends for 2010 by columnist Barry Moltz.  Some interesting stuff and more food for thought, like how about “firing” your worst customers?

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

3 Customer Satisfaction models

One of those learning opportunities came my way over the last couple of weeks.  In no less than three fairly strategic discussions, at some point in the discussion someone said:

But if we did it for them, we’d have to do it for everyone.

I don’t know what it is about that comment that drives me nuts, but it always has.  Maybe it’s that too often it’s used as a door-closer to a discussion.  Maybe in my mind I interpret it as the person using the comment as a smokescreen when they really just aren’t interested in change. After some reflection over the last few weeks, I think my real problem with the statement is what I perceive as it’s inherent negativity; especially when the comment is made by a leader.

So, having noticed that his learning opportunity was sent my way, I set about to take advantage of it, in two ways.  First, I started upon some reflection of why this phrase bothers me so much, and positive ways I can process the statement and keep the conversation moving forward.  Second, since every time the comment was made it came up amid discussions I was having with some very smart people that I truly respect, I paid particular attention to how they responded.

In a couple short weeks, I have a completely new toolkit on how to deal with this potentially deadly comment.  Here’s what I came up with:

First – keep your emotions in check. If you are like me, I’ve recognized that when this comment comes up in a discussion, I tend to get somewhat irritated.  That irritation can come through in not only your comments but your body language.  Without even trying (or knowing it, if you’re not aware), you might come off as defensive, even angry.  Nothing kills a positive discussion like negativity.

What I’ve tried to focus on is a belief that the person making the statement has made it for all the right reasons; like you, they have a vested interest in a positive outcome for the decision at hand and this statement is simply their language to voice a particular concern.  If you process the statement as merely an indication that they are just as passionate about making the right decision as you are, you can get past whatever negativity you may perceive in the words chosen.

The next logical step I’ve come across is to examine the target population being discussed (the “everyone”), in the context of what you are proposing for the individual.  By that I mean that maybe, like the picture above, there are some unique aspects to the individual person or group you are proposing to take action for, that sets them apart from the population at large such that the odds are you wouldn’t have to do it “for everyone”, or the way you do it for the individual would not fit the needs of everyone else.

Say for example you are an HR Director and you are considering making a special allowance for an employee to work a reduced-hours work week.  It is natural then for the rest of the executive team to wonder whether then everyone in the company will want to have a reduced work week, leading to loss of productivity and revenue.  If however, there are unique circumstances surrounding the individual and/or the request, then perhaps the request could be granted in such a way as to head off a large influx of follow-on requests.  For example, maybe the individual was pursuing an MBA and their final semester required a class only offered during the day.  If the exception is granted and put into policy as an education allowance, then both your employees and the company both win.

You may also want to think about if “doing it for everyone” is a necessarily a bad thing.  Let’s say you run an office building and a couple tenants have asked if they ride their bikes to work, could they lock them up outside the back entrance.  “But if we let a couple tenants do this, then everyone will want to,” comes the response from your Board.

Well, first of all, from thinking through the second tip above you may have probably already determined that not everyone in your building will want to ride a bike to work.  That said, there are probably more than just the couple that asked you.  So, what’s so bad about a bunch of people riding their bike to your office building?  Isn’t that a good thing?  Maybe there’s an opportunity here to “be green” and foster healthy lifestyles.  With a relatively small investment, you could install a bike rack, promote it to your tenants, and maybe create some good will as a landlord.

Lastly, think about how to accomplish the same objective in a different manner.  I’m on the Board of a professional networking organization.  We offer a free year of membership to members who lose their employment.  We were recently approached by an individual fitting the application criteria of the group that was moving back into our area after being down-sized from his out of state employer.  He found out about our group and petitioned to be given a free membership to get plugged back in to our community.

The ensuing Board discussion centered around a real desire to help this person tempered by the “but if we did it for him…” question.  With the current economy combined with the popularity of our group, this was a very real challenge.  Just as the discussion was wrapping up with a decision to not give this person membership, one of the Board members came up with an idea that maybe we could institute a program or policy whereby job seekers fitting our membership criteria but weren’t previously members, could attend a one or two meetings and be given an opportunity to give a short overview of themselves.  Good for the group – a member might find just the new employee they were looking for.  Good for the individual – they get access to potential employers and an opportunity to introduce themselves.  Good for the Board – we get to do the “right thing” and will most likely get a paying member sometime in the future.

So there are four solid ways I’ve come up with to respond to a valid question that I previously saw as a negative roadblock in discussions.  Over to you, readers.  Is the “if we did it for them…” challenge one that you’ve struggled with?  Regardless, what techniques do you use to get past this roadblock if the proposal on the table is one you are passionate about?

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

If we did it for them…

After that event, I saw Rob quite often and finally took the time to get to know him a little better.  Rob is one half of Felber & Felber Marketing (the handsome half I’m sure he would say).  Having got to know Rob, and hear him speak a couple times now, I have come to understand what many in the region already knew – Rob and his company are a great resource to entrepreneurs and businesses of all stripes as they look to promote their company.

We often tell entrepreneurs that one of the benefits we offer as part of our coaching services is connecting them to “entrepreneurially-friendly” service providers.  Rob made it easy for me to put him in that category.  And it just so happens that Rob himself is both entrepreneurial, and friendly.  You couldn’t ask for a better combination.

So, on with the interview…

DCO: Tell us about your company.  What was the genesis of your business?

We started Felber & Felber Marketing initially as a production company helping other agencies with print production, promotional materials and the sourcing of promotional products and packaging. There was a specific moment when I was discussing a new $50,000 project with an agency and I said …”wait, before we discuss this one, how did the client do on the last one?” All the agency could say was that the client did not complain. There was no discussion or even tracking of goals. It was at that point we “became one (an agency, that is),” focusing on measurable marketing strategies. Through the years we added copy development, graphic design, public relations and social media services, all with the a focus on a measurable result for our clients.

DCO: Describe the moment when you knew you were an entrepreneur? What defined that moment and how did it feel?

The moment you realize you are an entrepreneur, for me, came at several moments. The first is when you realize you cannot work for someone else and really enjoy the freedom that comes with making your own schedule and not having to report to anyone. The other “moment of truth” is a phrase I often use when someone says how great it must be to own your own business. I often reply that you are not an entrepreneur (or true business owner) unless you have “sweated making payroll” and have people depending on you.

These moments in time, while often exhilarating (like closing a big deal) can often be filled with fear, such as when signing a long term lease, adding staff or buying equipment.

DCO: What marketplace issue are you solving and for whom?

Felber & Felber Marketing helps business to business manufacturers tell their story to the right person, at the right time so our clients make more money. We utilize publicity, printed communication and social media to help our clients effectively communicate to prospects and the media that cover their industry.

DCO: How do you define success?  At what point do you consider yourself successful?

While success and the definition changes often, I have come to realize that success is a journey. It is not about one particular client or their cover story in a lead publication, but about our continual growth as an agency, the development of our people and the client friendships we develop along the way.  While judgment by peers and family often defines one’s success, my view is and will remain the simple fact: Do I enjoy what I am doing, am I good at it and are people willing to compensate me for it.

DCO: What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?

To be a successful entrepreneur is not waiting until some defined moment in time to give back to your community, your industry or networking colleagues. I get a charge out of helping people connect, especially for business (of course without remuneration….that would just taint the process in my mind). Give with no strings attached.

DCO: Entrepreneurs are almost always starved for capital.  How have you funded your business so far, and where do you go from here?

While we have become increasingly aware of funding sources such as venture and angel funding, our firm has never taken that route. One of the mottos I live by (and infuse into my teaching) is that “nothing happens until someone sells something.” That being said, we have bootstrapped our way to growth by selling our services and not building debt.

DCO: How has being an entrepreneur affected your family/social life?

Family, work and social are integrated into everything I (we) do. Whether it is volunteering on a charity committee, speaking to a professional organization or attending a social gathering, we are always networking. By being aware of others needs, whether personal, business or both, our lives become enriched. Famous salesperson Zig Ziglar states that “if you help people get what they want, you will get what you want.” So, by enriching our lives with people from multiple venues we build a personal community that pays dividend spiritually, economically and physically.

DCO: Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?

I have always been a fan of the irreverent yet fun and success path the people of Southwest Airlines have forged. They keep it real, respect each other and are profitable. They seem to really know how to take care of each other and their families.  (Rob suggests reading the book Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success.

DCO: What kind of support do you look for and where do you find it?

The support I look for the most is business networking support. I find this support through countless networking groups both in person and online. I often look for groups that are NOT filled with my peers, but rather industries and people that are completely different from mine. They folks however have the ability to connect me to CEO’s and VP of marketing in manufacturing companies.

DCO: What stops you from giving up when you get frustrated?

Running a business, just like working in one, can be filled with frustrations and disappointments. I often try to stay grounded by realizing there are tons of people that do not have a choice in what they do, where they live or for that matter how they live. Also, having multiple experiences helps you react to new and not-so-new challenges that come with the daily life of a CEO.

Thanks for taking the time to spend some time with me Rob.  Here’s wishing you continued success in the future.

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

10 Questions with… Rob Felber

So instead of stand around and say “twitter’s stupid”, I created an account a while back and gave it a spin.  I’m a pragmatist at heart, and in my mind there’s no better way to judge the value of something until you try it yourself.  Of course, there are limits to that philosophy (electric chair?), but the great thing about the state of technology these days is how easy it is to try things out.

I haven’t been a power-user of twitter, nor have I sat on the sidelines.  In this post, instead of talk about the value of the service, I thought I’d list four “truths” about twitter that I found to be misconceptions.

Misconception #1 – You have to post (yes, I know, “tweet”) a lot.

I didn’t find this to be the case.  I only log in to twitter two to three times a week, and I don’t leave a comment every time (but I may leave multiple comments).  Also, if I find something of particular interest I may log in very quickly just to leave that comment.  So on average, I’m putting up probably no more than four tweets a week.

I find this level of activity enough to get a general sense of how the service works so that I could make a determination of whether it’s a fit for my business and ways I might use it.

Misconception #2 – twitter is a huge time sink.

This is one that I always laugh at.  Neither twitter, nor facebook, nor LinkedIn are in charge of your time.  You are.  You can put as much or as little time into twitter as you’d like.  If you see/get value out of it, use it.  If you don’t, get off of it.  But it should only take as much time as you decide to put into it.

That said, there are a couple ways to use twitter without really even putting any time into it.  With the twitter search feature, you can set up a search for your company name, your brand, yourself, or whatever.  Once the search is setup the way you want, subscribe to it’s RSS feed and you can stay in the loop without ever logging in to twitter.  For example, here’s a search on my name which should show you some recent twitter mentions.

Of course, if you’re smart and you starting finding your company showing up in twitter, you’ll figure out a way to capitalize on that.  Especially if the mentions aren’t favorable…

Misconception #3 – You need a huge amount of followers to get any value.

Obviously, if your goal on twitter is to create a huge amount of traction for your website, company, events, etc. then the more followers you have the better.  However, don’t forget about the viral nature of the Internet.  Sometimes it’s the quality of your followers, not the quantity.  After a brief but valuable dinner meeting with an entrepreneur a few weeks ago, he started following me on twitter.  Turns out he’s fairly well-connected on twitter and I probably added ten new followers that saw that he had followed me.

Also, don’t forget about “re-tweeting”, where a twitter follower of yours re-posts your tweet, exposing it to their entire network.  You may have only thirty followers, but if one of them re-tweets to their one thousand followers it’s just the same as if you did it.

Misconception #4 – There is no business benefit to using twitter

We could debate this one all day long and many in the media and blogosphere have decided to do just that.

Here’s the thing – IT’S A TOOL!  No different than PCs, spreadsheets and bicycles.  If you can find a way to have it benefit your business, great.  If you think it’s stupid and the end of civilization as we know it, great.   Just decide if it works for you and get on with it.

Personally, I think there are some fantastic opportunities with twitter for companies both large and small.  Because of the intimacy of contact with your followers, and the fact that they choose to follow you – there are some very interesting approaches to using this tool.  Why not create a twitter search to find out when someone is bad-mouthing your product or service online, then have your customer service department resolve the issue online for everyone to see.  Why not offer specials of the week only made available to your online followers?   I follow @startupstudent on twitter who tweets an inspirational quote every single day.  What a great way to be memorable.

Bottom Line

I think the bottom line here is that you don’t have to be a big company to get value out of twitter, and you don’t necessarily have to put tons of time into the effort.  You do have to understand the tool and how it works, then figure out if it makes sense for your business.  Given the level of intimacy with your followers twitter offers to deliver, combined with exponential potential of your follower’s follower’s followers – I think any smart business owes twitter at least a look.

What about you?  Are you using twitter?  What businesses have you seen using twitter successfully and what have they done?

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

4 twitter misconceptions (IMHO)

Two separate conversations over the last week have convinced me.  That higher power is: Clarity.

Entrepreneur #1 is focused in the telecommunications market and has developed a product based on intimate knowledge of a particular platform.  Given the entrepreneur’s expertise with the platform, several proprietary elements of the product have given the product good initial adoption within the market, with several thousand users.  Based on that success the entrepreneur had hired a resource to port the product to a second platform.

I introduce the entrepreneur to another (non-competing) startup in the same space with broader market knowledge.  They love the first entrepreneur’s product and see several applications for it, perhaps a joint venture.  However, their feedback points out that the secondary market they are trying to enter, while currently much larger, has much more competition and existing solutions.

The entrepreneur achieves clarity:

• Discontinues work on the new platform development
• Begins work immediately on pricing strategies and product road map
• Embraces a strategy of owning one market versus merely having a competing product in multiple markets

Entrepreneur #2 recently received some seed funding to begin work on her startup.  The entrepreneur has fantastic business skills and is doing a good job of supplementing technical skills onto her team when needed.  From our conversations, this entrepreneur is doing all the right things and making good progress.

The entrepreneur attends an industry-focused conference in New York.  Not only does she make a couple important contacts, but the content of the conference proves to be critical in developing her understanding of the direction, impact and business models within the sector her startup is focused on.  The conference helped her clarity around not only how to develop her startup, but how to secure her next round of funding.

So clarity is the whetstone that hones your focus and hard work and potentially takes your startup to it’s next level.  No one can tell you how to acquire clarity or where to look for it, but make sure to make the continuing search for clarity a priority.

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

Stories from the field: Clarity

Bonus #1 is Furqan offers a Google Bundle of the blogs so you can grab them all at once if you’d like.

Bonus #2 is at the start of the post, he also links to a huge list of VC blogs.

Go, grab and enjoy!

UPDATE 6/8/09 – altgate maps blogging entrepreneurs to twittering entreprenueurs, with follower counts.

UPDATE 6/12/09 – The ultimate twitter list for online marketers. 100 Tech twitter accounts you should be following.

UPDATE 7/21/09 – 100 entrepreneurs to follow, and learn from, on twitter.

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

List of entrepreneur-penned blogs

What the hell happened to Customer Service?

I trust I don’t need to make my point here.  Well before our “current economic conditions” it seemed like good quality customer service, where the individual involved truly cared about you and how they represented their brand (your company!), was on the decline.  Wait – we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well here so there’s no need for me to mince words.  I think good quality customer service has pretty much disappeared.

Which leads me to that thing that’s rattling around in my head.

I believe honest, caring, helpful, engaged customer service may well be the single biggest opportunity for your company right now.  Especially during these tough times.  It’s one thing to lower your prices; customers are expecting (demanding?) that.  But to deliver your products at a lower cost, while providing great customer service, now that’s a recipe for growth.

A while back I talked about something called the Net Promoter Score.  Now while I’m not advocating we all implement this in our organizations, what would your honest answer be to the following question:

On a scale of 1 – 10 (ten being superb), where do you think your customers would rate your service?

If we’re all being honest, I think the answer for many of us might be a sobering realization.  Given the fact that none of us are without competition, does providing customer service at a 6 or even 7 level really provide an exit barrier, especially in these days of cost-cutting and special promotions?

I, for one, don’t think so.

Still with me?  Take ten minutes for a quick exercise.  Pull out a piece of paper and write down every area or role within your company that interacts with your customers, keeping in mind there are probably many non-human interactions.  Based your your knowledge of your company, give each of them a quick rating of poor or below average, average, above average and excellent from your customer’s perspective. Don’t over-think this, there are no right answers and we’re not going to compare to industry benchmarks.

Now, answer me three simple questions:

1. Are you comfortable with your ratings?
2. Did you find any areas that are under-performing that represent critical customer interactions?
3. Now, for each of those critical under-performing interactions, put on your thinking cap and come up with some ideas on how you could raise their score with minimal capital expenditures?

I don’t have the answers, and I don’t know your company.  But I’d be willing to bet this little roadmap gave you some ideas.  You don’t always have to spend money to grow your business.

I’d love to hear your thoughts below, especially if you went through our little exercise.  Feel free to share anonymously, but please – share!  Also, please use the “Share This” link to send this to friends and colleagues you think have something to say on this topic.  My sense is there is a meaningful conversation to be had.

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

Building your brand through Customer Service

I meet with lots of entrepreneurs.  Many of them fade away after that initial meeting.  A small percentage of them become coaching clients.  Some of those go on to actually found their business.  It was apparent from that first meeting that there was no doubt that Wendy would eventually found her company.

Wendy and I continued to meet off and on, and I introduced her to a couple of regional funding sources that were good fits for some initial seed money.  Meanwhile, she continued to work on her business plan, network, and refine her message.  When some funding finally came through earlier this year, Wendy quit her job and set up her home office for Green Kids Rock.  I had breakfast with Wendy a week or two ago and she couldn’t be happier.

So given Wendy’s passion, her commitment, and her infectious optimism I couldn’t think of a better entrepreneur for this inaugural “10 Questions With…”, a new, regular feature here at DCO.

Green Kids Rock is a subscription-based online game and website created to inspire kids to take action to restore our planet.  The game replicates real world ecological challenges, with players embarking on meaningful “virtual” missions via a created avatar. Green Kids Rock is intended to be experienced by kids and grown-ups alike, empowering them to go beyond conserving and recycling in their efforts to be green.  Green Kids Rock will donate proceeds to environmental non profits and will champion kids so they may be heard from our legislators.

So, on with the interview…

DCO: Tell us about your company. What was the genesis of your business?

I was watching my son play a popular online game. The format, entertainment and engagement qualities were superior, but I felt that the game promoted materialism, even if unintentionally. It was then I thought, wow, why couldn’t a similar format be used to champion the most important cause of our lives?

DCO: Describe the moment when you knew you were an entrepreneur? What defined that moment and how did it feel?

It was actually two moments in one day. I knew when I circled the day I was quitting my job on my calendar. Later that same day I bought Chinese for dinner and my fortune cookie read, “May your dreams be greater than your fears.” It was a good day, and I jumped. I used to always ask other entrepreneurs what compelled them to jump-now I know. It’s hard to define to others. It’s like explaining what it’s like to be a parent to someone who’s thinking about doing it. In both cases, it’s the best thing you’ll ever do, but you have to experience it for yourself.

DCO: What marketplace issue are you solving and for whom?

I have several customers and the issues vary. The primary customer is children 6-11 who need a vehicle to help them voice their concerns-it’s their planet once we’re gone and yet they have very little power to affect change. My other two customer groups are green enthusiasts and parents who seek out educational toys and entertainment for their kids.

DCO: How do you define success?

It’s waking up and being excited about starting work at 730am and going hard until 3pm when I pick my son up at school, and having the flexibility to start back up when he goes to bed. It’s about doing something that expresses my personality and my passion…and something I’m proud to share with my son. This is an example I never had with my parents. I’m sorry I waited this long. As far as the money goes, I’m not worried about it just now. I feel I can’t fail with the passion and focus I have for this project..

DCO: At what point do you consider yourself successful?

I do have a revenue number in mind, but it’s more than that. I will be successful when my business is self-sustaining, making a measurable impact on the world, and allowing me a lifestyle that puts my family first.

DCO: What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?

…a little naiveté, a clear vision and a task-master work ethic.

DCO: What are three pieces of advice you would give to others considering becoming an entrepreneur?

Jump in with two feet, meaning, quit your day job. Do what’s necessary to prepare financially. It was really the turning point for me. I just couldn’t get off the ground living two lives, and not at the expense of my family. Maybe this is doable for single people. My decision to leave my corporate life has empowered me to accomplish a lot in very little time.

Networking is critical. Learn from the mistakes of others–great connections save money and a lot of heartache.  Be open to change. There are lots of brilliant, generous people willing to show you a better way to execute your plan. Don’t miss an opportunity.

DCO: What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?

In work and the corporate world, my superiors always said there was no such thing as a dumb question or a dumb idea, except they didn’t really mean it. And often times, they were wrong. I love being empowered to explore all my zany ideas and being the one to decide if they are in fact stupid.

DCO: If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?

What are some good strategies for collaborating and outsourcing work when you are a company of one?  (Thanks Wendy, I’ll add this to the list).

DCO: What’s the biggest mess you’ve dealt with this year?

A trademark opposition…I tried to do everything myself on the cheap and got in over my head. I’m working through it, but I’ve learned it pays to talk to several attorneys…several anybodies regardless of the service you require. I spoke to three attorneys and received three conflicting recommendations; I spoke to two more and finally got the advice that worked for my situation and budget. If your gut tells you someone isn’t a good fit, no amount of discounting will make that work. With a little persistence, you can likely locate the quality of work you need at a discount or with barter.

DCO: What stops you from giving up when you get frustrated?

My son’s tuition bill…and the realization that the alternative is to go back to a career that is no longer meaningful to me.

Thank you for taking the time to spend some time with us Wendy.  We’ll look forward to an update on Green Kids Rock progress in the future.

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

10 Questions With… Green Kids Rock!

David,

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

– Some Contact

There’s nothing wrong with accepting the default message and it’s certainly a benefit of LinkedIn that they fill in a professional greeting on your behalf so you don’t have to worry about it.  But think of the impact to the people you invite if you took 10 quick seconds to personalize that invite before you sent it:

Wendy,

It was a pleasure to meet you yesterday at That Event.  It sounds like you are doing great things over at Your Company.  I look forward to staying in touch.

- Dave Crain

As you see above, I employ three simple strategies when I send a LinkedIn invitation:

1. I remind the person where we met.   If it’s anyone worth connecting to, they probably attend plenty of meetings and are introduced to lots of new contacts.  Help them remember the context of where you met.
2. I Compliment them.  Everyone likes to be complimented.  Not only does it help combat the impersonal nature of an electronic invitation, it sets the relationship off on a positive note.
3. I sign-off with my full name.  LinkedIn defaults to your first name as the signature.  I always change this to my full name.  I think using only your first name is a bit informal.  Also, since many of the people you are inviting you may have only met once, and then briefly, using your full name will help jog their memory as to who you are.  Finally, for you thought leaders out there, your name is your personal brand so take the opportunity to reinforce it.

Three simple tips that should only take you a few seconds to use, but will definitely help you stand out from your peers.  I currently have around 200 LinkedIn contacts and I can only remember a couple that personalized their invitation.

Anyone else have something unique or personal they do on LinkedIn to stand out from the crowd?

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

10 seconds to stand out

I’ve been on this Board for over five years and had seriously been thinking of not continuing on it.  It had nothing to do with not feeling like we hadn’t accomplished anything.  During my Board tenure, we increased chapter membership well over 300%, raised participation in monthly member meetings to around 40% from a dismal 20% or so, and I was personally responsible for bringing a highly successful CIO Forum to our region (attended by close to 200 practitioners in it’s first year).  We’ve also begun some important educational outreach initiatives into our inner-city communities.  All in all, I’m very proud of our achievements and feel fortunate to have been part of such a highly functioning team.

My reasons for possibly leaving were more tied to two reasons.  First, the organization is for technology leaders, and now that it’s been close to two years since I was a Director of IT, I felt like I wasn’t tied as closely to our subject matter as in the past.  Another reason was simple time demands.  As I get more and more involved in entrepreneurial activities, I have sometimes felt like there has often not been enough time to devote to all my pursuits.  There is also another couple organizations I would like to get involved with, and when I added it all up, I really questioned whether it would leave me any personal time for my own pursuits.  So freeing up some time from the SIM Board seemed like a reasonable approach.

As SIM is focused on technology leadership, I’ve served on the Board with several prominent area executives, many of whom I consider a mentor.  To help me think through my decision, I reached out to one of them for his thoughts on how he evaluates his Board involvements, as I know he is involved in several Boards in addition to a demanding job.

I was expecting a talk centered around the time cost of involvement weighed against networking and career issues.  What I got was refreshingly honest and personable that I wanted to share it with you here.  I wouldn’t have expected any less from this person, that’s why I reached out to him in the first place.  But his response really made me feel good that there are still leaders out there that are values-based in their approach to business.  Here is how this person approaches becoming (and staying) involved with a Board:

• Do I believe in their mission?
• What needs accomplished?  Is it achievable and can I contribute?
• Is the group making a difference?
• Do I like the majority of people on the Board and can I get along with them?

Two things jumped out at me immediately.  First, no thought was given to time commitment.  Obviously, we all have that equation in the back of our head, but what I’ve found from working with a number of successful executives is that they tend not to think of the time involved so much as the results.  Which leads me to my second observation.  Results are not only more of a measure of whether to get involved or not, but also more tied to the group’s ability to work together than any one individual’s ability to make things happen.

So what did I decide?

Based on my conversation with my mentor, I have decided to stay on the Board.  I believe in our mission, we are getting great things done, and we have a good team that enjoys working together.  What I communicated to our Board President though is that I need to switch roles.  For the past four years I have been functioning as our Board’s 1st VP responsible for all member meeting programming.  If you’ve ever put together a speaker schedule you know it’s a lot of work.  While it has been very gratifying as the programming I’ve pulled together has largely been credited as one of the reasons for our chapter’s growth, given other priorities at the moment, I’m not sure I have the time to devote to take it to the next level.  Plus, frankly I need a break.

I’ve tagged this post under both “Growth Leadership” and “Leadership Development” as I think there are lessons here for both.  As leaders, the issue of personal time and life/work balance are different I think than for others.  We have long accepted that large, gray space between life and work, and realize work is not a 9-5 occupation.  As a leader we push ourselves to do more, hoping that inspires others to do more along with us.  We, hopefully, focus less on the time we are committing than the results we are generating.  That is the growth lesson that I learned out of this decision.

What do you think of my mentor’s guidance?  Are you on a Board, or Board(s)?  What criteria do you use to decide where and how deeply to get involved?

This is a post from: DaveCrainOnline.com. If you liked this post, and haven't done so already, you can sign up to receive future posts via E-Mail. If you prefer RSS, here's my feed.

Thinking through commitment