Entrepreneurial Fundamentals Part 01

Hello everybody, I wish to introduce all of you to my: “Entrepreneurial Fundamentals" Article Series

This article series is aimed at startup entrepreneurs, perpetual entrepreneurs and stagnant entrepreneurs.

The seasoned and serial entrepreneurs can also brush up their fundamentals. ( If you have any inputs, point those out and train me)

I have put these on paper from my field experience as an independent mentor and coach.

I have took the onus upon me to present “Entrepreneurial Fundamentals" in a easy to consume six part series.

This is the integral part of my 07 stages Of “Business Growth Roadmapping”

“Entrepreneurial Fundamentals" Article Series, will help you as an entrepreneur to understand self and other’s desire to contribute or withhold your business success.

You, ‘The Entrepreneur’ should Display, Follow & Cultivate These…

Core Traits, Absolute Musts,

Tips & Ways.

The order of these knowledge nuggets is intertwined and interdependent, So feel free to choose your own business growth mix.

Today we are going to explore:

 05 Entrepreneurial Fundamentals Nuggets

1.   Identify Your Ideal Client (Create an Ideal Client Spreadsheet).

2.   Manage Your Finances Judiciously

3.   Lend An Ear To Your Clients

4.   Let Your Clients Buy, Don’t Sell

5.   Always Be Networking

Identify Your Ideal Client (Create an Ideal Client Spreadsheet).

Not Everyone is your client. Follow these Four Core Steps Process to create your client’s buyer persona and align it to your products/service:

Step A

Determine the distinctions of your ideal client’s:

• Job title and description (influencer or passive consumer).
• Demographics (from where).
• Psychographics (habits and attitudes).
• Goal, challenges and pain points (What’s bothering them).
• Objections (what’s stopping them).
• Media consumption (tv, print, social media……).

Step B

Research your ideal client

• Interview existing clients, if there are any.
• Take stock of team’s and your knowledge about the clients.
• Dissect your interactions with the client to assemble usable tools and strategy
• Conduct on-line or in-person client surveys.
• Reverse engineer your successful competitor’s client outreach system.
• Study your industry’s influencers

Step C

Populate Ideal Client Spreadsheet

• Collate common themed information with coherent description.
• Create a real-life persona with the available inputs.
• Give the persona a story, which will lead them to buy from you.
• Connect the dots from both the seller’s and buyer’s viewpoint.

Step D

Define “Negative Personas” Too

• Where not to spend your energies.
• Their money will never leaves their wallets.
• Low returns on front-loaded heavy acquisition costs.
• Minimal and negative client lifetime value.
• Create wheat and chaff comparison benchmark and act on it.

Follow these ideal client identification tools to minimize loss, maximize profit and create a world class product or service

Manage Your Finances Judiciously

You must manage your finance very judiciously, as it is lifeblood of your venture. Follow these paths to it.

• Plan the project spend and stick to it.
• Every purchase or input must be vetted by the market.
• Negotiate vehemently, keep a stand-in for best alternatives.
• It’s a business venture, your neck is on the chopping block.
• Keep track of your financial coffers on daily/weekly/monthly basis.
• Imbibe your financial acumen as THE standard in your team.
• Remember your business partner is not your financial gatekeeper.
• Always trust, but verify your input costs

These inputs will help you to stretch every penny and have the wisdom to separate finances from personal relationships

 Lend An Ear To Your Clients

Create an official listening system (OLS) to capture your client’s genuine issues, inputs and complains. In a study of direct selling market scenarios, it was revealed 90% and above unsatisfied clients, do not register their feedback with the seller or service provider. You can safely assume that any 01 providing feedback is symbolically leading 9 other’s inputs. In this age of instant message propagation, you cannot afford to ignore any inputs.

Create & Implement these findings (and your own) to get full steam ahead.

• Get unfiltered and undiluted feedbacks (tamper-proof your OLS)
• Weigh /review the feedbacks against your excellence bench marks.
• Any small valid input is valuable, it’s a 03rd party perspective
• Take remedial actions, which are going to build your brand for the long haul.
• Appreciate your clients for the remedial inputs (make them the heroes).
• An extremely satisfied client will become your ‘Evangelist’ (help them to become one).
• Have a “No Feedback Left Unattended” attitude in you and your team.
• Path of your venture’s success is very much depended upon your ‘OLS’ 

If you take care of addressing your client’s input, your venture will always be a notch above your competition.

Ignore your clients genuine inputs, service issues and product complaint at your own perils.

Let Your Clients Buy, You Don’t Sell

The days of high-pressure selling is over. Your clients have already shed their naivety skins. They know what they want 90 percent of the time in buying situations. It is your job to control the other 10 percent of the sales scenario and help them buy.

These inputs that you will receive now, will assist or refresh your sales approach in the future.

• Let your clients buy (you just lead them to help themselves)
• Create the environment which will lead them to buy from you.
• You should be present, where your clients already are. (be in their face all the time)
• Let them sample your goods and service. (If possible)
• Assist those who have used your product to share their experiences
• Create freemium products for your prospective clients. (at low cost for you)
• Do soft promotion on mediums such as TV, radio or social media.
• Let your client get their friends and family involved (provide the client with soft benefits).
• Give a wide exposure to any positive client experiences pro-actively.

With these inputs, along with your own field experiences, you can create a better sales system.

Keep in mind, in this modern marketing era, those who provide the highest client education touch-points: ' Wins'.

 Always remind yourself to,

“Promote Your Products Softly and Accumulate Hard Cash

Always Be Networking

One of my mentors said: ‘No man is an island’. Human beings are social animals. It is very much true in life as well as in business. In this knowledge economy and battlefield, information is the sword and the shield. How do you use this arsenal for: to attack or to defend? Your solution to this problem very much depends on your peer support. The bigger the support system, the bigger the likelihood of your survival in this battlefield.

When you combine your current business networking strategies with below given ways and means, you will 10X your business impact / reach:

• Your network is directly proportionate to your net worth.
• Always seek to connect with higher level peers than you.
• Become a member of larger forum, where you are on the lowest rung.
• Create a mastermind with diverse industries leaders and peers.
• Shed your introversion, be bold and take a firm stance.
• Find 02 strong-willed leaders and connect them (be the connector).
• Influence others or align yourself with the influencers.

The proven best networking avenues : in-person, on the phone, and then on-line

I know it is a daunting task for a brand-new entrepreneur to start networking. A seasoned business person will have some valuable experiences and still get insights this article.

Let’s take a situation, where a mountaineer, sees the peak from the base of the highest mountains , it seems so high and invincible . The mountaineer also knows that at every upward climb , they will face less competition from other fellows and more from themselves.

Likewise, at every higher climb you will find less and less people like yourself ,who did started at the mountain's base once, twice or several times over. They dispense their wisdom only to those who do earn it and consider the achiever as a peer.

Please grow your network using these ways and means. Whenever you make a upward professional connection, look in the mirror and say to yourself:

“The Bigger My Network, The Bigger My Net Worth”

These nuggets are very much at the foundation of success with my clients and peers. On the way to helping 287+ clients, You will be surprise at, how many of the new and seasoned entrepreneurs lacks or just ignore these Entrepreneurial Fundamentals .

This is my sincere effort to share my wisdom with you the ‘Entrepreneur’

Dear all please share this post with more and more people

So that Everyone will benefit from this series for entrepreneurs.

I Welcome Your Comments, Questions and Feedbacks

Let us grow together and achieve the goals we strive for.

Thanks everyone for your encouragement

Praveen Uttekar, Your Business Growth Roadmapper