Coincidentally, I received an email a few years ago from Bob Reiss, A Harvard Professor in entrepreneurship. He shared how we had the same name. Soon after we spoke and built a friendship out of respect out of working on two sides of the same coin of growth: me interviewing CEOs of enterprises, Bob teaching […] Read more »
Ways to Discover Great Sales Reps
There are many ways to find productive independent sales reps for your company including referrals from existing reps, industry-specific associations, customers, employment companies that match reps and manufacturers, industry magazines and trade shows, ads, social media, etc. All of these work. However, I have discovered another way for locating high-quality ones that you can’t just […] Read more »
Why Sales Reps Are Assets for Manufacturers
This is a Guest Blog written by Jeff Simon, CEO and Founder of RepHunter who facilitates Manufacturers and Sales Reps finding each other. If you are the manufacturer or distributor of a product, you know that a good sales staff increases in importance as you grow. When you are just starting out, wearing the sales hat yourself may still work, but it eventually becomes difficult to juggle the unique skill set and travel that sales requires with the other responsibilities required of an entrepreneur. At some point, it becomes more useful to have a salesperson whose focus is exclusively set upon finding new and servicing and growing existing buyers for your product. Read more »
Testing…. Crucial for Small and Large Companies
Last year I wrote a blog on Testing. . .Reduces Risk and Maximizes Success. It was geared to small Business. I said, “Large companies can absorb a failed product. Small company failures can be fatal. Now I would like to focus on two very large entities who neglected to test their ideas and paid a […] Read more »
No Trivial Matter
The below article was posted by the HBS Alumni Publication about the case study on Bob Reiss’ former company, R&R. No Trivial Matter By Garry Emmons It was 1983, and Bob Reiss (MBA 1956) was looking for a new game to play. A Brooklyn native and former basketball star at Columbia University who had become a successful entrepreneur […] Read more »
An Open Letter to Management of Major US Companies
Dear Managers: The NY Times on May 26th, 2013, in their lead editorial titled “A Is for Avoidance” with a sub-headline of “Apple Is the Latest Example of how American Multinationals Avoid Taxes” continued the demonizing of American business. They specifically mention Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Starbucks, Hewlett Packard, and General Electric for using aggressive […] Read more »
Partner with Established Brands to Build Your Own
You are known for the company you keep (as well as the company you are). There are several ways to bask in reflected glory. For example, you can run an ad for your product featuring your most prestigious customers. There’s some chance that those customers will kick in some money to support your ad, but […] Read more »
Closeouts. . .A Fact of Life
Even if your product has a long and happy run in the marketplace, it’s likely to reach the end of its run eventually, and leave you with a significant inventory on hand. Welcome to your first closeout! Think of this as an entrepreneurial rite of passage: If you’re in the game long enough, you’re almost […] Read more »
Interpreting the Numbers for Better Decision Making
Entrepreneurs do not love risk and express this dislike by devoting energy and brain power in determining risk and then deciding whether to proceed or not. Before they would abort, the smart Entrepreneurs would first look to minimize or eliminate the risk by Partnering, Sharing, Mitigating, Testing, etc. Analyzing the numbers can be a vital […] Read more »
Profits
Your ultimate goal is to make your product yield a profit. Obvious, right? So much so that it’s not worth mentioning? Well, yes and no. I’m always surprised to discover how many entrepreneurs take their eyes off this ball, elementary as it is. So I’ll go ahead and restate the obvious: The sustainability of your […] Read more »
Solve Your Sales Problem
Small businesses, particularly in their early stages, have two big problems. Selling is a learnable skill, and you don’t need a sales gene to be good at it. 1) Access to customers. The business owners are new to their industry, probably inexperienced, and have not developed the savvy to secure appointments with important potential customers. […] Read more »
Managing Your Inventory
“too much carryover inventory can wipe away all your hard-earned profits and wreck your cash flow” For those who sell products, one of the key challenges in responding to a flow of reorders is keeping a large enough inventory on hand—but not too large. The constant dilemma you face is that you know your customer […] Read more »
Product Knockoffs— One Idea to Combat
If your product is very successful and if you have no legal way of protecting it—which is true, in most cases—then why not knock yourself off before someone else does? Put yourself in the knockoff artist’s shoes. How would he or she copy your product? In most cases, they will look to make it less […] Read more »
Packaging A Major Factor in the Sale
Many times, the packaging of the product is as important as the product itself. Of course, if you’re making a product like industrial machinery, this may not be true. But in the case of consumer products, packaging can be an overwhelmingly important element. Perhaps the most extreme case involves products bought by collectors, such as […] Read more »
Hiring the Right People
Okay, let’s assume that you’ve got your idea, your business structure, and your money in hand. The next thing you’ve got to get your hands on is good people. In many ways, this is the scarcest commodity of all. Before you hire, you have to figure out: • what skills you’re looking for, and […] Read more »
Publicity: A Wild Card for Small Business
Publicity is the great wild card for small businesses. Certainly, advertising can be effective. However, a story in the media about you, your product, or your company generally carries far more weight and legitimacy than any paid for ads. Such a story is likely to reach both consumers and any intermediate customers, such as retailers. […] Read more »
TESTING Reduces Risk and Maximizes Success
Oftentimes entrepreneurs–blinded by their belief in their new product idea which is reinforced by their loved ones–lunge full force forward in the production and marketing of their can’t miss product. They will invest in some or all of an optimistic quantity, expensive brochures, displays, molds, public relations campaign, advertising, and more. All this, based on […] Read more »
How Small Companies Can Sell Large Customers
Competition for customers in most industries is extremely intense. This is exacerbated if the customer is a large one and your product is not particularly unique or patent protected. Your customers are also in a high pitched battle with their competitors. This can be seen in your everyday life. Look at the competition in cars, […] Read more »
Business Incubators Can Be Key to the Success of Qualifying Small Businesses
If you are a start-up company and you qualify, incubators can be a fantastic resource for you in your Bootstrapping pursuit of success. They provide the “help of others” part of Bootstrapping and the “limited resources” component of our initial definition of Bootstrapping (to pursue success with limited resources and with the help of others). Here is […] Read more »
Mentors – Free Small Business Consulting
One of the best ways to start and grow a small business is to get expert advice. I’m not referring here to paid consultants, a luxury that most early stage and small companies can’t afford. (When you can afford the right ones, by the way, they can be an excellent investment.) Instead, I’m referring here to getting a mentor of one kind or another. Read more »