I was very impressed with the mentor.  He seemed very eager to help the young man succeed.  I thought to myself that he is exactly the kind of person I am looking for in a mentor.  I wondered if he would be willing to take on a similar mentoring role with me.  I read the article again to see if it mentioned his contact information.  It didn’t.  All I had was his name and where he worked (BDC).  I then went on the BDC website to search for his name.  Nothing either.  I could start calling each BDC branch one at a time, but it would be time consuming. Besides, I wouldn’t know what to say to him.  Personally, I’m a big fan of email.  I like getting a conversation going through email first before a face to face meeting.  It allows the exchange of basic information.  There is also less pressure on both sides and it is less intrusive (I find it annoying when I receive a call from someone, who wasn’t referred to me by somone I know, asking to meet me…it doesn’t seem natural).  If the email exchange goes well, I then suggest a meeting in person.

The problem here was that I couldn’t find the gentleman’s email address anywhere.  I then had a great idea…a real ‘long shot’.  Anyone with a corporate email address will notice that  it usually follows one of several patterns:  lastname.firstname@company.com, firstname@company.com, “x”lastname@company.com (where ‘x’ is the first letter of the first name), etc.  What I decided to do was to send an email to all these different email combinations, hoping at least one of them would hit.  I kept the email very simple.  I talked briefly about my startup and the progress I made so far.  I also included a link to my website, in case he was interested in learning more about me.  Here is the email I sent:

Like I mentioned, this was a long shot.  The odds of reaching this person was small and the odds he would reply even smaller.  However, within a few days, the gentleman replied.  Not only was he willing to answer my questions, he insisted we meet in person the following week.  Our meeting went extremely well.  Pending some administrative stuff, we will start our mentoring partenership shortly.  This just goes to show that every once in a while, we need to take long shots in life (whether in our personal or professional lives).  It’s only our fear of rejection that is keeping us from taking these risks.

Why not just pick up the phone and ask to speak with the president of a big company to explain why your product or service can make his or her life easier?  Don’t think it will work?  It worked for a friend of mine who has his own business planning software company.  A few years ago, he called up the then President and CEO of Corel, Michael Cowpland.  He didn’t know Mr. Cowpland in person so he called the general number and talked to the receptionist.  Amazingly, there were very few barriers and within a few minutes, he was speaking directly to Mr. Cowpland himself.  He introduced himself and explained how including his software alongside Corel Wordperfect could make Corel’s product offering more competitive and help differentiate if from MS Office.  Mr. Cowpland asked him to visit his office that same afternoon.  My friend then met with Mr. Cowpland, along with senior members of his product development team.  Shortly thereafter, he won a licensing contract to include a copy of his business planning software with Corel Wordperfect.

Take long shots every once in a while (i.e. huge potential payoff, little chance of success but zero downside).  You’d be surprised at how a seemingly crazy idea may end up being one of the greatest decisions you’ve ever made.  Someone once told me that when you take risks, things happen.  You disrupt the status quo and set things in motion.  You create ripples in otherwise calm waters. Yet, one of those ripples can potentially transform itself into a powerful wave.  It’s true that the odds are not in your favor.  But then again, what have you got to lose?

I previously mentioned a great book on small business marketing called Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch.  In it, he introduces a great concept called the marketing hourglass.  In marketing, we often hear about the marketing funnel.  where businesses “attempt to generate leads on a broad scale and then funnel them toward becoming a client with increased contact and content”.  Though useful, it leaves out a critical part, namely, what to do with clients once they have made a purchase.

What many new businesses don’t realize is that the majority of their growth will most likely come from:  (1) selling premium products and services to existing clients and (2)  the referrals generated by theses same clients.  I was talking to my programmer recently and asked him about how he markets his business and generates leads.  He told me he doesn’t do any marketing.  All his business comes from word of mouth or referrals.  I asked another friend of mine who operates a successful translation company with several employees.  He told me the exact same thing.    In both instances, I was expecting to hear about marketing strategies related to advertising, cold calling, B2B marketing, or today’s catch word, social networking.To take into account the power of repeat business and referrals, the author of DTM introduces the concept of themarketing hourglass.  Similar to the marketing funnel, it exposes your potential clients or suspects to your marketing program.  In addition, it offers additional products and services once they become clients (i.e. make a purchase), thus the idea of the hourglass.

For example, lets say you have have a flower shop.  To new clients, flowers for personal use  may be your only product offering.  To repeat clients, however (with whom you have established rapport and trust), you can start offering premium products (e.g. premium priced flowers, decorations for wedding, special events, etc.).  This is where the bulk of your profits will be generated in the future.  Not only does it diversify your product lines, it also employs what I like to call the ‘poker mentality’.  Poker players will often show strength (by being cocky or trying to intimidate others) when in fact, they have a very weak hand.  Likewise, they will pretend to have a weak hand when in fact, they have cards that will send everyone home early.  The lesson here is deception and it can be used to your advantage.  To your competitors, you’re just a ‘mom and pop’ flower shop selling pots of flowers.  In reality, however, you have an arsenal of products and services up your sleeve that you mostly market to your repeat clients.

Start employing an ‘hourglass marketing strategy’ rather a ‘funnel marketing strategy’.  The latter is a short term model used to generate quick profits.  The former is a long term model that ensures the continued profitability of your business.

Every company needs a strong UVP.  Benefits include greater differentiation from competitors, an increase in the quantity and quality of leads, and greater market share.  Once again, remember to include tangible results in your UVP.  Statements like “the most technologically advanced system in the market” and “best in its class” don’t mean much in today’s world.  Every other company uses a similar statement and there is no way of knowing who is telling the truth and who isn’t. Ask yourself:  “What makes me different from everyone else?”, “What need am I satisfying for my target market that others have not addressed?”  You can also ask your existing clients.  Their perspectives on why they do business with you might point you in the right direction.  The following is an example of a great value proposition:

“Our company is the exclusive provider of patent-pending project management software for paving contractors, saving U.S. contractors over $34M in 2005.”

The statement is specific.  It sets the company apart (exclusive provider, patent-pending software) and it demonstrates tangible results ($34M in savings in 2005).  It answers the questions who, what, and why all in one sentence.  Here are a few other good ones:

“Tectronica offers solutions that will improve productivity by 22%.”

“Our clients are able to reduce staff by 18% and maintain productivity levels.  In most cases, their productivity actually increases.”

“Our clients have experienced pay back periods of just nine months when investing in our technology.”

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games.  Twenty six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I have failed over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.

- Unknown

I ran into a friend of mine a few weeks back.  The last time we had talked, he was still finishing up his PhD program in Political Science. As he explained, since our last discussion, he had grown tired of academic life.  He put his doctorate on hold and wanted to get some real work experience.  The tricky part was finding a related job in his field.  Teaching jobs were hard to come by and the current recession definitely didn’t make things easier.

With his bills piling up over the months, he did the one thing that he thought would bring in cash while giving him good leads for future teaching positions:  he became a cleaner at a college where he planned to one day teach.  It was an unusual job search method to the say the least.  However, he was already making progress.  He had apparently already met some big names in the college including the dean of the school, who was slightly confused when he found himself having an academic discussion with the same guy who empties his trash in the evening.

This encounter reminded me of what many entrepreneurs have to go through before seeing light at the end of the tunnel.  Take Mark Cuban for example, the billionaire technology entrepreneur who is now the owner of an NBA franchise, the Dallas Mavericks.  He left his first job after college not too long after he started (the boss did not appreciate his initiatives).  He then shared a 3 bedroom house with 5 of his friends for a few years while working at a computer sales company.  He was eventually fired for refusing to vacuum the place after a long shift.  His first taste of real success came after he launched a computer company with a former client more than 7 years later.

There’s no question that our society tends to glamorize success.  However, we often do it to the point where we completely forget (rather ignore) what the person had to go through before reaching his or her destination.  And more than likely, they were successful not because they were necessarily the brightest star in the field.  Rather, it was because they had a vision and were willing to endure everything along the way to realize it.  They were able to constantly re-adapt to changing circumstances and re-shape their original idea until they found the magical formula that worked.   Successful entrepreneurs are not flawless creatures by any means.  But one thing that new entrepreneurs should learn from these people is that the beginning is never easy.  One has to persevere and learn from the many setbacks along the way.

Perseverance is not something they teach in school.  You can have the greatest business plan in the world, but once you actually start your business and the roof over your head depends on the monthly revenues, it’s a whole new ball game.  So this post goes out to my friend, the PhD candidate who is carefully planning his next move while taking out the trash.  It also goes out to the countless people out there brave enough to let go of the daily comforts in order to pursue their passion or an exciting new opportunity.

By the way, the quote at the beginning of the post was not exactly by an unknown.  It’s by Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player in history.  If someone like him never had the luxury of avoiding setbacks, neither should the rest of us.