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How to know in advance if your business idea is likely to succeed

April 14, 2021 by Jim Connolly

Image: Toa Heftiba

Yesterday’s post attracted a lot of feedback. People wanted to know how to tell in advance if their business idea (product, service, opportunity, etc.,) is likely to spread and succeed.

To answer that question, let’s look at what happens when you share a truly exciting idea or opportunity with someone.

They lean forward as you’re talking. You have their attention. They’re listening intently.
Then they try and find a way to get involved with it. They can sense the promise of the opportunity. So they want in. For example, they’ll ask you if they can tell their friends about it or place a pre-order; you won’t have to ask them. That’s because great ideas have legs.

Reaction to an average or below average idea looks VERY different.

People nod politely.
Many will tell you they think you’re onto a winner.
But that’s about as far as it goes. Because average ideas lack legs. More about legs in a moment.

Why am I sharing this with you?

I hear from small business owners regularly, who’ve wasted time and money developing dud ideas, after misinterpreting the feedback they received. This need not happen to you, so long as you know what to look for.

Filter everything

Never make a commercial decision based on surface-level thinking. Filter everything for accuracy.

Before you accept any feedback, remember that people often tell you what they think you want to hear, rather than what they actually think. Their intentions are good. They want to encourage you or be supportive. But their misplaced kindness can lead you into a huge commercial loss if you accept it on a surface level.

As I said yesterday, it’s what people do that counts. Focus 95% on what they do when you tell them about your idea… and 5% on what they say.

Here’s how: Look for how eager they are to get involved, without prompting from you to take action. Just explain the idea clearly. Then watch!

For example.

If your idea is a business product or service and includes a pre-order option, did they want to pre-order without you asking?
Did they ask you for a second meeting?
Did they request a sample of the product?
And did they ask if you’d like to demo the idea or give a presentation to their colleagues, boss or friends?

The key is to be guided by what they do, far more than what they say. It’s a proven, time-tested way to see if your idea has legs or not.

Why are legs so important, Jim?

I’ll use the example of an idea for a new product or service.

If your idea has legs, it means it will spread from person to person by itself. Every viral product or service works this way. People learn about (whatever it is) and tell their friends. Their friends do the same… repeat. These products or services require far less marketing and are massively more profitable.
If your idea doesn’t have legs, growth only comes when you tell people about the product or service. It goes from you, to the marketplace. Ideas that lack legs require lots of advertising, promoting, networking and are drastically less profitable. Growth is slow, expensive, frustrating and time consuming.

So, get feedback from people. Especially those in your target market for the product or service. Look closely for signs that the idea has legs, by focusing on what people do. Are they leaning forward? Do they want to get involved? And remember that actions speak louder than words.

I know what you’re thinking…

At this point, business owners ask me whether it’s possible for their existing product or service, which lacks legs, to be transformed into a runaway success.

The answer is yes. Of course!

I do it every day, helping my clients pump massive extra value into their products or services, which gives it the legs required.

How to know what your clients and prospects truly want from you

April 13, 2021 by Jim Connolly

Give the marketplace what it wants. It seems easy enough.

Ask them what they want.
Provide them with what they want.

The trickiest part there, by a very long way, is step one. That’s because history assures us that time after time, people don’t tell us what they really want.

They tell us what they think we want to hear. They also tell us what they think makes them look smart. They sometimes tell us what they think makes them look considerate, edgy, unique, creative or kind.

If you really want to know what people think, you need to study what they do. Their actions speak louder and with greater honesty, than their words.

Take that into account, the next time you’re tempted to survey your clients or prospective clients. Heed what people do, far more than what they say.

How to be pushy. And still succeed

March 17, 2021 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

When it comes to being a pushy business owner, there are two ways to do it.

One of them works extremely well.

The other one doesn’t.

Allow me to explain.

1. You can push people

Pester them with cold calls.

Interrupt them with selfish requests.

Spam them.

Try and close the sale the first time you speak to them.

Hassle them for referrals at networking events.

Hound them on social networks.

2. You can push yourself

Expand your knowledge.

Refuse to settle for less than you truly want.

Do what’s right, even when it isn’t easy.

Do what your competitors avoid, because they think it’s too tricky.

Leave your comfort zone… regularly.

Focus on what you want rather than what you fear.

In short, when you push yourself, you move forward. When you push others, they push you back. All the way back.

Choose wisely my friend, and then push.

Stability Through Impact: Unlocking the full potential of your business

February 23, 2021 by Jim Connolly

There are 3 broad ways you can guide the direction of a business.

You can aim for stability.
You can aim for impact.
You can aim for stability through impact.

Here’s how those 3 options pan out, and why one of them gives you the best chance of fully unlocking your maximum potential.

Primary focus on stability

Business owners with a primary focus on stability, plan and act with a safety-first mindset. This often blocks them from making the improvements they need, even when their business isn’t growing. If something ‘kind of works a little’, they’ll hold onto it tight. They do, this rather than try something new with an infinitely greater potential to help them.

They want things to improve. Of course they do. But they want things to improve, without them making any meaningful changes. Change equals risk. And risk feels scary. Too scary.

Primary focus on impact

Business owners with a primary focus on impact, plan and act with a mindset that’s driven by the desire to make a meaningful difference. They have a vision of the impact they seek to create and are motivated by the desire to see that vision become a reality.

Within this broad group are business owners who are well-prepared, with a thoroughly researched idea, which they are passionate about. However, this group also contains business owners who have a deep belief in their idea, but their idea hasn’t had the necessary rigour applied. There’s no market for it. The numbers don’t stack up.

We see this all too often, when a new business opens with an expensive launch, lots of bold claims and in no time, they’re gone. It’s heartbreaking.

Focus on stability THROUGH impact

The business owner whose primary focus is stability through impact understands something, which the vast majority of people totally miss.

They’ve figured out that a balance needs to be achieved.

They know that hunkering down, avoiding change and hoping things will magically improve is a terrible strategy. You can’t hope your way to the top. Or even the middle. At best, you’ll go broke slowly. (which is a lot more painful than going broke fast, as it traps you for years in a stressful, under-performing business).

They also know that stability is essential. If you’re only focusing on making an impact, without ensuring you have a stable foundation, you’re very likely to fail. Nothing of value can be built on flimsy foundations. You need that stability. It’s a must.

So, what do they do?

They decide what impact they want to create. In other words, they choose the thing that they want to be known for… the difference they want to make to their marketplace (or the world). Then they do the research and put a plan together. A realistic, costed and robust plan.

Then, they work the plan.

With the stability of working to a solid plan, and fuelled by the motivation of making an impact, you can fully activate your maximum potential, whilst minimizing risk.

Exposed: The great workaholic lie

February 18, 2021 by Jim Connolly

Workaholics are never really workaholics.

It’s not work, which the so-called workaholic is addicted to. Instead, they’re hooked on the feelings that come from doing something they love. That passion and joy is what inspires them all day, every day.

When you do something you love, it’s natural to want to keep doing it.

It’s why Nile Rodgers still creates and performs. (Read this).
It’s why Arnold Schwarzenegger is still making movies.
It’s why Bill Gates is still making a difference.

Nile and Bill are in their 60’s – Arnie is 73. None of them need the money. What they do need, are the feelings associated with their “work”.

Conversely, someone who finds their work frustrating, boring or stressful, pays to go on vacation… to get away from work!!! They spend a tiny amount of time each year, doing what they love. They have the equation completely the wrong way round.

No one is addicted to work

If you get paid for doing what you love, you may be a passion-aholic. You could be a joy-aholic or even a pleasure-aholic. But you’re not a workaholic. No one is addicted to working just for the sake of work.

Work without meaning is a way to pay the bills.
Work without meaning is stressful.
Work without meaning is empty.
Work without meaning leaves you doing things you don’t want to do, for the majority of your adult life.

If work feels like work for too many days in a row, take action. Transform your business from something you work in, to something that fills you with joy, passion and pleasure.

Can you do it?

Yes. Of course you can.

How do I know?

I know, because for more than 20 years I’ve helped business owners worldwide to make it happen and I experience it in my own life, every day.

Styles make sales: How to motivate massively more people to buy from you

February 2, 2021 by Jim Connolly

I think you’re really going to love this.

In today’s post, I’d like to share how a simple idea can help you develop a massively more effective way to sell your products or services.

Okay. Let’s go!

Styles make sales

When I started out in sales and marketing, one of the first things I learned is that styles make sales. It works something like this.

Certain salespeople have a style of selling that is very effective with certain prospective customers. Conversely, if a salesperson’s style is at odds with a prospective customer’s buying style, the salesperson is less likely to get the sale.

In the companies I worked for back then, there were large and diverse sales-forces. A sales manager would look at the data they had on a prospect, then try and match our styles to the prospect’s profile.

I know you’ve spotted the challenge here.

As a small business owner, you don’t have that same abundance of salespeople to mix and match to the prospect’s buying style.

Usually, the salesperson is you.

This begs the question: How do you sell effectively to prospective clients or customers, who have a buying style that’s different to your sales style?

The answer is to align as closely as you can with what motivates them.

How?

Develop your own styles make sales model!

Here’s a quick look at how to get yourself started.

Before you begin your pitch or presentation, spend a little while asking the prospective customer a few informal, preprepared questions that require useful answers. For example, you could ask questions, where the replies will indicate whether they are more (or less) influenced by facts, figures and graphs… than by stories, feelings and pictures. Then match your presentation style to theirs as closely as possible.

As your presentation continues, look and listen for other signals from the prospect, which indicate that you’re on (or off) the right track.

Spend the time required to get this right. And it does take time. Make no mistake, this isn’t busy work. It’s really important, valuable and challenging work. You’ll need to create several easy to answer questions, which uncover your prospect’s buying style. You’ll also need to park the idea of a one-size-fits-all approach to sales, if that’s what you currently use. And comfortable, old habits are hard to break.

The pay-off?

It’s huge.

If you get it right you’ll enjoy the rewards of having a fluid presentation model, which matches the motivation your prospects need, in order to buy from you. Just think what that could do to your sales figures, my friend.