By: Dezmon Landers

Have you ever lost a prospective client because they didn’t feel comfortable with your company? I have and I would argue that most entrepreneurs have at some point. Unfortunately, this happens everyday to new businesses around the world and especially in the United States. By nature, humans are risk averse and that directly correlates into their buying behavior. In more developed countries like the United States, consumers are so spoiled by the juggernaut companies with billions of dollars at their disposal that perfect product presentations becomes the standard. While this is great for any economy, it makes it harder for small businesses to compete. The question is how can you make your company look like a fortune 500 without the budget?

Like they say, the first impression is always the most important. In my experience, there are 6 things you must have to look like a credible business.

1. Get a 1-800 #

Access is one of the most important factors prospects use to determine if they are going to buy. They want to know that if they have a question, you (your company) will be there to answer. An easy way to ease the concerns of a prospect is to purchase a 1-800 #. Back in the day this used to be expensive but with modern technology, you can get a number for only $2/month.

Don’t believe me? Check this out - http://www.kall8.com

2. Open A Virtual Office

A virtual office is a service that allows your company to rent a prime business address in your area, without the lease. In addition, some virtual office services allow you to use more services like receptionists, meeting rooms and they’ll forward your mail to your real address, normally first class.

Open a virtual office - http://virtualoffices.regus.com

3. Incorporate Your Business

This is probably something you’ve already heard but I’m telling you for a different reason. One thing I’ve noticed about more savvy consumers is they ask questions to see if you know what you’re doing, even outside of your service offering. One question, that I’ve been getting lately is “Are you incorporated? LLC, S-Corp, Partnership?”. If you even hesitate with this question it can be a deal breaker. Incorporating early forces you to understand the different types of corporate entities and discuss (from a high level) to your prospect why you chose that type and that you are officially registered by your secretary of state’s office.

Georgia Secretary of State - http://www.sos.ga.gov/corporations/

4. Develop A Quality Website

I think this is a given but I still see small businesses damaging their brand by having a crappy website or not having one at all. A website is meant to be the virtual extension of your offline business and consumers are using their impression of your site to decide if they will do business with you. The most important thing with your website should do is be able to effectively communicate your core offering in less than 10 seconds. A strategy used to do this is called the “billboard strategy”, simply it’s a graphic layout of your website’s homepage that includes a billboard like graphic when the consumer first lands on the page.

A site that perfects the “billboard strategy” is here: http://www.insuranceagents.com/.

To design your site cost effectively, do the following:

- Find 3 of your top competitors sites
- Research how much they spent to get their site done
- Determine how much you can spend (it’s ok if it’s only $200)
- Create a spec sheet (tells a web designer/developer what the site does)
- Put your project on a freelance marketplace like Elance or Guru with your budget
- Watch people bid on your project, choose a winner and get it developed!

5. Create Business Cards

Business cards are one of the least expensive items on this list but arguably the most important. People really gauge just how serious your company is based on you having business cards or not. Even though I know that not having business cards doesn’t necessarily mean that a person may not be professional, I still question the seriousness of the person subconsciously. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on cards but make sure they contain the following:

- Name of your company
- Your name
- Your title
- 1-800 #
- E-mail Address
- Virtual Office Address
- Summary of what you do on back (i.e. “Affordable Plumbing Services”)

Like most others, I use VistaPrint for my cards.

6. Testimonials, Testimonials, Testimonials

Like I said before, consumers are risk averse and want to do business with proven companies. A lot of small business owners think that “proven” means years of past client history. Proven just means that you’ve done the work for clients in the past and they were satisfied. Also, one important note is that a client doesn’t always have to be someone who has paid for your services. It can be someone that you offered the services to for free and then they gave you a testimonial about their appreciation for your work. The paying clients that you engage after getting these testimonials don’t have to know that you weren’t paid for the work and normally they never ask unless you tell them

This is how to look like a Fortune 500 for a fraction of the price.

2 Comments • June 8th, 2009

By: Dezmon Landers

Partnership is one of the most beautiful things about entrepreneurship. Like marriage, you are supposed to work together as one unit, offset each others weaknesses and step in when the other is unable. Unfortunately, no business runs perfectly forever and when times become hard the partners need to make uncomfortable decisions about carrying the business through or dissolving it.

Conflicts

There are a couple different things that yield partner disagreements and conflicts. The most common is company goals. Company goals vary widely and can be anything from human resources, financial  planning to company expansion. Many partners have different styles of management, communication and levels of commitment to the business. If these are not aligned, conflict can arise almost instantly. Another popular disagreement partners sometimes have is that of the exit strategy. An exit strategy is the act of transferring ownership of a company over to another entity through a merger, acquisition, IPO or even dissolution. Many partners disagree because one may want to sell the company to cash out and the other may want to hold on to the company and expand it.

Death is an area that no one ever wants to talk about but it is just as important and creates as much confusion for partners. When a partner dies, they leave their ownership of the company behind. Unless there is proper planning, even in death the ownership belongs to the individual or the successor. The problem is most business don’t have succession planning documents in place which freezes the surviving partner from making any other decisions. In some cases the company has to be dissolved or the partner has to deal with the successor. In most cases, the successor doesn’t have a working knowledge of the business, and is probably a relative of the deceased partner. All the successor knows is they want (financially) what has been transferred to them. Inherently, this is a major problem for any partner.

What You Can Do

So how do you split up ownership unequally with someone you are starting a new business with? Well first you have to determine what each partner brings to the table. From there, determine who adds more value to the business, now and into the future. Use some of these factors to determine who gets majority and minority ownership:

• Whose idea was it first?
• Who is investing the most time to the venture?
• Who is investing the most capital into the venture?
• Who has the most connections to help the business realize it’s goals?

Once you’ve determined whose going to get more or less of the pie, it’s time to get specific. There are a couple of different structures you can use:

60/40 (Most Common)

Don’t pay attention to the numbers exactly, it’s really a figurative way of saying someone should have more and the other less. You could just as easily have 51/49 or even 80/20. The point here is that someone has the deciding vote in a conflict.

49/49/2 (Less Common)

This structure requires three people. It allows for 3 partners to have equal ownership while the other has minimal ownership. This allows conflicts to be resolved easily because the majority will always rule. This is used in cases where the minimal owner may be important to the business but not providing as much value or dedication to the company as the other two.

Partnership Ain’t All Bad

Like I said before, partnership is a beautiful thing when done with diligence and future planning. The excitement of starting a business can be joyfully overwhelming at periods which makes us entrepreneurs want to get everyone involved. Remember that when you are getting someone involved, make sure it’s less about the excitement you’re experiencing and more about their values and what they bring to the table.

5 Comments • March 17th, 2009

By: Dezmon Landers

One thing I’m starting to see very clearly as an adult and entrepreneur is that there is not much help around when you need it. Maybe I was way off but I thought that there was some compassion in the world of business. I thought that if you showed someone that you have potential to be great and worked hard at it, they may cut you a break. Well, if you believed that myth like I did a couple of years ago, dismiss it IMMEDIATELY cause it just ain’t gonna happen.

Once I realized that HELP just didn’t exist in the world of business, I was much better off and you will be too. I learned that people are extremely SELFISH. Some are this way because they have been wronged by others in the past, they are scared of giving too much and coming up short or the economy isn’t working in their favor. I’m not saying that everyone who doesn’t help another business is selfish but it explains the majority of actions by people in business and out. Everyone has the W.I.I.F.M attitude also known as “What’s In It For Me?” attitude.

So how do you change the W.I.I.F.M attitude of people you need help from most? It’s simple, start acting with 3 principles in mind:

• Trade
• Incentive
• Persuasion

As entrepreneurs we need to make money and we need to make it now. Depending on the type of business you run, you need different inputs to generate revenue. For an internet company, you need a website and targeted traffic, for a brick and mortar you need a building and a prime location. All businesses need these inputs but most of us just don’t have access to all of them, which results in us needing to reach out or partner with a company that does.

Trade and Incentive

The next time you need to partner with a company, take some time out to determine what the company needs. Could the company utilize your promotional skills? Could they utilize the technology you’ve built for your company? Could they use a referral to an inexpensive attorney for a legal battle they’re facing? The whole goal is to try and provide as much value to the potentially partnering company as you can.  I guarantee the conversation will go a lot smoother if you can figure out what problem you can solve for the other company. Emails will be replied to, phone calls will be returned and appointments won’t be cancelled.

Persuasion

Arguably the most sought after and challenging skill in life is that of persuasion. I’ve just started reading a classic book on persuasion entitled: “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” written by Robert Cialdini Ph.D. The book talks about seven principles that are paramount in understanding how to persuade and get someone to take favorable actions, they are:

• Reciprocation - We all know this, give some to get some.
• Commitment and Consistency - Continually demonstrate why your better and get people to agree, once openly agreed you can do business. People don’t like going back on their word.
• Social Proof - People don’t like to feel left out, the more people engaging in something, the more we rationalize it’s viability.
• Liking - C’mon, don’t you do business with people or brands you like?
• Authority - We have been trained to obey authority, become the authority in your space and politely demand favorable action.
• Scarcity - People don’t like missing out on things, create scarcity, increase demand.

These are just high level summaries of the explanations and power of the principles in this book. I highly recommend that you go buy it immediately.

Realizing that the world operates with people and businesses that are only out for themselves gives you an advantage on your startup competition. While they are failing, looking for a handout, you’ll be evaluating the true value you can provide to a partner, getting deals done quicker and making money faster!

2 Comments • February 8th, 2009

By: Dezmon Landers

I talk to ALOT of entrepreneurs and for some of them it seems as if they can’t make progress where they are. For some, their idea needs more work, for others their not focused, but for a few, they’re simply not in an environment that understands their vision. It saddens me to see an entrepreneur feel locked into the confinements of where they grew up or what they know. Business is about RISK and if you really plan to be successful then you must be uncomfortable oftentimes to get the results you want.

What does a conducive environment contain?

In order to get to a place where you can be most successful, the environment must contain the following things:

• Similar Ideas
• Capital
• Skilled Workforce
• Strong University Base
• Social Activities

There is a reason that certain places are more likely to produce a certain type of professional. They have people there with similar ideas, investors with access to capital, a skilled workforce, universities with similar interests and social activities to relieve you from your business.

Silicon Valley

Many people don’t even know this but the valley’s technological entrepreneurial revolution started way back in 1937 with William Hewlett and David Packard. Today the valley is packed with technology companies large and small. There are investors all over Sand Hill Road waiting for the right idea to come along and all of it revolves around Stanford University. I had the pleasure of working out in this area for a short while and I can tell you that even at a bar on a saturday, people are talking about and starting internet companies.

Wall Street

The financial capital of the world is one of the most highly concentrated places in the world for all professions financial. Investment bankers, portfolio advisors, hedge fund managers and the like all populate this area immensely. People on Wall Street understand and love finance. The New York Stock Exchange is there and all the world’s top investment banks. Columbia University which is an Ivy League institution is right up the street as well. I’ve worked here as well and even on a Thursday night out on the town, bankers are talking about money and how to make more of it.

Hollywood

“Tinseltown” as they call it has been the center of the motion picture industry since it’s very existence. The majority of the companies out there including Miramax, Sony and Dreamworks all are headquartered and employ thousands of people here. Even though competition is steep, a good actor has a much higher chance of getting a break because they are around industry coaches, other actors and big companies who pay already  successful actors. It doesn’t hurt that USC and UCLA have some of the top film schools in the country.

So What Am I Saying?

The point of this posting is to simply state the fact that just because you’ve called somewhere HOME, doesn’t mean that it’s the best place for you or your business. Look to see if home has all the things you need to be successful, including positive people that actually know your industry.

If the answer is YES then continue to make yourself at home. If the answer is NO, then get out while you still can!

4 Comments • February 5th, 2009

By: Dezmon Landers

As an entrepreneur, I’m always in a hurry to get things done and to move on to the next challenge. I often hear things like “Slow down” and “Take your time, you have a whole life ahead of you”. While I understand the importance of being patient, it doesn’t really seem like the people giving the advice are actually taking it for themselves. When is the last time you’ve ever heard someone say “I’m just going to take my time getting into work today.”? When is the last time you’ve heard an entrepreneur say “I’m just gonna take my time with payroll this week.”? Most likely never and the reason is this, as patient as any of us say we are or want to be, we have no choice but to be impatient and rush.

Your Job

To continue to be competitive and employed in this fast paced, global workplace, the natural behavior is to rush. In the morning, most people travel to work by foot, car or carpool all in a race to get to work on time or earlier. In some cases, people catch cases of road rage when in traffic or held up on their way because they know the consequences of being late, which inherently make them rush.

Your Company

As a business owner, every second of everyday counts substantially when trying to solidify your business in the market. Most entrepreneurs can’t afford to push back revenue generating activities, projects or paying bills. All of these activities require a sense of urgency or they just won’t get done and the company won’t succeed.

Managed Impatience

So you may ask, what is the solution? I call it Managed Impatience, which in my opinion is the ability to have a sense of urgency about everything you do, while calculating the negative effects of making the decision without enough thought. For example, in which situation would you have more problems if you made the wrong decision? Not raising money or not completing an internal business development project as well as you’d like to? In my experience, it will always be raising money because investors prey on those who rush and are in need of their money and they use that as leverage to get a more lucrative, one sided deal for themselves. In the case of the internal business development project, it’s still very important but if there is potential for the project to be only 75% complete and the ability to generate revenue now, think less about that decision, if you really have to choose.

So, the next time someone tells you to “Slow Down”, look at them and evaluate where they’re coming from. Do they have your best interest in mind, or is your pace just faster than theirs?

If you find out the latter, keep it moving and be successful!

3 Comments • January 29th, 2009

By: Dezmon Landers

Most of us are under the impression that in order to earn a sizable income, we must work HARD. We put in very long hours and follow the same paths of those that came before us because it’s the “right” thing to do.  What if I told you that by slightly changing your mindset and opening yourself up to other ways of thinking about how to sustain your life and prosper, there may be a ton of monthly income that you are clearly missing out on? Now I know this sounds like a sales pitch off an infomercial but I can’t tell you how serious this really is and if you do it correctly, how well off you can actually become.

So I’m sure your very interested in this “secret” money making “scheme”, well the funny thing is that it’s actually not a secret at all and it’s legal and very popular but unfortunately our community hasn’t caught on to it yet.

Affiliate Marketing

Is a revenue sharing arrangement between a person (you) and an online merchant. The affiliate (you) places advertisements around the internet to either help sell the merchant’s products or send potential customers to the merchant’s website, all in exchange for a share of the profits.

There are three ways to earn money through affiliate marketing:

Pay Per Click - Every time a potential customer clicks on the affiliate link leading to the merchant’s website, a certain amount of money is deposited in the affiliate’s account. This amount can be pennies or dollars depending on the product and amount of the commission.

Pay Per Lead - Every time a potential client registers at the merchant’s website as a result of the affiliate’s advertisement, a previously determined amount is deposited into the affiliate’s account.

Pay Per Sale - Every time a sale is made as a result of affiliate’s advertising, a percentage, or commission, is deposited into the affiliate’s account.

This Is Pretty Old

Affiliate marketing is nothing more than a company inspiring people to promote their products for performance based financial compensation. Basically, you’re a salesperson that gets paid on commissions. All of us have either done something like this before or know someone who participates in this type of business model. Some examples of popular offline affiliate programs are below:

Avon - Got its start in 1886 as the California Perfume Company based in New York. Avon sells women’s cosmetic and perfume products and grossed 6.2 Billion in sales last year. Avon’s entire business was built on individual representatives (affiliates) marketing their products and Avon has a little short of 100,000 of these representatives worldwide.

Pre-Paid Legal - Started in 1969 because the founder was involved in a head on collision and didn’t have proper legal coverage to cover the legal bills accumulating from his accident. They provide monthly legal expense plans and have thousands of independent associates (affiliates) nationwide promoting their services.

Amazon - Started their “associate” program back in 1996 to entice website owners to promote their inventory on Amazon’s behalf. Amazon spent next to no money on marketing in this area and it worked out pretty well as they are the internet’s largest seller of books and other goods, thanks in large part to their affiliates.

While there are a ton of extremely successful examples at these offline companies, there are a lot more who are less successful. It is the same way (to a smaller degree) online, so you may be asking “Why is online different than offline?” I have one word for you…

Scale

In affiliate marketing this is the ability to acquire prospects quickly while keeping any and all expenses constant and low. There are billions of people online all over the world and it is much easier than you may imagine, capturing them to market to later.

No Product, No Money, No Problem

Most income producing activities are called businesses and most businesses have expenses. The majority of most businesses expenses (other than personnel) are marketing. The cool thing about the internet is that there is a ton of FREE ways to get to masses of people looking to buy the product or service you may promote. These customers have demonstrated…

Demand

Is the act of displaying a need for something. Online there are tons of places where people are demonstrating a natural demand for some product or service. A great example of this is Craigslist. Take a look at the “Real Estate for Sale” section in any city. You’ll notice that everyone posting under this category has demonstrated demand for wanting to sell their properties. A smart affiliate looks at this and says “What product or service that is already created, can help these people achieve their goal faster?” Maybe it’s an information product, maybe it’s connecting them with a real estate agent in their city. There are tons of ways to provide value as long as you get paid for it!

The Product / Service

There are an abundance of companies online that would be happy to have you promote their product to your market. You can setup agreements with companies ranging from travel agencies to banks! There are even other affiliate marketers online that have created quality information reports that they normally sell. Some will give these to you for free or at a small fee so that you can redistribute them and keep all the profits, this is called buying the Master Resale Rights (MRR).

The List

Arguably the most important component to raking in the cash is building lists of people who have already demonstrated demand or have previously purchased something similar. Once you have the list, you can recommend products or solutions to these people and as long as it solves their problem. They will BUY from YOU.

5 Comments • November 15th, 2008

By: Dezmon Landers

A couple years ago I was a new business owner filled with optimism and excitement about selling my services. I went for 18 months without securing any type of purchase agreement or contract with customers. I started to become worried and depressed that I could not succeed at business at all. I contemplated quitting and closing the business up to rejoin corporate America. Fortunately, I convinced myself (and partners) to give it a little more time but  quickly found that regardless of how good my companies services were, I was going to have to have a much better understanding of marketing.

One day I was talking with a friend (a successful serial entrepreneur) about some of the problems I was having in my business and he introduced a valuable concept to me. He asked if I knew the difference between Push vs. Pull Marketing. He went on to explain the differences between these and my outlook on marketing was changed forever.

Push Marketing

The most traditional marketing practice which involves “pushing” out a marketing message onto a group of prospects. A common example is a television ad on a major station. The companies using this method know that a certain portion of the group they are “pushing” this ad out too may be interested in the products or services they have to offer. This method is substantially less targeted in most cases and the ROI is lower for smaller companies. Push marketing can be good for larger companies with bigger budgets but not as good for small business owners who need to sell products now.

Pull Marketing

This method is becoming more popular as small and large businesses alike are experiencing amazing results. Pull marketing involves identifying demand for a product or service then placing a marketing message in front of the group. The marketing message is written in a way that “pulls” customers in the door a lot easier to buy your products or services. A great example of this offline are newspaper classifieds and wanted ads. Online, Google and Craigslist have made a ton of money connecting people to businesses that they demanded to seek. For small businesses, this is ultimately what you want to find, while it can be a bit more costly upfront (because of targeting) you will experience a much higher ROI.

Understand Your Marketing Mix

It is important you understand your marketing mix so that you can be sure that all of your efforts are correct and aligned with you making more sales. The marketing mix is made up of the 4 P’s below:

Product

All successful businesses solve problems through their products and services. You must look at your offer and truly define the problem you are solving for your market. The problem could be as simple as developing a better way to remember things you are supposed to do (Post-It Notes) or as complex as developing a new undetectable airplane that can be used in warfare (Stealth Bomber). Whatever it is, solve a problem that your market understands and identifies with.

Price

Pricing can be tricky but I have learned a couple of tips from past experiences and other successful entrepreneurs that may be helpful to you:

• Compete on quality, not price
• People will either pay or they won’t and price normally isn’t an issue if someone wants something (Thanks Wil Schroter)
• Connecting price to a valuable benefit will make it easier to price your products higher

At the end of the day, if you can provide a unique value and strive to build a brand of quality around your products and services, you’ll be fine. I mean hey, who would have ever thought millions of people would pay $4 for a cup of coffee? Thanks to Starbucks and their branding, people are motivated to do it everyday.

Place

A popular area of focus over the last 10-15 years for businesses has been finding the right place for customers to purchase their products. As consumers are becoming busier and more inundated  with marketing messages from your competition, they are looking for companies that can deliver the products they want without infringing on their lifestyle. I came to this realization the other day when I was looking to order a pizza. I wanted Pizza Hut but for some reason they didn’t deliver in my zipcode. I admit that I was too lazy to go pick it up so I called Domino’s and received my order in 30 minutes. While this may sound like a funny example, let’s look at some numbers that show us why this example is not funny to a business owner.

Order Price: $14.85
X
100 other lazy people in my zipcode

= $1,485 worth of revenue that went to Domino’s vs. Pizza Hut (in one day)

Look for ways that your customers can interact with your brand on their own time in the environment they are most comfortable and you will be able to maximize profits.

Promotion

You could have the greatest product in the entire world but without promotion, no one will know about it and no one will buy. When promoting, you have to be an evangelist of your product, always talk about the benefits and problem you solve. You have to “infect” people with your enthusiasm and story so that they will do the same on your behalf. One important note to understand about your marketing tactics is the difference between Public Relations (PR) and Daily Marketing Processes. Public Relations is any non-recurring public event that highlights your company in a positive or negative way. The most important thing to understand is that you cannot rely on it to drive consistent leads to your business. Nonetheless, PR can be a great way to get your company’s name out there for branding purposes. On the other hand, Daily Marketing Processes can drive you targeted leads daily. This process may involve sending out letters to prospects daily, calling leads or posting ads. Whatever process you choose, be consistent and constantly monitor performance to increase your company’s ROI.

3 Comments • October 21st, 2008