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1-Page Summary of Ready, Fire, Aim
Building Your Business in Stages
Businesses grow in four different stages. They are infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Each stage has its own difficulties and challenges that need to be overcome. The key is recognizing what stage your business is in so you can progress to the next level of growth.
“Stage One: Infancy”
You may have a great product or service, but if you don’t get it out there to the public, no one will know about it. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of not focusing on getting their products into people’s hands. Spend 80% of your time on selling and 20% tweaking your product. Don’t worry about how perfect your product is; just get it in front of potential customers and see what they think about it. What you think isn’t important; what really matters is whether they’ll buy it from you.
Many entrepreneurs think that they can build a product or service and then people will want it. They don’t realize that they have to sell their idea, too. It’s important to talk with potential customers about what you’re building and get their feedback early on before investing in the business.
There are several factors that determine your selling strategy: * Customer base – Is the customer base you’re targeting men and women on the street, those who shop at Wal-Mart or people who read The Wall Street Journal? How will you reach them? Until you establish your own niche, use what industry leaders do to sell.
What’s for sale? – Avoid being a one-trick pony. Don’t rely on only one product or idea to determine your fate. If you fail, be prepared to make modifications. Sure, some people strike gold with their first product, but many more entrepreneurs fail with that approach.
The message – Start by determining how to reach your audience. You can either use direct mail or a comprehensive advertising campaign, but you need sharply written material that is concise and lively. A professional copywriter will help make it accurate and unique to attract the consumer’s attention even if your hubcap polish is essentially the same as another brand.
Although it’s important to find your optimal sales strategy, you shouldn’t overlook other key components of launching a business. You should ask for advice from someone who has experience in the field and can share his or her good and bad experiences with you. This will make that person feel flattered and appreciated by you, which could lead to invaluable nuggets of wisdom.
“Stage Two: Childhood”
Many entrepreneurs are comfortable staying in the first stage of business. They make a living and don’t want to disrupt their lives by changing things up, but they need to embrace change if they want to move forward.
The most important step in getting to $1 million is coming up with new products. It’s vital to keep your existing customers interested and buying your new products, too. Brainstorming can help you do that by generating a lot of ideas quickly, so it’s best if there are at least three people involved and no more than eight. Set a time limit for the brainstorming session—a maximum of three hours—and decide how many ideas you want to generate. Focus on practical suggestions that will work well for everyone involved, not just one or two people who have great ideas but won’t follow through on them later. Everyone should be free to criticize other people’s ideas without being criticized themselves; don’t let any good idea die because someone else doesn’t like it or thinks it won’t work out in the end. Follow up after the brainstorming session by making sure individuals actually come up with product designs or marketing plans based on their original idea(s) before meeting again next time.
