Magnus Marketing Blog

Oh, boy, I may have written about this before, but many start-ups never see the light of success because of greed and unrealistic expectations. I was talking with a former salesperson who worked with start up and small businesses, we ended up passionately laughing together about our respective "careers". He said, most of the companies he worked with are gone and the options wallpaper - not pretty at that. He, like me, went from three year stints with tech firms to six months to less - that is when he too, became a consultant and then looked for more mature firms. He validated my opinions about the VC's and how, more often than not, they tend to take over firms and run them straight to the ground - all the while hoping to "strike it rich". A terrible oxymoron for companies that are supposed to be the economic driver of this country!

Just because a firm has a product or service and a few people buy it or like it or review it favorably DOES NOT MEAN it is the next Google. For every MILLION startups, probably ONE is Google! It takes YEARS to build a brand and build brand equity, HELL IT CAN TAKE A YEAR JUST TO GET ONE PAYING CLIENT. And, just because you get that ONE client, doesn't mean that the implementation will go well or more clients will immediately follow.

I keep working with start-ups that have so much promise, but with founders that seem to put greed or instant gratification ahead of actually building a business. They run for the VC's instead of finding out if the product has a sustainable market, they get a meeting with a larger firm and hope they will buy them out - not considering that slowly growing the firm can yield a few MILLION dollars, they build a product and go-to-market without considering if the product has any sustainable VALUE - all the while wanting to be GOOGLE. Amazingly, by doing really STUPID things, these firms which ACTUALLY MAY HAVE SUCCEEDED - end up in the wrong hands, end up becoming a mess in the client, cause the founders to lose everything, etc. and get steamrolled along with employees, managers, and clients.

A lot of tech products are me-too solutions and not innovative or comprehensive enough to fight the big boys, some have real innovation - but lack the resources, others are not business solution oriented enough. It takes a lot of backwork and time to build a company. Do the right things, do the market research, the trial sales, the marketing, hire the right people, prove you have a sustainable product and market before running to VC's or stay the hell away from VC money - if your solution is good enough - it will build a market ON ITS OWN. Resources will come to you if you have something worth coming to.

Be a SMARTTREPRENEUR NOT A DUMPRENEUR and maybe you actually will have the next big thing!

WOW, and there is a recession? You wouldn't know it from the last two weeks of activity at our friendly neighboorhood Kohl's stores. Once again, I have concluded my 10th retail Christmas and 7th at Kohls with much fanfare - actually a ton of cookies - some of which I MADE WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS.

The blizzard dampened our Santa and the Elves event which we do yearly - still singing with hats on - we encourage customers and all the clueless guys "looking for sweatsuits and Snuggies for mom" to ask questions. I personally love the holidays at Kohl's when we really can help customers who need it.

The thing that ruins the holidays is, like any other business, the bad Santa customers. Customers who destroy neatly (and recently) folded tables, demand rudely that you must do their personal shopping (over-reaching the help me find something for mom), and the last minute shoppers. The last minute folks were numerous this year, with I think, record breaking sales for Christmas Eve. Please, I implore those shopping, do not get upset when we have no Snuggies or matched sizes in on the LAST shopping day of Christmas, do not demand discounts and misunderstand your Kohl's cash acquisition at 5:55 p.m., and wait until 6 p.m. (store close) to bring a "Santa cart" full of merchandise. Like our manager, Dave (who I traditionally close with every year) announces - the workers do have families and events to get to. It is very unholiday spirit like to force the workers to work hours extra because of your thoughtlessness regarding gift giving, however your spending is appreciated.

The jolly elf turned into cranky annoyed elf running register at 5:30 when the lines went to customer service. OY. But it was fun. I look forward to closing with Dave again next year and the crew and more bellybusting cookies. Our new store manager is aces, real nice employee and customer focused manager...that too made it an enjoyable season. To another year at Kohl's, great sales, great co-workers, and overall nice customers!

Well, I am joyful to report that I did receive both my last payment and commission check from Arbita. And they had the respectfulness to communicate their apologies for the delay. First, that indicates that there was some condolences and recognition that I actually have to eat - particularly since I have to rebuild my client base. Second, apparently the human resource services market must be turning around which is good news for ALL HR services providers including technology, recruiters, and sourcers. Looks like Shally has some competition from Irina - an up and comer in sourcing and a lot of new technologies are coming out - the job market itself is soon to follow. Good news all around.

Perusing LinkedIN, someone asked whether the dial or the conversation was more important. I say in fact neither if it doesn't get you any further in the sales process! But seriously, first you have to connect to someone in order to have a conversation, then conduct the conversation to uncover the right information with the right questions.

It amazes me how in prospecting so many advocate leaving "benefit" messages and teasers and advocate not telling too much because then your prospect will have a "yes" or "no" and not respond. I ask why?

One of my clients engaged with a major manufacturer and is reselling their service for small to midsize companies. The major manufacturer, who is not doing that well in the market anyway (and whom I invested a few bucks), send over sales support material. I was shocked by the quality or lack thereof of the material designed to "engage the C-Level" prospect. All the material drove for was a meeting - get the meeting and business will come. Actually, after using their script and engaging in a dialogue with a "C" level prospect, I quickly realized that if I set up the "appointment" it would have led nowhere as the "C" level person had no clue about the particular parameters involved in the service - his IT Director, however did. I would have wasted my client's time, his technical support manager, my time, and the "C" level contact following the advice of the manufacturer. The manufacturer provided an "Objection handling" sheet that indicated that one should not be directed to Purchasing - uh, most smaller firms don't HAVE a purchasing manager! And, you wonder why the big boys can't sell to the SMB firms.

In sales, it isn't about "getting the appointment", it is understanding whether there is a need and determining whether YOUR offering (product, service, or self) will fit that particular situation. Much of that qualification can be done upfront without too many steps or too much involvement - a good conversation or two should do it.