What’s your churn?
If you don’t know this number, get it.
Better yet, do you know why they’re churning?
When I was building my company Flowtown, we had a 12% monthly churn.
Not good.
That meant that after only 8.3 months we had lost ALL of the customers we had worked so hard to attract & convert?
Just so you know, that makes for a HORRIBLE business.
Your goal should be 8% PER YEAR (for B2B SaaS)!
So if you’re bleeding customers, what do you do?
It comes down to one (or all) of these 5 things to ensure that you’re doing everything you can to keep customers happy and sticking around for the long term.
Now, if you sell to VSB’s (Very Small Businesses), know that your customer’s failure rate (ie. going out of business) – #5 on my list – will definitely impact your growth.
I learned that one from Gail, the CEO of Constant Contact – the first public SaaS company EVER!
Her insights were invaluable…
… and inspired this super simple strategy that can drastically cut down your churn rate.
At the end of the video I share the key tag you should be marking your most “at risk” customers with…
… and how doing so sends a clear signal to your customer success team to step in and save the day!
Once you watch the video, leave a comment and let me know where you’re going to dive in next.
What are do you need to spend some time to help retain paying customers to help re-invest profits into your growth!
Can’t wait to hear from you.
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
Are you down with SOP’s?
Some call em’ Standard Operating Procedures, I call them Playbooks.
If you’re tired of putting out fires in your business, then you’ll need them to keep your sanity.
Recently I had the privilege of having dinner w/ the Godfather of system design for entrepreneurs, Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth / 10M copies sold).
I shared my story of how his book transformed everything for me.
At 23 I was set on starting another company for the 3rd time (the first two failed), but I was deadset on doing it differently.
Listen to the full story on my Facebook page (10m21s).
Gerber’s book, taught me a new way to think about business.
I’ve used this process to create a framework called the Business Playbook™.
The goal is to teach you how to have others complete the work in a way that’s as good, if not better than you!
Also, if you do it right, it becomes the easiest way to crosstrain anyone new on your team.
Watch the video to learn how to set this up.
- Start with a program
- Add to weekly team meeting
- Ingrain it into the culture
- Create 3 sections: Procedures, References, Templates
- Use it for onboarding / training
#5 is the most important… it will allow you to quickly hire, train and onboard anyone to your team in a streamlined fashion.
Have you implemented systems in your business?
If so, please leave a comment and let everyone else know how it’s impacted your life.
If not, get going… read below for a tip to make this a no brainer :)
Here’s to living a bigger life and business.
To check out my Business Playbook™ Templates, click here: http://lp.danmartell.com/playbook
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
When I started in business I couldn’t sell to save my life.
After two failed companies I decided to fix that.
My solution?
Driving around nights & weekends in my silver, 94’ Volkswagen Jetta listening to every sales audio book I could get my hands-on.
Some nights, I had Ziglar riding shotgun.
On other nights, it was Carnegie, Tracy or Hill.
And after dozens of books, I’ve distilled it down to 3 key areas:
- Connect & Qualify
- Needs Assessment + Close
- Follow Up
I actually made a HUGE mistake calling this “101 stuff” because there’s nothing basic about it.
Without the time I invested, and the thousands of hours of selling under my belt it would’ve been hard to see the pattern.
Over the years, I’ve taught this to hundreds of people and they’ve gone on to close new deals in less than 30 minutes.
Nothing pumped me up more than to hear someone take a call and walk away with an order.
In this week’s video I break it down so that anyone can do this and get the same results.
One of the most important skills you can learn is to communicate with someone else, and quickly assess if you can help them.
To do that requires great questions.
So, what do you ask to get to a customer’s challenges or issues?
What do you ask to help move the sale forward?
One of my favourite questions is, “What would it take to make this a no-brainer for you?”
Leave your best question as a comment and if I see at least a dozen I’ll share a couple more.
See you in the comments!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
Want to learn how I manage over 100 virtual assistants to manage all my work?
Now, I know what you’re thinking:
“Why the hell do you need 100 VA’s?”
Well, the big reason is a strategy I call Staff on Demand™.
If you’ve got a team of trained VA’s ready to go with the right tools and systems, then there’s no limit or bottleneck to the potential strategies you can execute to grow your business.
Literally anything I can imagine, I can get it done.
ONLY if you have these 4 systems in place.
It all comes down to managing your Access Control List, knowing the right way to delegate, and leveraging the right tools to create frictionless communication.
Nothing great happens without a solid team.
Got questions on how to find / hire a great virtual assistant?
Leave a comment with your questions and I’ll answer them there!
Nothing beats having an army ready to go into battle for you!
Have an amazing day.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
If I asked you to name a credit card company that rhymes with latex…”
Could you guess who I’m talking about?
Yes? Got it?
Good, so now you’ll understand the size of the company I was trying to sell to.
The challenge with big companies is that they have all the time, resources and money in the world, so wasting your company’s time isn’t a big deal.
For a small company, this imbalance of resources can mean death.
So to even the playing field, I developed a technique I call the Commitment Fee™.
It’s simple, if you’re working on a big deal, have the potential client put some money up front in case the deal goes south and doesn’t produce the value (press, new customers, etc) that you expected.
In this case, I negotiated and got them to agree to invest $50K.
I knew I went too low when they instantly replied and agreed.
I should’ve asked for 4x that!
All good, lesson learned.
But over the years I’ve developed many other strategies like this to sell to large companies, and cut the time required to close by half.
Watch this week’s video to learn these strategies, and pay extra close attention to my Virtual Close™ strategy.
It’s a simple way to paint the path to cash… while shortening it at the same time ;-)
Selling to big companies requires a different approach than most B2B sales…
… the 3 strategies I use involve a mix of the following:
- Virtual Close
- Multi-Threaded Conversations
- The Early Start
What would it mean if you could quickly gauge the actual interest level of the company you’re dealing with so you don’t end up wasting your time on something that’s essentially dead on arrival…
… or what if you could reduce your time to close by more than half so you can get paid faster and reinvest in growth?
Yep. Pretty critical stuff.
Leave a comment below letting me know if you’ve ever had your time wasted by a bigger company, and what you plan to do to make sure it never happens again.
Bonus points if you test out the strategy on your next call and report back the results.
Can’t wait to read your responses.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
Did you know that Slideshare.net built their product in India?
Automattic (creators of WordPress) – 2,000 people in a distributed team.
Even GitHub (raised $250M+ in funding) has a global team of remote workers.
The future of teams are distributed.
Over my past 3 companies (Spheric, Flowtown, Clarity) and everything in between, I’ve always had world class team members work from wherever they lived.
In many cases we had an office, but not everyone worked from there – and truth was – we just used it to get together and meet with partners.
Now, over the years I’ve learned A LOT about building and managing distributed teams without sacrificing our culture.
That’s what I cover in this week’s video.
It takes the right people (sourcing), meeting (structure) and systems (tools) to make it work seamlessly.
- Hire self starters
- Hire specialists
- Clear objectives
- Use video tools
- Online project management
Watch the video to unpack each specific strategy, guided by the underlying theme that you should be always over communicating your vision.
Have you ever worked on a distributed team, or managed others from afar?
Leave a message and share your #1 tip with the community.
If you do it right, it can unlock a whole new level of productivity, and a much deeper talent pool to source from.
Can’t wait to read your responses.
Have an incredible day!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
Can you explain your business to someone who’s outside your industry?
That’s been the benefit of having a father who has no clue what I’ve done for most of my career :).
It’s also helped me learn how to explain my company’s benefits to a new customer.
One way to do that in a scalable way is to use live chat on your business site.
A few months ago I was in the middle a of a big sales project and I had chat setup on the page.
After a few days, I finally decided to dive into the trenches.
The experience blew my mind.
Helping leads become buyers became addictively satisfying.
I could watch in real time as the prospects I was chatting with, would gain the courage and reassurance to finally hit “buy”.
Here’s what happened next, and the 7 strategies that I’ve taught others who use live chat for sales on their website.
The big ideas can be summarized in this list:
- How to intro
- Response times
- Focus on result
- Simplify benefits
- Easy to buy
- Linkability
- Speed keys
If you’re asking me what tools you should use, I’m going to recommend Intercom.
Why?
I’m an investor :)…
… but for real, it’s beautiful.
I’d also encourage you to install TextExpander to speed up your chats.
So, are you going to give it a try?
If so, leave a comment with your experience after your first chat!
I would love to hear more, and I might even scoot over to your site to say hello
Have an amazing day!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
It was like writing your own bio, but 10x harder.
This is the story of my logo.
It started with a call to Gair.
I was nervous.
You see, he’s the guy I’ve called to help me uncover the visual identity of my last two companies.
But this time things were different.
The new brand wasn’t just a business.
It represented my very essence.
I wanted help extracting the core of who I am.
I wanted to create a logo that represented all my beliefs, philosophies and life truths.
The goal was to create something that I could stamp my original work with.
A visual lighthouse that could outlive me, and guide my two boys way past my time on earth with them.
No small task, right?
That call turned into several meetings, some lasting 2+ hours where Gair took a 20V power drill into the core of my being.
He pricked and probed me with dozens of deeply intimate questions until he truly understood what makes me tick.
It was painful.
It’s just weird talking about myself from this light, but I knew the work was important.
Once the initial brand essence was extracted, we called my buddy Rich up to help with the visual creative.
This video reveals what happened next.
To this day, people still don’t realize that the logo came from my signature.
If you ever work on a logo project, remember these 3 things:
- Inspiration will come from many places, so go wide and deep.
- Collaborate with others to get a broader perspective.
- Release your constraints and inhibitions.
And when you find the right logo / design, it will speak to you…
… it’ll energize you and give you that feeling that anything’s possible.
If it was on a t-shirt, would you wear it everyday?
That’s what you’re looking for.
Now it’s your turn.
If you created a logo for your personal brand, what are the 3 words it would stand for?
Leave a comment with those words!
Excited to read what you’ve got.
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
The other day my furnace stopped working.
The issue is that my wife was trying to change the air filter.
Why?
Don’t ask (she just likes to do those kinds of things, and yes - I realize I’m the man of the house and I should be doing it, but I digress...)
After Renee’s noble attempt at performing advanced furnace surgery…
… we got stuck with a half-opened furnace, and no idea how to piece that sucker back together.
So I called my brother who built my house (he’s kind of a baller, check out his story).
He laughed and asked why the heck I was changing the filter myself?
Why didn’t I have the furnace guy do it?
I didn’t know that was an option...
... so I called the guy up and he starts telling me about his “Maintenance Plan”.
After about 15 seconds I said “Sign me up.”
That’s how he locked me in on a recurring service model for his business.
Most businesses totally miss out on building this into their model.
Instead of figuring out how to add more value and create an ongoing service, they let competitors swoop in and steal the contract.
Honestly, I think my brother should of made a list of monthly / yearly services that I should’ve considered and got me to sign-up for them when we closed on the house.
Things like:
- Snow removal
- Air filters
- Fireplace cleaning
- Propane tank maintenance
- Gutter cleaning
- Lawn mowing
- Etc...
Even if all he did was sign me up, he could’ve been collecting sweet monthly residuals for the rest of his life without lifting a finger (or putting a furnace back together).
That strategy (and a few other keepers) is what I cover in this week’s video.
How do you increase the amount of repeat business from a customer to improve your long term value so you’re not always having to find new customers.
When I’m training a group of entrepreneurs at my events, I always walk them through these areas of focus:
- Offer “Ongoing Service"
- Start (Onboard)
- Continuous Value
- End Strong
- Ask For Business
- Case Study / Testimonials
Each one of these take very little effort to implement, but will have a HUGE impact on your business.
My favourite is asking for a case study or to get a testimonial.
When you do it right, it adds incredible credibility to your business (plus it’s super fun and fulfilling to learn what your customers appreciate most about you).
So what are you committed to taking action on? Or what have you done in your business to increase the amount of repeat business? Leave a comment with your feedback.
Can’t wait to read what you’ve got.
Have an incredible day!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
How do you deal with shiny objects?
I was asked this question this past week while giving a talk at one of my portfolio companies.
It got me excited because I had a GREAT strategy to overcome it – more on that below.
But first, a story…
In 2009 when I started my company Flowtown, I was essentially running two businesses.
I had my angel investing and a new startup.
For a period of time, it was a little crazy…
… I was overcommitted and not following through on my promises.
I felt horrible.
But what I realized is that I was busy with a lot of tasks that weren’t moving the needle.
They didn’t drive progress, nor were they aligned with the bigger picture.
So that’s when I sat down and started re-structuring my day to align with a bigger outcome.
I did this for both my angel investing and for my startup…
… and it’s what led me to an extremely productive way of working that wasn’t based on time management – but outcome management.
If you know your destination, take the time to brainstorm your strategies, and ask yourself a powerful question “What resources do I have access to, to achieve this?”…
… then there’s only one thing left to do: Schedule It!
Show me your calendar, and I’ll show you your priorities. (click to tweet)
Once you have your outcomes figured out, then lock them in over the next 90 days.
Honour that decision and don’t get distracted by shiny objects – just add them to the list to be reviewed at the end of that period in context to all the other options you have.
It may take discipline but this is how the top entrepreneurs perform.
Now tell me, what are you going to schedule in your calendar?
What priority do you have that isn’t being blocked in?
Can’t wait to hear from you in the comments.
Have an incredible day!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
Are you proud of the work you do?
Are your customers demanding?
Is there enough revenue for you to do your best work?
When I first met Julie she was trying to stay afloat.
Her agency was doing $800K in revenue but she hated her job.
When I brought her team together, I could tell that everyone was super talented but there was no “energy” in their voices.
All I asked was “Are you able to do your best work?”…
… and everyone quickly said “No!”
So then I asked “What would it take for you to have the time & resources to do so?”
… and it was unanimous.
Better bigger clients.
That got me excited because I knew the changes to allow that were easy.
Most companies can’t attract – or worse REPEL – big clients looking to do interesting work because they have three fatal flaws in their marketing.
What I’m sharing this week is the exact same strategy I used to help Julie and her team blast through their plateau, become more profitable, and feel re-engaged by “lighthouse” projects they could be proud of.
The best part is…
Using this framework, and leveraging their talents, we engineered the turnaround in less than 2 months.
To ensure your marketing is on point… follow these guidelines:
1) Solve your bigger customers biggest fears
2) Price yourself OUT of a market for smaller clients
3) Communicate higher end work in your marketing
I know this can feel scary because your “limiting beliefs” and “self doubt” kicks in and says “What if I can’t find any clients?”
In your heart you know that you’re great and that any big customer would be lucky to have you help them.
Write that on your wall, stare at it daily as a reminder of your value.
Then go forward using these strategies!
If you’ve made the transition from small to bigger clients, leave a comment with your specific strategy and the backstory for making this happen.
Remember, it takes a village.
Your stories will inspire others.
Can’t wait to read.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
My barber blew my mind.
I’m sitting there and he’s cutting my hair and we’re talking about advice and mentorship…
… so I shared with him this silly Facebook group I started that eventually became one of the most valuable resources in my professional life.
That’s when he told me he was part of a similar group with barbers from other major cities…
… and they all connect online to share best practices, resources and stories to help each other out?!
Mr. Ryan Browne – my barber – has a virtual mastermind group?!!!
What?
That made me smile.
There’s nothing more powerful than surrounding yourself with people on a similar journey in life.
People who can support you… push you… and teach you how to show up in the world at a world class level.
The strategy is available to ANYONE.
Yes I’m looking at you.
In this week’s video I want to unlock the secrets to what’s made my private Facebook group so freaking powerful AND differentiated to ensure there’s high engagement.
To ensure you bring the thunder and create a lot of value for the members, I’ve outlined a framework and some guiding principles.
Do this right and you’ll have a loyal and engaged community eager to connect and bring value to each other’s lives.
1) Have a differentiated theme / focus (ex: SaaS Founders)
2) Curate based on shared values, outcome, and diversity of skills
3) Set standards for contribution (ex: – Ask: Journey, – Give: Value, – Praise: Highlight)
After sharing this strategy most entrepreneurs are stressed because they can’t think of great original content to add to the group…
… that’s why I share the #1 tip in this week’s video that I used to solve this problem in no time. It leverages the group and adds a CRAZY amount of value to everyone involved.
If you manage any groups, have tips or questions – be sure to leave a comment to add value to the DM.com community!
The most important thing in life are the connections you make with others.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
“Never begin the day until it is finished on paper.” ~ Jim Rohn (click to tweet)
That quote cuts through the noise and sets the foundation for everything else in business.
If you want to grow your business, you need a goal, a strategy and a way to review and monitor your progress.
It’s a rhythm for success.
That’s what I want to teach you today.
Probably the easiest way to plan, schedule and manage your business growth… even if you’ve failed to follow through on every new productivity hack, system or planner you swore would be “the one”.
No crazy fancy spreadsheets… just a simple paper and a pen and a few calendar entries with a simple game plan.
Your business growth is waiting for you in this video.
At a high level, the strategy looks like this…
- Have a vision
- Set a high-level 3 year plan
- Define a detailed 12 month schedule
- Review quarterly
- Meet weekly
- Connect daily
In the video I dive deeper into each, and how to design and manage them for maximal “stickability” and momentum.
But here’s the high level process…
Start big picture then work your way down to higher fidelity of what’s planned for the near term.
Leave me a comment with some of your big plans / outcomes for this year?
What are you gunning for?
What gets you excited!?
Can’t wait to read your replies.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
Are you running out of money?
Do you have something people want to buy?
Do you have a cost effective marketing plan?
Do you have the skills to lead your team?
Are you able to hire great people?
Have you built a system that outlines how you deliver value to your customers in a repeatable way?
Feeling overwhelmed by this avalanche of questions, and wishing you could get back to your regularly-scheduled programming of being “fake busy” and avoiding the hard sh*t?
Sorry. Won’t let ’ya ;)
Too much at stake.
Cause these are the questions that will save your business.
And in this week's video I’m going to share with you the 6 reasons 90% of companies fail and what to do about it.
Failure is so easy to avoid if you understand these key areas of focus, and the habits to continue to improve a few parts of your business.
It doesn’t matter how fast you're growing, or the accolades you’re receiving, you can still fail.
But understand the key business fundamentals, and you win.
On that - and #6 in my list - are you subscribed to my YouTube channel?
If not, do it... be sure to invest in your education and continue to learn and grow.
Thanks in advance for your comments and likes!
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
When I was 26 I spent $150K to hire a business advisor/coach named Stew.
It was almost all the cash I had left in my business at the time, but I knew if I wanted to play a bigger game I needed to invest in myself and my business.
Here’s one of the many big ideas he taught me.
“Right time, right action”
This is the way it works ...
... you can have two different entrepreneurs execute the exact same list of growth strategies, yet a few years later, one could be flying around the world heli-skiing full-time, while the other is left liquidating his office’s entry level Keurig machine just to keep the lights on.
Why?
It all comes down to understanding what matters most today, versus tomorrow, versus next week, versus next year.
That’s the ultimate skill of a strategic leader.
So today I want to unpack the exact process Stew shared with me to leverage when evaluating my todo list.
The cool part is that you can teach this to your team.
To make it even easier to implement, I’ve added a simple scoring system.
Here’s how it works:
Start by listing your task, projects or strategies in a spreadsheet so we can easily score and sort them.
Here’s how to score them.
1. Makes Money: 3
2. Make Customers Happy: 2
3. Repeatable System: 1
If something doesn’t fit that filter, then it’s a 0.
So for every item in your list score it against those 3 criteria and for each use the weighted score.
Example:
- Implement paid marketing webinar: 3,2,1 = 6
- Follow up on aged receivables: 3,1 = 4
- Hour call with new connections: 0
Once you have each one scored then re-sort them based on highest score and start your day there.
Simple? Yes.
Do you have the discipline to implement it?
If you’re down for trying this for a week, then leave a comment with your commitment.
Over the next few months I’m going to share more of the key strategies I learned from working with Stew for over a year.
He played a huge part in the growth and exit of that company.
More to come...
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
I’m the guy that gets the call when a business is in trouble...
... when a business is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Friends call me.
Banks call me.
If I’m lucky, the entrepreneur calls me before it’s too late.
The truth is, it’s always challenging for me to see another entrepreneur failing...
... especially when they have major debt owed, personal guarantees and their biggest dreams hanging in the air as collateral.
It’s even more heartbreaking when kids are involved.
It crushes me inside.
That being said, the game plan to turn things around is ALWAYS the same.
The #1 thing it takes is uncomfortable discussions, honest assessments and quick decisions.
Hard? You have no idea.
However, staring at the light waiting for the train to hit you isn’t the right move either.
Recently I was able to take a company losing tens of thousands each month, to profitable in 14 days.
In this week's video I provide a step by step process for getting you off the tracks, and pulling a sharp 180 regardless of the challenges you're facing.
When it comes to the steps and process they go like this:
1. Get clarity from the numbers (scary as hell, but necessary)
2. Test the business model
3. Cut deep but not the bone
4. Focus on the customers
5. Write the rules
6. Build it back up
The truth is, this strategy is something most companies should use to evaluate their real success.
Too many times I’ve had founders tell me their business is doing “GREAT” only to ask a few questions and have them realize they’re way below the market norm.
Stop being romantic about your business and get serious about how you’re measuring your progress.
Leave a comment below with your business, industry and top question you have about your business model or challenges and I’ll be sure to provide some insights to help you evaluate your progress!
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
Yesterday I was talking with a founder who’s got a ~$6M a year business that has been flat for the past 4 years.
It’s funny because 5 years ago they jumped from $3M to $5.5M, but since then they’ve gone sideways and have been struggling to figure out what to do next.
This is what I told him...
Your business should be growing in 3 cycles...
... and knowing where you’re at now, can cause you to hold back when you should be leaning in and pushing.
It’s probably what happened when he almost doubled in a single 12 month period.
My guess is that he focused on the first phase that year, then didn’t do the second, and that caused him to get gun shy.
More on that in a bit...
… but first, I shot this video to help you understand the 3 cycles and what specific steps you need to take to powerfully (and predictably) ascend from one to the next.
If you want to take action and jump in with two feet, here are the cycles:
1. Going after sales - focusing on top line revenue
2. Building cost controls - improving your gross profit
3. Improving market reach - getting your message into the market
You just keep cycling through each one and if you're smart, you’ll be using quarterly themes so you can get the whole company behind it!
The friend I mentioned above decided he needed to push hard on sales, build a team and ensure they were well managed.
It’s funny how understanding the “big picture” and the context for where you’re at can light a fire under your butt to improve!
Clarity IS power.
Be sure to leave me a comment letting me know what phase you need to spend some time on. Maybe your cashflow is hurting, so cost-controls need to be implemented? Let me know.
Keep up the good fight!
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
Do you think Google was the first search engine? AirBnb.com the first online vacation rental site? Dropbox the first online file storage company?
No. No. No.
Why does this matter?
Because it’s the most common excuse wantrapreneurs like to give for staying on the sidelines.
“Someone's already doing this... it already exists.” is their reason.
Bull-oney.
It’s nothing but a convenient cop-out that keeps you from making your biggest impact.
If anything, I get pumped when I see competitors, especially big ones making bank.
It means there’s a market.
It means I can hire their top staff.
It means I have competition to make me better.
How do you compete?
That’s what I cover in this week’s video.
If you’re still struggling to find a way to make a meaningful dent in your competitive market, leave a comment with your challenges and I’ll reply with my thoughts.
Be sure to provide context so I can be ultra specific in my recommendations.
Here’s to the crazy ones who go into battle when the guns are shooting!
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
I used to believe ANYONE could be an entrepreneur.
Until the day my friend Julie went bankrupt.
When she started her business, I was pumped... probably more so than I should’ve been.
She left our meeting excited to take on the challenges and get going.
The reason she failed is because she didn’t understand her role in relation to her business...
... which caused major gaps (like sales) to occur.
At a high-level there’s 3 business personalities.
Understanding which one you fall under is the first key in making sure you’re surrounded by team members and advisors who can lift you up and fill in your gaps.
In this week’s video I go over all 3 Business Personality Types and how each aren’t better than the other, just different.
Think you’re an “Entrepreneur”? Think again... be sure to watch the video to understand how to self identify...
... but at a high level it comes down to one of the following:
- Artist (or E-Myth calls it: Technician)
- Manager
- Entrepreneur
So what do you do if you discover that you’re an Artist, or Manager?
That’s a big question...
... maybe I’ll cover it in an upcoming video :)
Till then I have a favor to ask... I would love for you to leave a comment with your honest assessment of which one you are?
No judgement, just curious.
Talk soon.
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here: http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Join me on FB: http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Connect w/ me live: http://periscope.tv/danmartell
+ Tweet me: http://twitter.com/danmartell
+ Instagram awesomeness: http://instagram.com/danmartell
How To Measure Your Daily Value Creation Score