3 essential skills all entrepreneurs must master
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Three Essential Skills All Three Essential Skills All Entrepreneurs Must MasterEntrepreneurs Must Master
Naeem ZafarCharter Member TIE SV
University of California Berkeley-Haaswww.NaeemZafar.com
Twitter: @naeemTwitter: @naeem
Personal Background• Faculty at Univ of Calif Berkeley Haas business school• Founder Concordia Ventures – advisory to entrepreneurs• CEO of three companies (semiconductor & software)• Worked in engineering, research, marketing & sales• Experience at one large multinational & 6 startups• One IPO (Initial Public Offering)• Wrote six eBooks on entrepreneurship• Raised over $70M in multiple ways (VC, asset sale, debt, angel)• Traveled to 73 countries, lived in 3• Brown University ‘81, Univ of Minnesota MSEE• Charter member of TiE Silicon Valley • President of OPEN Silicon Valley• Advised or mentors over 700 entrepreneurs
All rights reserved © Naeem Zafar2Startup Workshop
Three Essential Skills
1. Networking skills2. Communication skills3. “Selling” skills
Why Entrepreneurs Network
• People do business with you because they like you
• Find co-founders, advisors, investors
Networking in Real World
• How do you know you are networking at a party or professional gathering
• What is equivalent to hello in US?
Get to Know Others
• Carry your business card– Have a single tag line that defines your– Where should people put you in their brain– Always carry a pen
• Ask people about themselves– People love to talk about themselves
Focused Networking
• Focus on your audience –Devote 2-5 minutes just on one person
• Do not look over their shoulder –They can tell!
What to Do
• Ask them about their work, their interests• Deliver your 3 key lines
– Positioning tag– Your “ask”– Your follow up angle
• Write something on the back of their business card that is not about what is on the front of their card
When Are You Done Networking?
• Collect at least five business cards before you are allowed to leave the party– This will force you to have a few conversations
What to Do After?
• You have only done 20% of the work of networking
• Send an email to that person within 3 weeks – The email is NOT about you or any business
• Then send a LinkedIn request within 1 week
Building Networked Relationship
• Networking takes effort• You have to make several
“emotional depositsemotional deposits” into your account before you can make a withdrawal
Communications Skills
• Essential to your professional success–& personal relationship success as well
• Leaning to present well will help throughout your career
• Be open!– & true
You Are The Message!
• It is not about PowerPoint• You are the message • Use aids only as needed• Have your message ready & crisp• Clarity must exist in your mind
Most Important Aspect
Clarity• Clarity of thought: you need fewer words to
express it if you are clear yourself!
Favorite Quote
Perfection is not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take out!
Pitching
• Explain yourself in first minute (slide zero™)• Explain the relevance of what you do• Don’t dive into details until you get signal!• Listen for audience reaction …
Pitching
• People listen to 7% of words that you say• They listen to 52% of your body language• Connect with your audience
– Make it relevant to them– Be clear (first in your own head)– Pause & let the message sink in!
Simplify Slides
• Unclutter your slides• Minimize font, style, emphasis overload
– These detract from your message
• Write & insist what words can be deleted• All articles can & should be deleted• Use “builds” only with busy slides
One Main Point Per Slide
• Do not read your slides• Supplement wordings on the slides with
words coming out of your mouth• No more than one (or two) messages per
slide
Most Important Slide
• What is the most important slide in your presentation?
• Why?
Emotionally Engage!
• Be attentive, energetic, in front!• Know your message!
– Do not read your own slides
• Engage with audience• Uses pauses effectively
Emails
• Pay attention to title of email– Will it grab attention, will they open it
• State purpose – Need an action, need approval, FYI
• Then provide supporting material• Salutation sets the right tone• Pay attention to cc list
– The curse of reply all!
Email Communication
• Use email to deliver good news, ask questions, summarize
• Never deliver bad news on email• Keep it succinct (1-2 blackberry screens)• Carefully examine title, recipients on each
reply
Face to Face Communication
• Practice active listening• People want to feel heard• People feel good about a meeting if
they felt heard (even if this way was not accepted)
Art of Sales
• Networking skills• Communication skills• Selling skills
–Sales redefined–The process
You Are Always Selling!
• Selling your idea• Selling a “job offer”• Selling an idea for vacation to spouse• Selling a trip to dentist to your child
Sales in Not Evil
• Sales is noble–Most engineers hate selling–Selling is considered “deceitful”
• Good selling never is
Selling is Not What You Think!
• American hate to be sold!• But Americans love to buy!
Demystify Selling
• Selling is not “tricking” them to buy• Is not “coercing” them to buy
• Just lay out the facts and educate them • Let the customer come to conclusion they
want to select your option once they feel educated– Be their advisor- earn their trust!
Naeem Zafar (all rights reserved 2005) 37
The B2B Sales Process
1. Create a comfortable environment by asking permission to ask questions
2. Ask questions to understand their pain3. Shut up and listen to answers, take notes4. Explain how your product or service fills
their needs – but only if it does
Sales Different from Marketing?
• Sales is “listening”• It is putting your knowledge to solve
other’s problem
All rights reserved © Naeem Zafar 39
Sales 101
• Tell prospects about benefits of your offering
• Ask if any of these resonate with them• If not, then ask what would• Then listen as they just told you how to Then listen as they just told you how to
sell to themsell to them
The Ask!• Ask is a statement that tells
others what you want them to do• You have to know to “ask”
–Clarity of mind before meeting
B2B Sales Process
• Create a system • Agree on what 2 or 3 metrics you
must measure• Develop common vocabulary• Track measure optimize
All rights reserved © Naeem Zafar 42
Common Vocabulary for Sales Stages• Prospects
– I know their names, have contact info, have need• Qualified prospects
– They have a pain that we can solve– The have budget– Met our champion
• Feasibility– Proof that we can solve the pain scheduled– (demo, benchmark, test drive)– Internal champion convinced, propagating
• Closing– Meeting with people who have budget– Financial proposals in approval– Met objections, tech hurdles
• Closed (PO in hand!)
All rights reserved © Naeem Zafar 43
Sales Funnel
prospectqualified
closing
Purchase order100%
feasibility
leads
10% 30% 50% 70% 90%
All rights reserved © Naeem Zafar 44
How Many Lead if Expecting 5 Orders?
Need 5 Orders in a Quarter
prospectqualified
closing
feasibility
leads
10% 30% 50% 70% 90%
3:2
2:1
3:15:1
225!
Reporting on Sales Funnel
Prospect Contact Target amount
Prob. % this Qtr
% closing next Q
Long term potential
Sales person
Arcadia Technology
Arnold Wiener
$45,000 60% 80% $500K Jenny K.
Diebold Sheila Hanks
$67,000 40% 75% $1.2M Larry Cassidy
B2C Sales Process
• You can buy attention (Advertising)• You can beg for attention from Media (PR)• You can bug people on at a time (sales)• You can earn attention by creating something
interesting and valuable & then publishing it online for free
David Meerman Scott’s (@dmscott)[email protected] 46
Doing Online Sales
Email marketing
Startup WorkshopAll rights reserved © Naeem Zafar
47
Drive traffic to landing page
Landing Page
Start a conversation
Suggest things (some
for $$)
www.constantContact.com www.aweber.com
Sites.Google.com
Tell them Value Prop & Give something for free
Earn trust
• Google Adwords• Facebook Ads• Emails to targets
www.Clickbank.com
EBooks, blogs, affiliate model
Naeem Zafar (all rights reserved 2005) 49
Common Mistakes• Don’t ask good questions• Afraid of asking questions – think they already know
the answers• They can’t shut up • They don’t listen• They don’t take notes
– Lazy or don’t consider information important• They don’t know enough about their product or
service to effectively apply it to the needs of prospects
Resources: Use coupon
• Go to www.FiveMountainPress.com/books.html
• Use coupon “california” to get 20% off
Startup WorkshopAll rights reserved © Naeem Zafar
50
Summary
• Learning how to think clearly think clearly & present in a way that people will “get it” is probably THE most important business skill
• Make emotional deposits before attempting withdrawal
• Hearing is voluntary, listening is not!