3 essential skills all entrepreneurs must master

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

1naeem@ConcordiaVentures.com

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

Three Essential Skills

1. Networking skills2. Communication skills3. “Selling” skills

naeem@ConcordiaVentures.com 3

Networking Skills

Why Entrepreneurs Network

• People do business with you because they like you

• Find co-founders, advisors, investors

Networking

• How do you network?–Physical world–Online world

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

Forms of Communication

• Presentation• Emails• Meetings• Phone calls

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

Say it with Conviction

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

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

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)

Selling Skills

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!

Selling!

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

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

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!)

Sales Funnel

prospectqualified

closing

Purchase order100%

feasibility

10% 30% 50% 70% 90%

How Many Lead if Expecting 5 Orders?

Need 5 Orders in a Quarter

prospectqualified

closing

feasibility

10% 30% 50% 70% 90%

3:15:1

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)naeem@ConcordiaVentures.com 46

Doing Online Sales

Email marketing

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

Building Trust

• Facebook• Blogs• Twitter• Insights• Aggregation

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

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!

nzafar@gmail.com

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