Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Digg it UP - Go Slow to Go Fast - Why Over 80% Of High Tech Startups Fail And What To Do About It
Most employers will weigh out if hiring a virtual assistant is actually worth the time and effort that it actually takes to find the right one that can accomplish what they need done. The other more obvious things in a virtual assistants favor are that a employer never has to come face to face with them, never has to pay for any of the office equipment used by the virtual assistant, and they can be more relieved at not having to do all the work themselves.So Do I Get A Paycheck Or What?When working as a virtual assistant your salary comes to you in a different form that a typical employee. You can get your “paycheck” through such websites as Paypal, which allow you to transfer money directly to a person which then goes into their bank account. Money can also be sent in the form of a check, money order, or cashier’s check to the virtual assistant, it is all based on what they agreement between the virtual assistant and the employer is.Is There A Set Pay For Being A Virtual Assistant?Most commonly the beginning salary for a new virtual assistant is only about $12 an hour. That is still a lot better than what some businesses pay you to get up and drive and work 8 hours a day, 5days a week. Now with experience comes more money, sometimes the rate per hour
Brand Identity is simply the promise a company makes to its customers. It may be purely the function of a product, or it can be personality or values-oriented. Whatever it is, it’s something companies all over the world attempt to leverage as a way of strengthening their businesses.Why is Brand Identity important?A brand identity is important because it has the power to single-handedly set a company apart from its competition. And those who successfully craft their brand identities to positively affect their bottom lines know that doing so takes time, money and effort. It’s not as simple as just a logo or a tagline. In essence, brand identity is the reason you give your market to choose you…is it compelling enough? Your market will decide.A word on revising your brand identity… The key to a successful re-branding effort is “evolution,” not “revolution.” You must reassure your existing customers that everything they like about you will remain intact and become integral part of something even better. Don’t go to unjustified extremes for any reason because major perceived changes may destroy existing emotional ties to your brand thereby eroding valuable customer loyalty.More than marketing, Brand
Mark Leslie, an entrepreneur turned Stanford lecturer who took a startup company, Veritas, from nascent stages to over $1B in revenues and a recent $13.5B merger with Symantec, and Charles Holloway, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Professor of Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business have developed a framework, that goes a long way toward answering the question “why it always takes longer and costs more?” Leslie and Holloway call this framework the Sales Learning Curve (SLC) and believe that it will prove as powerful a construct in the high tech sector as the Manufacturing Learning Curve (MLC) was to the manufacturing sector in the early (date?). Today, manufacturers wouldn’t think of running their operation without tracking the MLC because of the dramatic improvements in productivity that it offers. Similarly, Leslie and Holloway believe the SLC holds the potential to fundamentally change how high tech companies are managed and will lead to more high tech companies reaching the promised land of “positive free cashflow.” Increasing the number of cashflow positive companies should lead to greater venture capital returns, more capital being allocated to the sector by LPS, more early stage company formation, more innovation, more jobs, and increased productivity.
So what is the Sales Learning Curve?
[Note to Editor -- there are 2 graphics that were stripped out when I pasted in the article into this form]
As illustrated above, the Sales Learning Curve tracks the contribution margin per sales rep (Sales Yield) against the number of customer transactions. The shape of the curve will be different for every company and every sector but the central tenant of the SLC remains constant – the “go-to-market” phase is when companies should “Go Slow to Go Fast” (which is some advice from a Nordic skiing expert that I recently received when I asked for some tips on improving my performance prior to an upcoming race – Google the phrase and you will find that triathletes, grade school teachers, executive coaches, swimmers, and karate instructors are all well aware of the Go Slow to Go Fa
Remember the days when the companies with whom you gave your hard earned money to appreciated your business? Today, it is rare to find companies who still get one of the basic fundamentals of successful business; take care of the customer or someone else will.With companies cutting costs and reducing internal support structure within their organization, levels of customer service have reached an all time low (my personal opinion). Going above and beyond with all customer interaction is a critical success factor for every business and can help differentiate a company from their competition. We are all consumers and all have stories of good and bad customer service. The memories of bad service seem to blend together and the good service I have received always stands out in my mind. Companies who pay attention to customer experience, service and interaction opportunities foster a "passion for the customer" focus within their team and develop customers for life. Good service and experiences customers have when interacting with a company will help ensure loyal customers and increase repeat business as well as referrals.Last week, I had an appointment to meet a potential vendor at a local, well-known restaurant. I arrived at 11:25am and the restaurant didn’t open until 11:30a
Mark Leslie, an entrepreneur turned Stanford lecturer who took a startup company, Veritas, from nascent stages to over $1B in revenues and a recent $13.5B merger with Symantec, and Charles Holloway, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Professor of Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business have developed a framework, that goes a long way toward answering the question “why it always takes longer and costs more?” Leslie and Holloway call this framework the Sales Learning Curve (SLC) and believe that it will prove as powerful a construct in the high tech sector as the Manufacturing Learning Curve (MLC) was to the manufacturing sector in the early (date?). Today, manufacturers wouldn’t think of running their operation without tracking the MLC because of the dramatic improvements in productivity that it offers. Similarly, Leslie and Holloway believe the SLC holds the potential to fundamentally change how high tech companies are managed and will lead to more high tech companies reaching the promised land of “positive free cashflow.” Increasing the number of cashflow positive companies should lead to greater venture capital returns, more capital being allocated to the sector by LPS, more early stage company formation, more innovation, more jobs, and increased productivity.
So what is the Sales Learning Curve?
[Note to Editor -- there are 2 graphics that were stripped out when I pasted in the article into this form]
As illustrated above, the Sales Learning Curve tracks the contribution margin per sales rep (Sales Yield) against the number of customer transactions. The shape of the curve will be different for every company and every sector but the central tenant of the SLC remains constant – the “go-to-market” phase is when companies should “Go Slow to Go Fast” (which is some advice from a Nordic skiing expert that I recently received when I asked for some tips on improving my performance prior to an upcoming race – Google the phrase and you will find that triathletes, grade school teachers, executive coaches, swimmers, and karate instructors are all well aware of the Go Slow to Go F
The demand for truckers is very high, and it is relatively easy for most qualified truckers to find steady work. Nonetheless, some researchers estimate that as many of 15% of drivers, even those with extensive experience, get disqualified when applying for a trucking position. Why are so many truckers getting turned away if the need for trucker is so high? It all has to do with being organized.The key to landing a trucking job is being prepared and knowing what to expect when seeking a trucking job. Most often, truckers start the hiring process by speaking to a trucking recruiter. Recruiters frequently hire only for one company (the company they work for themselves), so it may be to your advantage to shop around and talk to a number of different recruiters to find the position that is the best fit for you. If you do speak with a number of recruiters, be sure to take notes so you can keep track of who said what.Never lie to a recruiter when seeking a trucking job. The truth will come out eventually and it is much better that you be completely honest from the beginning, even if it means disclosing some negative information, than to lie and get caught for it later. Recruiters will ask you for a variety of information, so be sure to have the following on hand:
So what is the Sales Learning Curve?
[Note to Editor -- there are 2 graphics that were stripped out when I pasted in the article into this form]
As illustrated above, the Sales Learning Curve tracks the contribution margin per sales rep (Sales Yield) against the number of customer transactions. The shape of the curve will be different for every company and every sector but the central tenant of the SLC remains constant – the “go-to-market” phase is when companies should “Go Slow to Go Fast” (which is some advice from a Nordic skiing expert that I recently received when I asked for some tips on improving my performance prior to an upcoming race – Google the phrase and you will find that triathletes, grade school teachers, executive coaches, swimmers, and karate instructors are all well aware of the Go Slow to Go F
All most all the job related issues in the city of Cincinnati are solved by the well performing employment agencies. There are number of job seekers and hiring companies growing day by day in the city. This has resulted in a high acceleration of the employment services in the city. The agencies serve as an intermediate between the job seekers and the employers. The agencies provide employment solutions and resolve personal issues related to jobs and other obstacles to employment and career success.The staffing agencies in Cincinnati provide full spectrum solutions to thousands of satisfied clients across the United States and Canada with excellent customer service, proven methodologies, quality candidates, and competitive pricing. The agencies provide the job seekers with necessary tips on dress code; resume writing, interview to prepare them for a challenging job. The agencies offer the best employment solutions in Temporary placement, Temporary-to-permanent placement, Permanent Placement, Partner-on-premise services, Project staffing, managed staffing, and Resource program management.Cincinnati has plenty of job resources generated by the employers. They prefer efficient employment agencies to perform the job solution. Candidates also trust the employment agencies to
So what is the Sales Learning Curve?
[Note to Editor -- there are 2 graphics that were stripped out when I pasted in the article into this form]
As illustrated above, the Sales Learning Curve tracks the contribution margin per sales rep (Sales Yield) against the number of customer transactions. The shape of the curve will be different for every company and every sector but the central tenant of the SLC remains constant – the “go-to-market” phase is when companies should “Go Slow to Go Fast” (which is some advice from a Nordic skiing expert that I recently received when I asked for some tips on improving my performance prior to an upcoming race – Google the phrase and you will find that triathletes, grade school teachers, executive coaches, swimmers, and karate instructors are all well aware of the Go Slow to Go F
Online businesses do best with online marketing. Online opportunity and online work is, at the moment, at its zenith. Online communities help me connect Defining Collaboration Communities and Collaboration Web 2. Perhaps a better way of stating the issue is: What should you do to make online work successful in your work area. Most people manage by deadlines, and making decisions based on the online input keeps it real. People need to know what they are expected to do when they come to the online work area.Creative Commons licenses attach to the work and authorize everyone who comes in contact with the work to use it consistent with the license. Creative Commons licenses are expressed in three different formats: the Commons Deed (human-readable code), the Legal Code (lawyer-readable code); and the metadata (machine readable code). Creative Commons licenses give you the ability to dictate how others may exercise your copyright rights—such as the right of others to copy your work, make derivative works or adaptations of your work, to distribute your work and/or make money from your work.You will want to check to see that the online program you are interested in provides solid, standards-based content, is an accredited program, and the instructors are licensed by the
Leslie and Holloway believe the “organizational learning” that occurs as sales reps interact with customers to close initial sales is crucial to the ultimate success of the organization. The classic “go-to-market” strategy involves hiring a VP of sales once the beta product is complete and then hiring as many reps as the balance sheet will allow in order to “drive revenue and get to breakeven.” According to Leslie and Holloway, this strategy is doomed to failure because the company has failed to take the time to understand the shape of the SLC for its product in its market. Some reports generated over the last two years by Fenwick and West, a prominent Silicon Valley law firm, bear out their assertion. There is a consistent pattern of inflated B round valuations; the percentage of down rounds for C and later rounds is always greater than B rounds. As Leslie and Holloway state, “One inference from this is that both entrepreneurs and VC’s underestimate the cost and time required to move up the SLC after completion of the Beta product. VCs and entrepreneurs often assume that the company is ready to gain market traction at this stage when in fact the company is only ready to begin the SLC learning process, which like product development stages has a somewhat indeterminate duration.”
When moving from beta release to first release, Leslie and Holloway argue that only a few technically versant sales reps should be hired. These sales reps should serve as a conduit between the initial customers and the engineering team and compensated not on revenue targets but on the “organizational learnings” that are achieved. Only after enough of these “learnings” have been incorporated into subsequent releases of the product and the organization knows how to sell the product (defined as the point at which each sales rep’s contribution margin is twice their fully burdened cost) does it make sense to aggressively hire additional sales reps. Leslie and Holloway posit that the SLC is immutable and can point to numerous theoretical models and concrete examples that indicate that until you have reached this pivotal point on the SLC, the capital invested in hiring additional sales reps is simply wasted.
My firm’s principals have served as executives, investors
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.diggitup.net/article/18496/diggitup-Go-Slow-to-Go-Fast--Why-Over-80-Of-High-Tech-Startups-Fail-And-What-To-Do-About-It.html">Go Slow to Go Fast - Why Over 80% Of High Tech Startups Fail And What To Do About It</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.diggitup.net/article/18496/diggitup-Go-Slow-to-Go-Fast--Why-Over-80-Of-High-Tech-Startups-Fail-And-What-To-Do-About-It.html]Go Slow to Go Fast - Why Over 80% Of High Tech Startups Fail And What To Do About It[/url]
Related Articles:
Apply for Merchant Account Services
A Career as a Personal Trainer
Job Search - How to Learn from Rejection (Job Search Support)
Bookmark it:
|