My First Thousand Dollars

My First Thousand Dollars

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Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Making Use of “My First Thousand Dollars”.............................................................................................. 7 Section I: “My First Thousand Dollars”, The Story ................................................................................... 9 Why is Empathy Important? ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

The Circle of Influence: ...................................................................................................................................... 9 The Competition: .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Things That Work ............................................................................................................................................. 14 Things That Don’t Work ................................................................................................................................. 16 Look Good, Feel Good, Be Good because Goodness is Infectious ................................................ 17 Build as if it will Last Forever ........................................................................................................................ 17 Entrepreneur’s Mind – Optimizing Highs, Minimizing Lows ............................................................ 18 The AMOEBA Entrepreneur .......................................................................................................................... 18 Observe, Identify, Test and Act ................................................................................................................... 19 Identifying the Problem ................................................................................................................................. 19 Awareness, Knowledge, Creativity and Action ...................................................................................... 19 Testing an Idea- The Resonance Technique .......................................................................................... 20 Finding the Ideal Customer: The Click ...................................................................................................... 21 Traditional Sales vs. Interest Groups ......................................................................................................... 21 Who will buy when you sell? ........................................................................................................................ 22 Visualize Your Ideal Customer ..................................................................................................................... 23 How to Find Those Ideal Customers, the Runway ............................................................................... 25 Partnering ............................................................................................................................................................ 26 Planning for Events .......................................................................................................................................... 29 Online Press Release ....................................................................................................................................... 32 Why Online Press Release?................................................................................................................................ 32 What can be a Press Release? .......................................................................................................................... 32 Drafting a Press Release................................................................................................................................. 32 Your Friends Who Can Blog ......................................................................................................................... 35 Start-up Blogs and E-Magazines ................................................................................................................ 35 Blogs Sharing Ideal Customers ................................................................................................................... 35 Your Partners with Blogs................................................................................................................................ 35 2

Section II: “My First Thousand Dollars” – DIY ........................................................................................ 37

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Foreword

Working as a freelancer for several start-up companies, I hit upon this idea to create “My First Thousand Dollars�, a step-by-step guide to assist newbie entrepreneurs to chart and implement these online marketing strategies to kick start their business.

As I look back, these time tested strategies have been devised and tested out by me, when I first launched my online event Why?Newton, an online story sharing contest for engineers and later CorpFest, an inter-corporate festival.

The steps outlined in this e-book are reproducible and provide a larger framework for colleagues from start-up community with less or no marketing experience to plan their early marketing and build a scalable channel for shaping their sales pipeline.

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Thank You

Firstly, I would like to thank Rakesh Choudhury, my partner while conducting “Why?Newton” and “CorpFest”, who has been a constant driver for the spirit of innovation, ideation and entrepreneurship in me. Rajesh Agarwal, Rajiv Rangan who inspire with their sheer passion and enthusiasm towards achieving the unimagined. Many thanks to Kshitiz Dwivedi for supporting with the research.

Secondly, I am grateful to social platforms that promote entrepreneurship, innovation and creative thinking in young minds worldwide and driving them to solve the problems easily and efficiently.

Most importantly, I am thankful to my family for allowing me to take chances in my life and encouraging me to take decisions and face my challenges head on.

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What is the most difficult part for a start-up?

Finding customers who’ll pay for the first 1000 dollars.

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Making Use of “My First Thousand Dollars�

The eBook has two sections Part 1: Offers a descriptive account from real-time experiences to help entrepreneurs identify a problem, the idea, the ideal customer and finding those early set of customers.

Part 2: Offers hands on approach, techniques and a pool of websites and places that can help start-ups promote their business. Techniques mentioned help in understanding the nuances and provide a foundation for long term strategy.

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Section I: “My First Thousand Dollars”, The Story Survival: The basic framework of business As you know, entrepreneurship, whether, for profit or not is a tricky business. It is full of real life challenges and has left many people broken, many dreams shattered.

Would we respect something which could be bought at a throw away price? Or could be achieved easily?

Let me tell you about Sam Jackson, a highly respected business in the neighborhood. Before his rise to success in the business, he had to work hard for four long years to make it big. For those who are new to entrepreneurship will find it quite a long time to wait to see the light of the day. The business, an electronic store was set up after raising funds from friends and family. I asked him, “How he could establish himself so well in his business”? “I had to survive”, he replied in all humility.

Survival is the single most factor that can define a person’s desire to win, appetite to achieve and endurance to face whatsoever may come in the way. A business may or may not work, but the will to survive enables opening of several other concealed doors.

But where does this will get its fuel from? Where does Sam Jackson get so much strength and motivation to fight against the odds? How did he scale? The answer lies with his ability to connect with the problem. It is very personal of course; anyone would do that given such situations. Indeed anyone can, but not many do; why?

Circle of Influence: Sam Jackson’s Strong Business Leap Sam Jackson set up his electronic store in a decent neighborhood, initially business was slow however looking at his earnestness in helping out customers he silently built a steady customer base. He helped customers make the right decisions about choosing the right product and offering the right service. Sam made sure his customers were well attended by his employees who also depended on his business.

Sam strong business sense helped him in being responsible to his customers and staff; owing to this healthy camaraderie which inspired him to sustain and retain interest in his business. What really won over his customers was his honesty, ingenuity to solve their basic queries and problems, while always having a pleasing personality. Attuned to his customers’ needs seemed like the best success mantra he seemed to have acquired with ease. His circle of influence grew with time however, it was never that easy. Obstacles found their way in many forms, including financial, health, circumstantial and most importantly competition.

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Competition: The First Business Fight The newbie businessman Sam Jackson too faced his first fight with other businesses. It does get territorial, on the ground everything is all gun’s blazing. Things in Sam’s favor-keen business sense coupled with his disarming attitude in serving his customers. This is the soft aspect that sells more apart from selling a good quality product. While competition could be fierce at times, the growing circle of influence has potential to overcome those challenges.

My Own Experience: Personal Files Let me shed some light on my first event- CORPFEST, which is an intercorporate festival.

Using free online marketing tools and methods, we made sure that word reached to the right audience. Customer queries were answered 24x7 however due to budgetary constraints we could not set up an online transaction gateway, so we ended up completing transactions individually with each set of participants.

CORPFEST Highpoints Website- with just a click all participants were given easy access to fest related information in order to make the registration process- a hassle free process. The site also offered a quick view of participants, FAQs and live feeds from social media, thus, enabling easy decision.

However, we had to wait for over 40 days before we would hear from our first prospective customer and the calls never stopped after that; 70% of them were converted into active registrations.

Customer Friendly - Proactively answering questions about prices, discounts, location, agenda and support services during the event proceedings, food and beverage options among other questions delighted our customers.

Event Mascot- We used a charming bear as a mascot on the website with a call for action and contact number, which many people connected to and were curious to speak with us.

The event was a no loss affair despite being the first event with no brand name or any major sponsor backing it. Customer relations works. We continue to be friends with all the participants and engage with them on social media for all occasions.

Customers liked our responsiveness thereby building a strong connection.

For an entrepreneur- the journey has to start and must be finished by the individual himself.

He may be faced with questions, like “When, how and where”, and must stay inspired, have 10

faith in the self. Challenges will be there, whether relationships, money, natural calamities or anything for that matter; but if the person continues to be inspired by the idea, that is most important.

Customer: Center of Business Universe I met a CEO of a technology services having 300+ employees at one of the occasions where I asked him about the business deals which he remembered the most and why. He shared an example where a very large Pharma company had sent an email to the sales team. A copy of such emails always went to the CEO and he was quick to revert with a call within seconds he received the email.

The prospect was taken by surprise and was so delighted with company’s CEO himself calling within seconds of writing the email that he immediately recommended the company to his bosses for services they were looking for. The prospect signed his company within few weeks and today it has become one for the biggest client for him. So it’s not just about product, but the service, the relationship, the bond, the warmth and the trust we share with our customers.

Customers Focus: A Proactive Approach Customer is the focus right from the idea stage. Many successful ideas and concepts have evolved from situations where the founders themselves have faced the problem; making them a reference point to identify and solve those problems. While devising a product or a solution, customer focus should be integrated within the design, a proactive approach. For example, thorough research on prospective customers’ behaviour with product or service will also generate potential challenges that they may encounter. Addressing these challenges in terms of ease of use, availability, affordability, longevity and accessibility can overcome many operational challenges going forward.

Journey of Entrepreneurship Popular venture capitalist, Mahesh Murthy asked, “Imagine, if someone left you in a desert.

Would you die?”

What will be your plausible answer be? If your answer is “No, I will not die”. Welcome aboard to the “Journey of Entrepreneurship”. Keep focusing on that instinct beyond all doubts, gain clarity with every passing day till the day it becomes the reality.

What Inspires Entrepreneurs Success stories inspire us. A person’s journey from rags to riches, from earning few dollars a day to a multi-million magnet always pushes our limits for few days. However, the majority of world does not constitute millionaires. There is a whole brigade of people who have identified their strengths and continue to live their life on their own terms to varied extents.

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Being dreamers, we fight the biggest and fiercest battle, within ourselves. Freedom is never by chance, neither is success. Success and freedom are a culmination of thousands of small events, decisions, hard work, consistency, patience that get noticed someday. The journey has many milestones, twists and turns in it, a composite success is in fact a balance of many small successes and failures. It is a process.

A “STEP-A-DAY” THEORY I follow “a step a day” theory, no matter how small; if I have to write, I write every day, even if it is a paragraph, I do. So it goes with customer service; “one customer at a time”. Every new customer is an experience and we should learn from each one in order to set standards for a consistently improved customer experience.

More than a business process, customer service is our own attitude towards our customers.

When starting a business, it becomes even more crucial how we set those standards. The focus should not just be on simply answering customer queries, but understanding the customers, their likes and dislikes, connecting with them and then suggest possible solutions.

Here is an example.

Kylie Richards, a bridal make-up artist had started her business recently. She received her first call from a customer who had seen her brochure at some store. Here is an extract from her conversation.

Customer: Hi, I found your number on a brochure at X store regarding bridal makeup.

Kylie: Hey, thanks for calling. How can I help you?

Customer: It is my daughter’s wedding; I wanted to know the kinds of makeup you can do.

Kylie: We do different styles like Sheer Cover Style, Evening Style, Shimmer Style, Celebrity Make up, Air Brush Makeup Style, Mineral Makeup Look and variety of other styles. All these come in two packages, standard and premium.

Customer: How much do they cost?

Kylie: The standard makeup costs around $100 and premium costs around $500 depending on the products we use.

Customer: OK great, thank you. I will call again.

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Kylie recounted her experience, she felt something amiss, and she felt she didn’t connect with the customer.

A Customer Centric Approach for Kylie to Best Handle Further Customer Queries Customer: Hi! I found your number on a brochure regarding bridal makeup at X store Kylie: Hey! Thanks for calling, will be happy to help. Whose wedding is it, if I may ask?

Customer: It’s my daughter’s wedding in three months so I was looking for options.

Kylie: Well I am glad you called. You see we do all styles of makeup, do you have a style in mind.

Customer: Yeah, we will go for a winter princess makeup look. How much do you charge for it?

Kylie: Beautiful! We have done quite a good number of winter weddings; in fact I would love to show you some samples we have done and also share the packages we offer. Would you be free for 30 minutes this week when I could come and meet you?

Customer: Yeah sure, but if you could give me a ballpark.

Kylie: The standard and premium packages vary between $100-500. But I can recommend you right package at a reasonable cost depending on your requirements. In fact I will be able to recommend exact products and style for makeup if I could meet your daughter or see her picture. I know how important this is for you.

Customer: Thanks a lot! We could meet later this week, but I will confirm the time to you.

Kylie: Sure, is this your number where I can contact you?

Customer: Yes Kylie: Any specific time you would like me to call for follow up?

Customer: You can call me any time after 4 pm.

Kylie: Sounds great. Once again, thank you for calling us and it was lovely speaking with you!

Customer: Thanks, likewise.

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Customer Interaction: Engage, Engage and Engage There are some basics while taking customer calls, i.e., understanding needs clearly, request contact details and alternate methods if any, define the follow up action and take a commitment. In between these aspects, the conversation we establish is clearly one’s willingness, attitude and style of engaging memorable conversations with the customers.

Our customer service behavior stems from our attitude towards others, the soft attributes. It is a good idea to pen down those attributes as in why our customers should love us. These attributes contribute largely to the “engaging” part of the conversation.

Share these attributes with your team so that they too understand their importance. Once we identify our gold standard for customer service, it is also important to identify needs for special training required to imbibe those values. Share the goodness with customers and soon you will see the family grow.

Understanding customer needs our attention, a concerned mind to solve their problems and constant desire to delight them. Having said it, there are some basic dos and don’ts that can definitely come handy in a real time situation.

CORPFEST: Things That Worked Being Proactive There are situations when shortcoming of a product or service is already known e g; lack of an online payment system. Being upfront and proactive in 14

communicating the potential problems with customers can not only avoid unwanted surprises, but will build trust and significantly increase credibility with customers.

Being Honest About Situations Admitting one’s mistake and ensuring that it is corrected hallmarks one’s attitude and commitment towards customers. If you are loyal to your customer, your customer will be loyal to you.

Being In Your Customer’s Shoes Empathy is the word; feeling how customers feel about the problem puts one in perspective to go the extra mile solving them.

Being On Time A late service is as good as no service unless there is a strong reason behind it.

In real business scenario indeed there are possibilities of hitting a roadblock; being proactive and communicating the delays and appropriate reasons in advance always help as long as it does not become a habit. Timely services lead to good surprises and surprises are viral.

Being Reliable Always The best thing I heard from our customers after the CORPFEST event was, “If we had a doubt or a problem, we knew we can always call and get help”.

Customers trusted us as they thought we were honest and reliable in our approach.

Being Available How does it feel when we know there is someone to turn up to in case of any problem?

Comforting is a word close to the feeling.

Being available on phone, email or in person upon request can make a BIG difference. Businesses must have a disciplined approach to attend customer queries and allocate a specific window of time, where they can call you, set up voice mails, auto-responders in email quoting the time within which their query be responded and stick to it. Like this.

“Thank you for writing to us! Our team will respond within 24 hours!

Meanwhile, please see if you find a solution in the support section of our website

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Being Responsive Ever neglected by a salesperson in a big store? You probably know the feeling then. Same applies to when you deal with a customer, once the problem is known or a feedback taken; respond to the query with all the help possible.

Customers love if they receive prompt service, attention, once they get that comfort, they are bound to return.

THINGS THAT DON’T WORK Being Dishonest One cannot take customers for granted. While they shop, they are looking at several alternatives at once and looking for the right solution, attitude, service and availability within their spending capacity. Any misleading information, the customer will take it out on the internet and your business may not even see the light of the next day. It just works that way.

Giving Discounts to Cover Up: An Untimely Favor is Fatal Discounts and offers are essentially tools to attract more first time customers to business or to offer rewards to loyal customers. However, from being a first time customer to a loyal one, a customer travels a long journey with the business. During this journey, discounts and offers become irrelevant; for it is time to test business’ commitment towards solving customers’ problems. By any chance if one fails to meet those commitments, discounts and offers will not help; sure it will put some customers off.

Letting Customers Wait Imagine yourself at a store where you purchased a product or planning to purchase one. The store keeper is only partially attentive to your request eventually delaying your transaction. What would be your reaction? Chances are you will be well on your way to the next store where you can get more attention.

Everyone enjoys attention and being a customer who is paying hard earned money, the demand goes higher. There are instances where you are handling more calls than you can handle in given time; in such scenarios, dropping a note apologizing for delay with a time commitment for resolving the problem can bring a lot of peace to a waiting customer. Before you give a time

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commitment, it may be a good idea to check out how critical is the issue for the customer, so that you can make some adjustments.

Being Unresponsive Do you enjoy talking to the wall? I guess no, so do your customers. Last thing you want to do is to not respond to their queries and turning a deaf ear to your customers can be explosive at times. Be responsive, after all it is your own bank

account

that

will

look

good

with

happy

customers.

Look Good, Feel Good, Be Good because Goodness is Infectious Entrepreneurs only focus on building and nurturing their business that their lose focus on getting dressed for the part. An all-rounder must always power dress through a boardroom, and stay like a BOSS. Mental and physical health is important and one must pay attention to these details. So, get up take up exercising refresh your mind, body and soul and see the positive effects it has on other aspects in life.

We are dealing with real people out in the world, who are waiting to be delighted and surprised. I once went to visit a HR Manager of a multinational company wearing casual wear, as soon as I entered I could see the look of disapproval on the manager’s face. He later told me that my physical presence in the avatar didn’t match up to the person on the phone, who had a sparking engaging personality. In turn it was a put off, this lead me to believe to focus on the outer as well as the inner self. Speak and look the part, business building is all round development starting from good diet, good sleep, good health, personal grooming.

Feeling good and being good, because good is infectious.

Build as if it will Last Forever There is a saying that “nothing lasts forever”, everything that is created will be destroyed someday. However, has it ever stopped people from creating outstanding things? From paintings, sculptures, monuments to cities, things that have made the world wonder; things that have been built with broader vision and great commitment. It is for the same reason that they last forever in people’s minds. Have you ever imagined building something that will last forever? Many people build things with a short term vision to meet a short term need, a quick fix. Interestingly, that does not last long and they are well on their way to next thing.

At certain point, Empire Estate was no longer the tallest building of the world (due to World Trade Centre), but its story that makes it more popular than other taller buildings of the world. A good story can be created when it has gone through all cycles of emotions, happiness and pain. Product will be out-dated and may not last more than a few months, years or decades, but if we have made efforts to make it last forever, and believed in it so; the story will last forever.

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Entrepreneur’s Mind – Optimizing Highs, Minimizing Lows It is not just entrepreneur’s life, but in general we do not have control over things that happen in our lives. An entrepreneur is essentially driven by bigger ambitions, bigger dreams and more desires; and it becomes obvious they have to face bigger challenges to achieve them in turn leading to

a

roller

disappointments

coaster and

life

full

of

excitements.

Successful entrepreneurs know this fact for sure. For them, challenges are opportunities to learn something new, discover new dimensions and develop a new perspective to life. Unlike popular understanding, only an entrepreneur knows that this journey does not end with fancy mansions, fleet of cars or expensive holidays on islands. There are perks and benefits of being an extremely successful business person, but the real journey of learning through problem solving never actually ends. Even rich and successful entrepreneurs face downtime in their careers; but the experience is spiritually uplifting. The journey puts one in a different plane and perspective about life having explored one’s strengths, weaknesses and attributes hidden deep inside that can only be visible when faced by challenging situations.

ENTREPRENEUR- MORPH INTO AN AMOEBA: EMBRACE CHANGE

Lean Amoeba maintains water level in body to adjust to external osmotic pressures through multiple vacuoles (bubble like structures carrying water out). As a start-up, we need to keep

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unnecessary costs, processes and perceptions away to survive in ever changing osmotic balance of business environment.

Flexible One of most significant characteristics of amoeba is its movement using pseudopodia (false feet). It creates pseudopodia in the direction of its movement; and upon facing a hindrance; it creates another podia in different direction.

As an entrepreneur, one needs to test and try different methodologies to find out the one that works best for the business; be flexible to change as per changing customer needs.

Adaptable When forced by external challenges, Amoeba has ability to shield itself with protective layer around. It comes back in to shape when situations are normal. Adaptation is key to entrepreneur’s personality.

Whenever there is a change in ecosystem, economy or in general the way people live, entrepreneurs are the first breed of people who adapt to changing environment. Shrink when going is tough, expand when easy, but keep going.

Wear Multiple Hats Amoeba is a single cell organism, where all activities are performed by a single cell. As entrepreneurs, a day may start from cleaning the workplace, organizing furniture, setting daily goals, making sales calls, picking and delivering products, answering customer queries and make a strategic six months plan for the business. One cannot afford to not wear any one of the hats.

Observe, Identify, Test and Act Identifying the Problem In an ever changing world, there will always be new problems; and at any given time, there will be many people who will be facing them. Very few of them will actually realize it and try to solve that problem themselves, others will just live with it. Of those who solve it, there will be some who will make a business out of it, the people called entrepreneurs. Of those who start a business, a very few will actually succeed.

Awareness, Knowledge, Creativity and Action At any given time, we all are thinking something at the subconscious level. Our brain never sleeps in reality. It is a matter of practice that we start focusing on what actually is going on in our mind- that is being aware of what it is inside. This awareness about our own self can be extended to our acts in daily lives like eating, breathing, socializing, sleeping, meeting people, watching movies. When we are aware of what we are doing, it exposes us to deeper meanings of those incidents and acts, ultimately leading to new ideas and creativity.

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Second step is to enrich this awareness with knowledge through reading more, traveling, meeting new people, experimenting with random thoughts.

Knowledge enhances creativity, the more we know about things, more we come across new ideas. One may not always be reading, meeting people, traveling, but for it could be random activities we do all the time. When we are aware of what we are doing, we will always learn; awareness leads to knowledge and thus leading to creative ideas.

For e g; My first online event “Why? Newton” – My Engineering Story, a story sharing contest for engineering students and professionals. The idea was “if Newton could do it, why can’t we?” The idea was to encourage people to share their stories of innovation, fun and other memorable events from their college days.

The idea was not perfect on Day 1, it underwent hundreds of iterations before it was actually launched. So is every idea that takes significant time and effort before it is able to solve problems for thousands of people.

Testing an Idea- The Resonance Technique Once a problem is identified, it is important to test ideas to check if they resonate with others without any bias. Bouncing the idea among peers and seeing if there is a reaction, if the frequencies match. It is an agile method to quickly test ideas and find out a different tube (read target audience) to find the right frequency match.

Chances are there will be early failures, which is a good thing; it clears the cloud around it.

However, when the right tuning is found, the outcome is not just a validated idea but enough noise will have been created to understand the target audience and expectations as potential customers that will help navigate through the noise cloud.

So here was a problem – start-ups need marketing support. I further expanded the need as – sales support, branding, designing, website development etc. It was now time to find the resonance; I therefore bounced this idea in through an email in a start-up community.

Engagements with other start-ups led me to identify another problem – the start-ups cannot pay enough money to afford professional marketing services, especially when there is a lot 20

to do. A part of that solution is this workbook validated by several start-ups kicking off their revenue with relative ease. Also, to develop plans for their marketing activities in varying scale.

Finding the Ideal Customer: The Click How do you go about finding your soul mate? Of course you match your interests, right?

May be common beliefs or it may be just that it “clicks”. Interestingly our customers share a common belief, a common interest –the solution. So how do we find them?

Traditional Sales vs. Interest Groups Traditional Sales Traditional

sales

approach

uses

demographic and geographic details of target audience to find out the low hanging fruits, the ones that are in the window purchase over a scattered period of time – immediate, in next three months, six months or a year. It’s a funnel model where the campaign starts with a pool of target audience (location, age, gender, income group etc.) who will be contacted and qualified based on their interest. The leads thus generated will further be followed up to convert in to deals.

Interest Groups Interest group approach is about visualizing and finding people with common interests and approaching them at places where they could most probably be found or being at a place where they are seeking the solution.

Rings a bell? Online search engines, forums,

groups

and

communities

being such places where people go to first looking for a solution. Internet is full of articles and videos where one could get tips on participating in such groups to promote their businesses without being pushy or coming across anxious.

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Who will buy when you sell?

While a good amount of people will fit with the ideal customer’s vision, buying decision needs a strong drive, as discussed earlier, the passion. The search of ideal customers indeed begins with a hint of doubt that an individual may or may not buy the product. It all depends on individual’s drive, current need and of course ability to buy at any given time, the budget.

I walked in to a gift shop; I wanted to buy something for a special friend. I had some idea in my mind as in what I would like to buy, but I wasn’t really sure. I let it to the store to surprise me. I glanced through the shelves from left to right as if I was taking a panoramic shot and there it was that beautiful piece of craft. I knew my friend would like it, I liked it. I knew I wanted it.

Keeping the budget aside for a while, it is common to come across set of prospective customers who may or may fit with the ideal customer image. The following categories may provide a little insight on type of people one encounters during the process based on the common interest.

Good to Know: Good to know kind of audience are interested in knowing what is happening around. They do share a common interest, among many other interests, yet they are not driven enough to invest or spend with particular solution offered by your business. Although they are not interested in buying, they are important. They act as a carrier of information in the sphere of influence. An inquisitor liking a post on Facebook, sharing a blog about a cool product in its network are all examples of this category. They may never buy it, but it is good to have them in the sphere.

I May: Audience with a higher degree of curiosity than the “good to know” kind, yet a lower drive than “yes I want”. They are typically the people who would take free trials or test rides.

They have the desire but not strong enough to convert into a purchase. They would like to experience yet would be limited various factors including budget or probably wait for a better or a different thing that would drive them to next category. Since they are driven, they will share their experience and excitement about the product; again good carriers of news.

Yes I Want: “Yes I want” is the perfect match, the ideal customers who with slight degree of variance share the same passion. They are driven by the subject in entirety and are willing to go extra mile to buy if they find it adding value.

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As much it is necessary to communicate with this mix of audience, it is the “yes I want” people who will show up in your first quarterly balance sheet and hence, they are a start up’s real focus. There is no one solution to find such people; it will vary from business to business, product to product and service to service. However, by mixing all possible approaches customized to one’s proposition, one can increase the chances of getting those first few customers paying the first thousand dollars. They are the Ideal Customers. But how do we visualize an Ideal Customer?

Visualize Your Ideal Customer In start-up scenario, if we have an idea, a concept and product, there will be many more will share common theme, the passion; only difference being, a person taking the step to convert the idea into a working solution while others continue to search for one. Is it too difficult to visualize the Ideal Customer?

The Ideal Customers are pieces of our reflection that complete our image in the outside world who share our interest. Visualizing oneself using the solution can help visualize the Ideal Customer. Right from smaller details, how do they look like, their attitude, behavior, their interests, everything counts.

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What kind of people will be interested in your product or service?

Examples: 

People who love to travel on weekends



People who are passionate about dancing



Managers passionate about productivity tools, the tech savvy type



People who are passionate about their health

As evident, it is not generic description of a prospective buyer but the word “passion” and “love is used to describe a customer. These words are baseline factors that will drive any individual to make a buying decision when triggered with timely information or least being available when one looks for solutions.

What are pre-requisites for qualifying the customer?

There could be several attributes to an ideal customer; however, the central theme is passion, shared interest.

Will they be willing and able to spend on the product or service? How much?

Quite often when a product is awesome, it is surprising how people are willing to spend more than what one expects.

Where would they be looking for a product or service like yours?

The question is tricky yet simple if one simply can think like the customer. There are two most obvious things which people do when they are seeking some service: 

Ask a friend This happens every day in every individual’s life. o

People asking their friends for a good candid photographer for a wedding photo shoot

o

People asking for a good dance class etc.

“It’s a small world”, one often witnesses this quote bumping in to friends at parties, airports or getting to know a resourceful person through a friend who was needed at the very moment. World indeed is small for people know what they are looking for. A good service or product will be part of this circle of influence where it can benefit from the word of mouth publicity. 

Search on Google (or any other search engine) In no particular order, ‘Ask a Friend’ on ‘Search on Google’ can happen. Imagine the keywords you would use if you were to search your product or service and try different combinations. The top 20 search results are probably where the customer would find what it needs. Be there!

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

Type in keywords that will help you find your ideal customer on internet

Using the keywords from your Ideal Customer Profile, search for images to visualize them and paste it here. Place this chart where you could see it.

How to Find Those Ideal Customers, the Runway If you have visualized your ideal customer, you might already know by now where you will find them. Remember the Sphere of Influence? There is no one way of reaching to the centre of the sphere where you find the “yes I want” customers. However, methodologies,

you

will

be

increasing

your

following these

chances

of

success.

When you know your ideal customer, they will come to you sooner or later, but as an entrepreneur, you cannot keep waiting for them, can you? However, these strategies will indeed help in getting queries and calls from potential customers. The steps are important to ensure essential steps have been taken towards the goals in a calculated way.

25

Partnering: Enhanced Business Proposition Not all partnerships yield revenue, yet depending on the partner, they do yield significant business value. The value could be in terms of amplified visibility across shared audience, an enhanced business proposition and other benefits.

The first rule of partnership is mutual benefit. It is important that one clearly defines the ideal customer and identify other areas that the ideal customer may be interested in; businesses or services that are complimentary to one’s services. The second step is to define clear benefits and expectations from the partnership for all the parties involved. The partnering map below will help identifying mutual interests that can help prepare a good pitch while approaching potential partners.

The kind of partners one can look for may vary including fellow start-ups, blogs, magazines, NGOs, Facebook or other social media pages, small businesses, communities like entrepreneurship forums (both share common passion for new ideas), subject matter forums (an HR forum for recruitment start-up, an educational community for an educational startup, parenting community for children books, gaming apps start-up), colleges and universities etc.

The ideal customers will have many interests and might share one or more interest with your business. Similarly they will be sharing other interests with other entities. The idea is to identify entities that share common interest and can fall well within the sphere of influence.

Most importantly they should not be competitors. The illustration below explains how “NonCompeting Partners with Shared Interests� and Ideal customers fall in the sphere of influence.

26

The objective of partnership (besides of course generating business) could be varied: 1. Access to a wider audience 2. Gain visibility and subsequent branding 3. Strengthen business’ value proposition through complimentary services 4. Take advantage of an occasion or event through partnering Based on one’s interest with partnering, the following table could be used to build the partnering strategy:

27

For early start-ups expanding outreach in order to identify early set of customers make obvious sense. Promotion always takes center stage since it is usually never enough for organizations to have expanded outreach provided it is within reasonable

budget.

Every organization whether business or charity, is in the lookout for reaching wider audiences and it does makes sense for the need of more affiliates and partners to achieve that objective. Once the objectives are clear, finding out businesses that share common customers and can complement the business is an interesting exercise as it serves as a great opportunity to network and learn from other entities about their

perception

of

the

business,

the

audience

and

other

business

nuances.

A technology development organization, a design agency or consulting company will be sharing ideal customers. A t-shirt printing start-up whose ideal customers are people who love to wear their attitude can partner with event managers, NGO with causes or business with a unique philosophy will be sharing common ideal customers. There could be many commonalities across the partner organizations and so many ideas in which one can partner.

Preparing a chart using those ideas and bouncing them with prospective partners for finding Resonance will lead to fruitful associations.

28

Planning for Events What influences your decision to be part of an event? To understand this, we must understand the key take away from any event. Conferences, seminars, business networking events are places where like-minded people come together.

One gets to meet similar people, listen to speakers, discuss on topics, exchange latest developments and return home with business leads, new contacts, information, knowledge and memories. While there are many events that are either free to attend or charge nominal fee, there are events that charge a premium to attend provided the quality of speakers, attendees and overall value that event promises for all.

While planning your event budget for the current financial year, you will be assessing many events which you can attend to promote your business and also plan new events to organize on your own. But how would you decide on which events to attend or organize?

What is your objective?  I want to generate leads for my business  I want to create awareness about my product/service and increase PR  I want to learn about industry practices, new technologies, marketing methodologies and network with fellow members  I want to engage and educate my target audience about my product/service  I want to seek investment for my business  I am looking for right partners for my business  I am looking to hiring right people in my business  I want to know active people from the industry I operate in so that I can get in touch with them  I am looking for a branding opportunity for my product/service/company  Add your custom objective Now that you have identified your objective, start again with visualizing your Ideal Customer.

When you have populated the list of all events in a year which align with your business interest using specific key words, look at the visitors and speaker profile of the event. Are they your Ideal Customers? Or can they influence? If yes, what would be the expected return from the event?

29

 Many of my ideal customers will be attending the event and it provides me an opportunity to network with them  The event provides me speaking/presenting opportunity to communicate my message to a larger set of target audience  My competitors will be presenting at the event providing me good opportunity to learn about them  The event has industry leaders speaking providing deep insight to current trends and industry practices. It will be a good learning opportunity  It is a good platform for me to sponsor/exhibit and conduct activities to engage my target audience  It is the right place to launch my product because of sheer size of the event  The event is attended by job seekers; an opportunity to meet lot of candidates at one place for my hiring needs  Add your custom answer

Typically in a day, you can exchange around 30-50 business cards during the event and assuming 5-6 contacts can turn in to potential business leads, do you think the event is worth its fee? There are some businesses which depend on advertising revenue, for them creating awareness is equally important as it is to get business from advertisers. For such businesses, presenting in seminars, conferences with right target audiences is equally important. Based on your answers above, segregate the events list in different categories as below: Sponsoring

Networking

Presenting

Learning

Branding

Tracking

Event 1 Event 2 Event 3 Event 4 Event 5 Event 6

There are many events and meet-ups that charge less than INR 1000 ($20) that offer great networking opportunities and perfect ground to gain an early share of voice.

Preparing for an event: 30

•

Scan complete list of delegates, speakers and sponsors of the event

•

Identify beforehand individuals which you must meet

•

Try to find their contact details on their company website on general Google search

•

Request them via email or phone for a meeting at event depending on their schedule. If they cannot commit for a time, it will be easier for you to break ice at the event

•

Find out sessions, mini-events within the event which you must attend

•

Get your company/product/service documents and marketing material ready with you

•

In case you plan to sponsor or present, make sure you arrange for items that you need to display at the booth. Get things in place at least a week in advance.

•

If the event is in a different city or country, make sure you can ship all requisite material to the venue on time

•

Make your travel plans in advance

•

Keep business cards in abundance and make it easy for you to take it out when you are meeting someone

•

Keep notes of all your observations in a handy notebook

•

Meet with as many people as you can since it always helps

•

It is always a good idea to wear formals in business events. Remember look good, feel good, be good?

31

Online Press Release Why Online Press Release?    

It can be done for free online Helps optimization for search engine Your customers, investors, vendors and partners may want to know about your presence online Helps you reach your ideal customer

What can be a Press Release?        

Launch of new product or service Inclusion of new capability in company Announcement of a contest or event Announcement of a partnership or a joint venture Upgrade in product or service Addition of important executive in corporate team Funding announcement Presenting or sponsoring an event

Drafting a Press Release Using the headings above, search for different press releases from other companies to learn how they are written. Once you have an understanding, follow simple steps as below to draft your own press release.

Keywords List down all the keywords that you think are important for your announcement and that people should know. Again, this from your ideal customer’s point of view, what are the key words they will be searching for + the new words you want them to learn additionally.

There are different components of a press release where you can fit in these keywords.

- Title - Brief Summary - General Body - Remarks from Founder/Management/Executive (that is you) - Remark from your partner/vendor/colleague from different department - About your company Once you have drafted the press release and reviewed it, create a list of all free press release submission websites online. One by one, register with them and submit your press release.

That’s it! You can save the list of these websites for future use as well.

Typically in a day or two you will see your press release on several websites. There are also other bloggers, websites who pick up these press releases to publish on their own website.

They intend to generate traffic on their sites using this content, in turn helping your online presence grow.

32

33

Online Press Release Step by Step

Being BLOGd Blogging is an effective way to share one’s story, provide background information and create an interest group. This section is not about “how to write a blog�, as there are many resourceful sites that can guide on that topic. Nevertheless, the focus is a strategy that can work for start-up; one that can make you more audible and visible. Blogging here is part of the overall strategy than a blogging strategy to establish the blog as independent business entity.

Start-ups create a very interesting ecosystem and the times are interesting since the Internet has made it easier for us to find each other. While we are eager to find our ideal customers, there are content websites, bloggers and marketers who are eagerly looking for generating more content on start-ups and new businesses. It is useful to identify blogs that can talk about the business, therefore helping with the early share of voice. It could be friends with a decent following on their blog and social page or other startup blogs with reasonable community. People do like to promote cool ideas or initiatives, if yours qualifies for one, people will be happy to share the idea.

34

Your Friends Who Can Blog It is probably the first step to get product reviewed by friends who can share their thoughts on the subject. It helps if they try the product themselves and share their feedback in public; and possibly blog about it.

Start-up Blogs and E-Magazines The number of people taking the leap has grown considerably over a decade with more people trying to start-up. Part of this ecosystem are the bloggers and e-magazines that cater to the community. They find out new start-ups in the space and would like to cover them since they run their site with new content and a start-up story fits the purpose.

Blogs Sharing Ideal Customers The above story works with blogs and e-magazines that write about particular industry, technology, domain, topic or serve to those similar to ideal customer.

Your Partners with Blogs The partnering map discussed above can also help identify those partners who have decent following with their blogs. Sharing articles on the collaboration, new product launches etc. will help gain the necessary visibility.

35

THOUSANDFIRST Do-It-Yourself

36

Section II: “My First Thousand Dollars” – DIY

Just Started? 

Use this easy self-help online marketing workbook to kick-start your business



Whether you are a small team or a single person starting the business; this shall help you gain deeper understanding of your market and gain early entry



This method is for start-ups with less or no marketing or business experience to help get their FIRST SET of customers



The methods provided are street smart techniques based on real experiences and validated by over 20 small businesses and individuals



You can tweak these methods to suit your business

Getting Clarity on Customer and Market My Ideal Customer:  Describe in one line how your IDEAL CUSTOMER looks like  What would they be looking for?  Where would they be looking at?  Use the space below to describe Visualize How They Look 

People who share common passion as you do



Be specific, what they must love in order to find you?

?

37

Search for an Image of your ideal customer in Google and Paste here

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------What are the KEYWORDS that describe your Customer, Market and Services you offer?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Classifieds 

Usually classified websites of first 3 pages in Google should be targeted; prepare your list of 20 classifieds - include global and local classifieds



Post every two weeks



Provide a quick summary, web address, email and phone number



Make your own list or download the list from our website for Indian market S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

WEBSITE

Week 1

OLX Sulekha Grotal Quikr Vivastreet JustDial Locanto Briscom Expressclassifieds Craiglist Webdunia Yep eBay Classifieds Usnetads Usatodayclassifieds

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

More Sites….

Indialist.com

Indiadynamics.com

Indiaclassifieds.com

Adtrack.in

Sahipasand.com

Indiaconnect.com

Gumtree.in

Classifieds.boldsky.com

Adpiece.in

iamwire.com

Advertisementindia.com

adexpert.in

Justklick.in

mykyword.com

Indiagrid.com

ads2book.com

iVarta.com

totalfree.in

38

Webindia123.com

checkadz.com

Justdoondo.com

nearpage.in

Releasemyad.com

oneindia.in

Tradewale.com

india.classifiedindia.com

in.selldude.com

salenearn.com

Dailyclick.com

ad-guru.com

Tashiads.com

freeclassiads.com

Adpost.com

zestymart.com

Clickindia.com

kugli.com

Namanas.com

chillyads.com

Kukdu.com

adlagao.com

adx9.com

jicka.com

adfreeposts.com

oodle.com

boostime.in

citynews.com

sskclassified.com

gumtreeads.com

24needs.in

usfreeads.com

adsandclassified.com

pennysaverusa.com

sulochna.com

myadmonster.com

lofied.com

freeads24.us

howzad.com

american-classifieds.net

loklist.com

americanonlineads.com

freemey.com

backpage.com

admaya.in

addipulse.com/classifieds

jihoy.com

zoozads.com

88db.com

classifiedsvalley.com

dragg.in

mrfreeads.com

Usnetads.com

theexclaim.com

ringerlist.com

postingking.com

ebayclassifieds.com

azbestclassified.com

adlandpro.com

andysdirectory.com

adeex.us

webclassifieds.us

mebhu.com

directory.the570.com

crazywasp.com

subscribe.directorym.com

twarak.us

everydaybusinessonline.com

10dayads.com

eximdata.com

postallads4free.com

explorecollinsville.com

hereclassifiedads.com

freeclassifiedssites.com

bestfreeclassifiedads.com

web-free-ads.com

advertisingadsfree.com

adomnia.com

onlinepostingads.com

freeclassifieds2.com

classifiedadssite.com

biggestclassifieds.com

onlineclassifiedsite.com

webcosmo.com

postadvertisingfree.com

classifieds.blackworld.com

webfreeadvertising.com

meetpark.com

webfreead.com

kedna.com

freeads4.com

bestwayclassifieds.com

39

freeadweb.com

buysellcommunity.com

placeadsforfree.com

domesticsale.com

bizmartindia.com

adsglobe.com

sellopia.com

rediff.com

sticknobills.com

classifieds.dialindia.com

dillibazar.com

yahoo.com

innetads.com

goaddz.com

admamu.in

imia.in

bandelal.com

viewfreeads.com

rosigo.in

ads2india.com

indiaeclassified.com

tips4india.in

indiaclassifiedonline.com

magicaladz.com

inads.in

imclassified.com

zeds.in

classifiedduniya.com

goodlinksindis.com

e-adsindia.com

fullhyderabad.com

classiopen.in

adoos.in

indiasuno.com

adeex.in

myadcircle.com

meramaal.com

klixindia.com

digitalbhoomi.in

desilist.in

bechna.com

postad.in

whereincity.com

itanddcfreeclassified.com

wantedwants.com

mrlisteronline.com

zeohclassifieds.com

thenewyorkads.com

kifaa.com

theglobalads.com

iposte.org

thechicagoads.com

ablewise.com

mowersmarket.com

sparsen.com

classifiedvirginia.com

brownbook.net

classified-alabama.com

shopalbuquerque.com

groono.com

matchpoint.com

manta.commb

classifiedinus.com

advertise.local.com

desiclub.com

mitula.us

webapp.localeze.com

freead1.net

bgyellowpages.com

upfeet.com

canadaone.com

freeads.6te.net

carolinabusiness.us

thehoustonads.com

dazzleyellowpages.com

gogenie.com

postadss.com

love2trade.com

herefreeads.com

buynow-us.com

classifiedsup.com

adonview.com

freeads-1.com

usfreeads.biz

freeadscity.com

addyourads.us

stumblehere.com

listitsellit.us

beatyourprice.com

used-classifieds.com

freeadlists.com

freeunlimitedclassifieds.com

40

diggclassifieds.com

atphuket.com

50statesclassifieds.com

pictomoneycommunity.com

supershopper.org

qtellclassifiedads.com

zikbay.com

themiamiads.com

wildfireclassifieds.com

theworldads.com

getfreelisting.com

thelosangelesads.com

listings.mapquest.com

onlinebestad.com

local.botw.org

1000freeads.com

adsriver.com

hionlineads.com

worldfreeads.com

abadoo.org

mycityclassified.com

targro.com

teraclassifieds.com phinditt.com

41

Press Release Usually free press release websites of first 3 pages in Google should be targeted;



prepare your list of 30-40 free PR sites - include global and local sites Post company launch, new product/service launch, post an accomplishment, new



management joinee, event etc Provide a Headline, Summary (200 words), Body, About Company, Contact Details,



Website Make your own list or download the list from our website for Indian market



S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

WEBSITE

Month 1

Month 2

1888pressrelease.com Free-press-release.com Express-press-release.com Free-press-releasecenter.info i-newswire.com Ecommwire.com Clickpress.com PR.com prurgent.com prbuzz.com pressabout.com prleap.com prmethod.com theopenpress.com press-base.com prcompass.com pr9.net newswiretoday.com 24-7pressrelease.com pr-inside.com

42

Start-up Portals 

Prepare a list of "start-up websites" and register. Describe your services in detail



Add a logo, one line summary (6 words), and description



Make your own list or download the list from our website for Indian market

S.No.

WEBSITE

1

Yourstory.in

2

Theleanstartup.com

3

Startupduniya.com

4

Siliconindia.com

5

Killerstartups.com

6

Thestartupnews.com

One Time

More Sites…

Startups.in

startoholics.in

indianwebstartups.com

Headstart Network Google Group

hotteststartups.in

Punestartups Google Group

startupfreak.com

The Rodinhoods

startuptimes.in

10,000 Startups Nasscom

SMEjoinup.com

Vccircle.com

readstartups.com

Medianama.com

startupnews.in

Socialsamosa.com

bizxchange.com

Watblog.com

indianentrepreneur.com

NextBigWhat.com

YoungupStarts.com

Siliconafrica.com

en.startit.rs

Africastartupbox.com

en.startupbusiness.it

Afrilabs.com

RudeBaguette.com

Afrinnovator.com

Blog.HowToWec.com

Bongihive.zm

GoalEurope.com

Venturevillage.eu

Arcticstartup.com

Euro.startupblogs.com

cee-startups.com

Capetownactiva.com

eu-startup.com

Venturebeatprofiles.com

Siliconallee.com

Wamada.com

Startupbook.co

wwwhatsnew.com

Startupli.st

Onthapp.com

Crunchbase.com

Webdevtwopointzero.com

Ziipa.com

Sociableblog.com

Timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com

Rev2.org

Bstartup.com

NetWebApp.com

Startupheat.com

Nibletz.com

Mindcron.com

Wired.com

Startuptunes.com

Rightstartup.com

43

Publicityx.com

StartupBeat.com

TechCrunch.com

Qz.com

TheNextWeb.com

e27.com

VentureBeat.com

SgEntrepreneurs.com

Mashable.com

TechInAsia.com

Allthingsd.com

TechNode.com

Gigaom.com

TechRice.com

Humanipo.com

Aboutyourstartup.com

ihub.co.ke

web.appstorm.net

Otekbits.com

Appvita.com

Techloy.com

Betali.st

Techmoran.com

Feedmyapp.com

Techworldafrica.com

Startupmeme.com

Vcc4africa.biz

Launch.it

Startups.ig.com.br

Listio.com

Startupchile.org

Makeuseof.com

TropicalGringo.com

Netted.net

Startuplift.com

thestartupvideos.com

Erlibird.com

startup-videos.com

New-startups.com

Scoutness.com

Launchingnext.com

Ratemystartup.com

Startupproject.org

Startupwizz.com

Talkreviews.com

Techpluto.com

44

Events 

Prepare a list of "Events Posting" sites and register. Publish your event



Add a logo, summary, description, ticket price if any, who can join, location and contact details



Make your own list or download the list from our website for Indian market

S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6

WEBSITE

One Time

Meraevents.com Socialevents.com Delhievents.com Vivastreet.com Burrp.com Buzzintown.com

More Sites…

Zvents.com

DevTownStation.com

Allconferences.com

TechVenue.com

Doattend.com

EventSetter.com

Yelp.com

GarysGuide.org

Upcoming.Yahoo.com

Eventsbot.com

Eventful.com

EventInterface.com

Eventbrite.com

MySpace.com

Facebook.com

Friendster.com

LinkedIn.com

Craigslists.com

ConFabb.com

Evite.com

NationalMarriageweekusa.com

Involver.com

Bryansays.com

Networkforgood.com

Coralspringsbocaraton.com

Oriented.com

base.google.com

Denverpost.com

Kitchen.technocrati.com

UpComingEvents.com

Metromix.com

LivePdx.com

Active.com

Slweekly.com

Going.com

Calendarlive.com

Events.org

EventElephant.com

Denverpost.com

Eventbee.com

Boston.com

Fikket.com

Discoversd.com

Postevents.co

Slideshare.com

UPostEvents.com

Eventszilla.net

IndiaList.com

Planetreg.com

indiaonline.in

Uticketit.com

post-gazette.com

45

Amiando.com

chooseyourevent.com

Ticketleap.com

Eventsnearhere.com

Baltimoresun.com

Ents24.com

Sun-Sentinel.com

Lifeonlingisland.com

Chicagotribune.com Gapersblock.com

KawarthaNOW.com

Timeout.com

212area.com

Mercurynews.com

BrixtonBuzz.com

Sfgate.com

43things.com

Shamanportal.org

Spingo.com

Yapsody.com

46

Partnering 

Prepare a list of businesses who share common "ideal customers"



Partner with them to share leads, contacts, joint events, join publicity on Facebook, blog about each other

S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Partner Type of Services Type of Partnering Shared Leads

Partner 1

Partner 2 Marketing Event Resource Sharing

Events Facebook Posts Blog Press Release

47

Blogs 

Prepare a list of businesses who share common "ideal customers"



Partner with them to share leads, contacts, joint events, join publicity on Facebook, blog about each other

S.No.

Blog Title

1

My First Blog

2

Why I started this Business?

3

What is the problem I solve?

4

What difference I bring?

5

What have I done so far?

6

What my customers think?

7

Some cool tips

8

Self-help guides

9

Interesting facts list

10

What motivates me?

11

My best 5 moments

12

My biggest 5 lessons

13

Tutorials

14

Fun facts

15

Updates on my work (regular)

PUBLISHING SITES Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest StumbleUpon

Reddit Digg Delicious Pocket Google+

Become a Brand, Manage it Online

       

Everything that you create - share on these sites - images work better Post regularly - Like 3-4 times in a day Post updates, launches, news Share facts Share beautiful images and facts related to your work Share customer interviews and feedbacks Share latest trends, news and interview from popular people Engage in discussions on comments/feedback

Be Yourself, Share the Passion.

48

49