The Great Recession of the United States has resulted in more than 8 million people losing their jobs. There once was a time when if you got laid off from your job, you picked up a bootleg copy of Photoshop and became a web designer. But as far as I can tell, 97.3% of the people who have lost their jobs in this recession have emerged in social media as something like expert consultants. In any case, speaking as someone who has run a small business for nearly a decade, here are a few tips for all of you newly christened recessionary entrepreneurs:

1. Have a Plan B. Let’s face it, the only reason you’re even messing around in social media is because it seems like the thing you’re supposed to do right now. Sure, you know how to post tweets and update your Facebook status, but really, what else have you got? When things don’t go as you want them to in this space, and they won’t, you’re going to need a backup plan. Many opt to continue looking for a “real” job with a “real” company while they launch their startups and collect unemployment. It’s a good strategy for most people.

2. Get on LinkedIn. If you want to connect like they used to do at Chamber of Commerce functions back in the day, get on LinkedIn, polish your profile and get active in groups. Don’t even mess around with Twitter. It’s addictive and pulls you down into places that are hard to escape. Sure, you can do some networking on Twitter, but mostly you’re going to end up trying to sell people on your business — and they’re going to laugh at you.

3. Prepare for failure. Fifty percent of all new small businesses fail within the first year. That number jumps to 95% over the first five years. It’s a fact; deal with it. When you’re prepared to stumble, you stumble less. Write that down.

4. Don’t go looking for free or reduced pricing on branding, content or design services just because you’re a startup. Would you drive to the Bank of America headquarters, take the elevator up to an arbitrary floor and ask someone in a random cubicle to do your landscaping? Do your homework. Develop a plan. Know the market. Know rates. Be realistic about everything. Some of us are actually committed to our professions as small-business entrepreneurs and don’t have the resources to directly invest in your endeavor.

5. Grow rhino skin. You may well have the best idea on the planet, but you’ll never know if you don’t try to sink it. Before you share anything with the world, walk around your idea with a sledgehammer and beat the hell out of it. Then invite others to do the same. Entrepreneurship is no place for people with onion skin.

Credit to “Jim Mitchem” from Advertising Age.

We have entered the era of accountability. Those people who never added any value to the bottom-line of their organizations are rapidly find themselves on the unemployment line. Those who realize that their job description has expanded and are willing to expand their skill set will survive and thrive.

One of the key areas to increase your value in your organization is to focus energy on building the top line(revenue) of the organization. Let’s face it most companies have already trimmed their costs to the point any more will be detrimental to company success. So the bottom-line growth needed to come from revenue growth.

So we are left with increasing price and/or increasing volume. In most sectors increasing price is not an option (in face of increased competition and shrinking customer budgets). So…We all need to get involved in increasing company sales volume.

Here are some quick tips to get your “non-sales people to sell.”
1) Set sales goals (within non-sales teams)
2) Provide fundamental (professional) sales training
3) Provide selling motivation (e.g. team contests, bonuses etc.)
4) Coach the selling skills
5) Add accountability (e.g. sales targets)

We are presenting “But Sales Was Not in My Job Description” at the MTA conference in Minneapolis March 1st-March 3rd.” If you would like to discuss the content or learn about other ways to train/motivate non-salespeople to sell give us a call 800.287.7198 x.701.

All the best-

Dave

From time to time we like to share non work related posts. Enjoy this pic of my wife and her Valentines Day Surprise! Caesar is the newest addition to our wonderful family.

Ok, so now I am a believer. I confess I have been extremely skeptical about the ability of social media to deliver tangible sales results for our business and other B2B segments.  Social media for B2C is a slam dunk decision but I along with most of our clients have been skeptical of ROI on social media for B2B.

We began blogging for a couple of years ago, have been consistently updated LinkedIn in  the past year and began Tweeting regularly about 3 months ago. We have 290 Twitter  followers to date and 385 LinkedIn connections. This has taken considerable time and effort. Up until two weeks  ago we frankly had no sales results to show for it.

We had been trying to get into an account for the last few months and were having a tough time reaching the decision-maker. So I decided to take a shot at reaching the person through LinkedIn. I had no connection nor did any of my immediate contacts. So I tried to connect to the decision-maker completely blind (with little belief in getting a response). Two days later…BAM! We get a return email expressing interest in our new Bungee Loyalty Program and a day later had a webinar. Next week we are going to be delivering a proposal…I will keep you posted on the results. In the meantime enjoy this dynamic and insightful Social Media ROI video.

Dave