Key Points from “How to Win Friends and Influence People”

The following is a compilation of key learnings and advice from Dale Carnegie’s timeless classic How to Win Friends and Influence People. This was compiled by my good friend Ling Zhang, a partner at FORVIS, a “Big 8” financial services and accounting firm. Lots of great nuggets in here to put into practice in 2024. ENJOY!

Rules:

1. Avoid arguments

2. Never tell the other person, “You’re wrong.”

3. If you are wrong, admit it

4. Begin in a friendly way; A drop of honey; Gentleness and friendliness are always stronger than fury and force

5. Get the other person to agree with you immediately

6. Let the other person do most of the talking

7. Let the other person have ownership of the ideas

8. Try to see things from the other’s point of view

9. Be sympathetic to the other person’s ideas and desires

10. Appeal to the nobler motives

11. Dramatize your ideas; TV shows and movies do it

12. Challenges generate excitement

13. Do this you will be welcome everywhere: show a genuine interest in other people, and help others without asking for returns

14. Make a good first impression: A smile is the best ornament you can wear

15. A person’s name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language to him or her

16. Become a good conversationalist; Be a good listener <To me, this is the most important point>

17. How to interest people: Talk in relation to other person’s interests

18. How to make people like you instantly
◦ Make the other person feel important

19. Begin with praise

20. How to criticize – and not be hated for it
◦ Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly

21. Talk about your own mistakes first
◦ Before criticizing the other person, talk about your own mistakes

22. No one likes to take orders
◦ Ask questions instead of giving direct orders

23. Let the other person save face

24. To be a more effective leader, praise every improvement
◦ Appreciation and recognition

25. Give the other person a good reputation to live up to

26. Make the fault seem easy to correct: use encouragement

27. Making people happy about doing whatever you suggest

28. Think before you criticize
◦ Don’t condemn, complain, or criticize.
◦ Understand why they do what they do, it breeds sympathy, tolerance, and kindness

29. The big secret of dealing with people
◦ There is one way to get anybody to anything is by giving you what you want
◦ The deepest urge in human nature is “the desire to be important”
◦ Important: compliments and appreciation,
◦ Appreciation should be honest, not just flattery

30. Understand the Other’s point of view
◦ We are interested in what we want
◦ “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own
◦ Arouse in the other person a desire for the object

Hope you enjoyed it; let me know which of these resonated with you and which ones you’ll be more mindful of in the coming year!

Up Your Executive Presence This Year!

Improving “Executive Presence” is the major goal of one of my Mentees for the new year, and this post contains some of my advice. I hope you enjoy this and let me know your comments below. Thanks and Happy New Year!

1. Whom you associate with is critical to your growth as well as perception of other people – You are whom you hang out with. Associate primarily with folks at or above your level, Your network is your net worth!

2. Demeanor – exude professionalism, competence, strength, and confidence.

3. Be scarce – you want to be available and helpful yes, but on your terms; be selective about what you work on. Don’t be omnipresent and rushing to get things done, and don’t let people control your calendar or push you around

4. Body language – Carry yourself like an executive, like a power player – move slowly with intention, and take your time. Project a strong “power posture”, take up space at the boardroom table. Spread your stuff around, etc.

5. Speech – speak deliberately and with intention – slower speakers have more gravitas.

6. Bring value to EVERY conversation and interaction – be thoughtful and deliberate. Value comes in the form of 3 main areas: a) CONNECTIONS (who you can bring to add value for your stakeholder or colleague); b) IDEAS and Advice; and c) Specifc Knowledge aka Domain Expertise

7. Think and be strategic – look at the big picture first, then connect the dots to the tactical smaller picture.

8. Think in terms of customers and investors – what do they want? What are their concerns and pain points? How can you/your company help your customers and investors?

9. Stay away from gossip. Eagles do not lower themselves to talk trash or hear trash about others – it’s too petty for them.

10. Find a couple of Executive Presence role models and ask your self: “What would she or he do?” That may help you approach a problem or circumstance better

11. Dress like an executive – Dress for success always, not expensive necessarily, but always professional, clean, like a CEO dresses; nothing too flashy or attention grabbing either.

12. In Business, be professional – don’t be too friendly or jovial (it’s OK in private or with friends of course), act like a Boss, act like a CEO.

Let me know what works for you and good luck!

Mat to Market: Jiu-Jitsu Lessons for Entrepreneurs

This is a Guest Blog Post from my friend Andre Averbug, a serial entrepreneur, writer, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioner. Here’s the link to the post on his Blog site: https://entrepreneurshipcompass.com/2023/04/13/mat-to-market-jiu-jitsu-lessons-for-entrepreneurs/

As I found myself gasping for air beneath a sweaty, 220-pound training partner, a sudden epiphany struck me: Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and entrepreneurship, two great passions of mine, share a lot more in common than I had thought. As a BJJ practitioner and serial entrepreneur, I’ve learned invaluable lessons from the mat that I try to incorporate into my professional life.

Risk-taking and Embracing the Unknown

In BJJ, you’re constantly facing uncertainty, whether it’s a new opponent, a vulnerable position, or a high-stakes competition. The same happens in the often-merciless world of entrepreneurship, where market conditions, competitors, and consumer preferences are always in flux. To succeed, you must learn to take calculated risks and embrace the unknown. It’s about stepping out of your comfort zone and charging headfirst into stormy waters.

Take, for example, the story of Peloton. When the founders started the company, they were entering a highly competitive fitness market, dominated by established players like gyms and traditional workout equipment manufacturers. They took a risk with their unconventional idea of combining fitness equipment with on-demand classes and ventured boldly into uncertainty. Today, Peloton is a household name and a game-changer in the fitness industry. This willingness to take risks and venture into uncharted territory is a hallmark of successful entrepreneurs.

Leverage and Strategy: The David and Goliath Principle

As smaller BJJ practitioners can attest, technique, strategy, and leverage are vital to overcome larger opponents. Similarly, in business, you’ll often face well-established goliaths dominating the market. The key to success? Outmaneuver them with agility, innovation, and resourcefulness. David didn’t defeat Goliath with brute force, he did it with a cunning strategy and a well-placed stone. In entrepreneurship, as in BJJ, it’s not always the strongest who win, but those who can adapt and leverage their strengths in the most effective way.

Consider the story of Wise (formerly TransferWise), a fintech startup that entered the money transfer market, dominated by heavyweights like Western Union and traditional banks. Instead of competing head-to-head with these giants, they leveraged a unique peer-to-peer transfer technology, transparent pricing, and a focus on customer experience to carve out a niche for themselves. Through smart strategy and leveraging their unique strengths, Wise became a disruptor in the industry and has revolutionized the way people send and receive money across borders.

The Power of Persistence and Patience

In BJJ, progress is slow and arduous. You’ll endure countless defeats and setbacks, but each one is an opportunity to learn and grow. The same holds true for entrepreneurship. No one becomes a titan of industry overnight. It takes time, dedication, and resilience to learn from your mistakes and forge a path to success. Embrace the grind, because every failure is a steppingstone to triumph.

Take the story of Slack, the popular team collaboration platform. Before Slack’s success, its founder Stewart Butterfield had endured multiple failed ventures, including a gaming startup called Glitch. However, instead of giving up, Butterfield and his team learned from their mistakes and pivoted, turning a small internal communication tool they had developed for Glitch into what we now know as Slack. Their persistence and patience in the face of setbacks led them to create a multi-billion-dollar company that’s become an essential tool for businesses worldwide.

Humility and Camaraderie: No One Succeeds Alone

BJJ has a unique way of humbling even the cockiest individuals. It teaches you to appreciate the skills and knowledge of your peers and mentors and you learn about the importance of growing together, as a team. You and your teammates literally share sweat and blood. Entrepreneurship is no different. Surround yourself with a solid team and create an environment of camaraderie and mutual growth. No one has all the answers, but together, you can tackle challenges that come your way.

Think about the success of Canva, the user-friendly graphic design platform. The company’s achievements, including simplifying design for millions of users and expanding its product offerings, would not have been possible without a team of dedicated designers, engineers, and support staff working together towards a common goal. By fostering a culture of camaraderie and collaboration, Canva has been able to democratize design and become a leader in its industry.

Adaptability: The Art of Pivoting

If there’s one thing you learn quickly in BJJ, it’s that the unexpected is always lurking around the corner. One moment, you’re in control, the next, you’re desperately defending a submission. Adaptability is crucial both on the mat and in the boardroom. Learn to pivot when faced with unforeseen obstacles and seize opportunities as they emerge. Staying agile and responsive to change can mean the difference between success and failure in the world of startups.

The story of Zoom is a prime example of adaptability in action. The company began as a video conferencing solution, competing with giants like Skype and Cisco Webex. However, as the world faced the COVID pandemic and remote work became the norm, Zoom pivoted to address the increasing demand for reliable video communication tools. Today, Zoom is a household name and has become an essential tool for businesses, schools, and families around the world. Had Zoom not been adaptable and responsive to change, it’s likely they would not have experienced the meteoric rise to success they enjoy today.

As a BJJ practitioner and entrepreneur, I can attest to the transformative power of these lessons. They’ve made me a more confident risk-taker, a better strategist, and an adaptive learner. So next time you’re grappling with the challenges of the business world, remember these insights from the mat. Embrace the lessons of Brazilian jiu-jitsu into your entrepreneurial journey — perhaps even by diving into a BJJ gym yourself.

Image: freepik.com

Charlie Munger’s 20 most valuable mental models – per ChatGPT

Charlie Munger’s 20 most valuable mental models – per ChatGPT

Charlie Munger, the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has for years espoused the benefits he has derived from the application of dozens of “mental models” to decision-making. I asked ChatGPT to narrow down his extensive range of mental models to ja “Top 20”, and here are some of the valuable mental models Munger frequently discusses:

1. Inversion: Thinking backward by considering the opposite perspective and identifying what to avoid or eliminate. One of Munger’s favorite models. ChatGPT listed this as #1.
2. Lollapalooza Effect: Understanding the combined impact of multiple cognitive biases and psychological tendencies leading to extreme outcomes.
3. Circle of Competence: Focusing on areas within one’s expertise and understanding the limits of knowledge. Not wasting much time and energy outside this Circle.
4. Margin of Safety: Incorporating a buffer or cushion to account for uncertainties and mitigate risks.
5. Bias from Social Proof: Being aware of the influence of social proof and the tendency to follow others’ actions and opinions.
6. Confirmation Bias: Recognizing the tendency to seek information that confirms preexisting beliefs and actively seeking opposing viewpoints.
7. Munger’s General Worldly Wisdom: Encouraging a multidisciplinary approach and acquiring knowledge across various fields. The guy reads copiously. Munger’s protege at Berkshire, Todd Combs, says he spends nearly 12 hours each day reading. He is reputed to read over 100 books per year!
8. Psychological Biases: Understanding common cognitive biases such as overconfidence, anchoring, availability bias, and loss aversion.
9. Mental Models from Multiple Disciplines: Applying concepts and models from disciplines like physics, mathematics, psychology, and biology to gain insights into business and life.
10. Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule): Recognizing that a significant portion of outcomes is often driven by a small portion of inputs or factors.
11. Long-Term Thinking: Emphasizing the importance of considering long-term consequences and avoiding short-sighted decision-making. Naval Ravikant talks about this also.
12. Durable Competitive Advantages: Seeking businesses with sustainable competitive advantages that protect against competition. Warren would call these “moats.”
13. The Law of Compound Interest: Leveraging the power of compounding over time for financial investments and personal growth. Compound interest is the 8th Wonder if the World according to Albert Einstein.
14. Disconfirming Evidence: Actively searching for evidence that contradicts one’s beliefs to avoid confirmation bias.
15. Avoiding Unnecessary Complexity: Simplifying decision-making processes and avoiding unnecessary complexities whenever possible. KISS. This one is my personal favorite!
16. Munger’s “Mental Toolkit”: Developing a diverse set of mental models to enhance decision-making across different situations. Munger has dozens of models.
17. Efficient Markets and Market Inefficiencies: Balancing the efficient market hypothesis with the recognition that market inefficiencies and mispricings can present opportunities for investors.
18. Human Misjudgment: Acknowledging common human misjudgments and biases in decision-making and working to mitigate their impact.
19. Resisting Groupthink: Encouraging independent thinking, questioning consensus, and avoiding herd mentality.
20. Patience and Delayed Gratification: Practicing patience and avoiding impulsive decisions by considering long-term benefits.

These mental models provide a framework for critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving in both business and life contexts. Remember that understanding these mental models is just the starting point, and their practical application requires continual practice, learning, and adaptation to specific situations.

Which ones do you already use, or plan to use? Please let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading and please subscribe!

Ready for CONNECTpreneur RocketPitch? What I learn from a Virtual Pitchfest for future professional entrepreneurship

This is a Guest Blog Post from Phuong Le. She originally posted this on Medium in October, 2022.

Have you ever watched Shark Tank and wondered if a real pitch would be the same? Have you ever wished you were Mark Cuban or Lori Greiner to know how closing a deal would feel like? This is a sign for you to attend a real one! Let me, an amateur entrepreneur, show you what I found interesting in a real pitchfest.

Introduction

I recently participated in CONNECTpreneur’s Rocket Pitch + Power Networking, one of the world’s biggest pitchfests, with over 500 chief executives, including over 200 CEOs and founders, and approximately 200 angel investors and venture capitalists from all over the United States. The event includes not one but two online networking sessions and a “Rocket Pitch” segment with fascinating startups.

After the opening remarks, where I got to hear from the event’s host and founder, Tien Wong, there was the “Rocket Pitch” Showcase of 12 promising new tech companies. From the original group, I was particularly interested in two of them, Kinometrix and PetMetrics, based on the strength of their AI and technological involvement, the viability of their expansion plan, and the positive social impact they could have.

Kinometrix

The company focuses on the one million patients’ fall risks in hospitals — a niche accident that necessitates the attention of authorities. Since this issue has been looked down upon and lacks subjective assessment or accurate risk measurements:

• More than a third of the number results in severe injuries that lead to 11,000 deaths.
• Cost ~$7,000 per fall due to higher discharge rates and long-term care facilities.
• Cost ~$7B annually as total expenses to overcome these injuries.

“The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm,” claimed Florence Nightingale, demonstrating one of the major outcome that Kinometrix is following to achieve.

What Kinometrics has to offer

Using 500,000 inpatient records, Kinometrix was invented as an automated AI-driven platform that can predict real-time patient falls with specific modules and machine learning algorithms.

The patent-pending system automatically extracts variables from EHR with the assistance of AI and delivers this data to EHR for further adapted recommendations and protocols. This bi-directional API allows for seamless workflow integration that reaches 98% accuracy.

Kinometrix’s application in practice.

The company aims to address pressure injuries and hospital-acquired infections in their future AI-driven applications, in which the market is projected to be $98B, including over 1 million licensed beds in US hospitals. The business profits from an annual fee of $480 per licensed bed with the upcoming separate potential new risk prediction modules updating with an additional fee.

Kinometrix’s prospective market.

While the company’s 2022 revenue is only over $50,000 with the current four investors, it is projected to reach $2.3M in 2023 and over $25M in 2025. It was seeking a financial fund of $750K in its Rocket Pitch series seed raise for enterprise readiness & integrations, sales support, and IP & regulatory.

Meet the Kinometrix Team.

PetMetrics

The company was founded by Dr. Gary Richter, the owner of award-winning Holistic Veterinary Care in Oakland, CA, and the founder of Ultimate Pet Nutrition supplements and food, which is currently holding over $50M in annual sales and over 400,000 loyal users.

What is PetMetrics?

PetMetrics is an broad-spectrum vital sign sensing platform using a wearable biometric sensor with a mobile app of AI data analytics licensed from NASA designed. The device’s AI/ML systems utilize the pet’s data while comparing it with other similar symptoms from other animals to provide an alert at the earliest signs of illness, protecting the pets and their parents from fatal transmitting diseases. It comes with a mission to:

• Serve the growing need for a technology that allows easier and non-invasive detection of all pet diseases.
• Lower the rate of late diagnosis, unqualified treatment options, and mortality rates.

A hardware device is expected to cost $100–200 with a SaaS subscription fee of $14.99 per month. Clipping this device on your pet’s collar and automatically receive all its needs.

Why PetMetrix is competitive.

Since pet parents are often willing to spend to protect their loved ones, the market for this product is extremely inelastic: the US pet industry exceeds $100B annually, with the pet wearables market holding 22% CAGR. The company further targets the market of working dogs (in police and military departments) and even large animals such as horses and cattle.

In the Rocket Pitch seed round, the company desired a $1M SAFE note of $8M valuation with an 80% discount rate. The financial support would help the company execute appropriate plans for growing fast, reaching its expected break-even in 2024.

My takeaways

• Twelve competitors presented their business, predominantly of which are related to technology and AI-driven. A rising trend in innovation and entrepreneurship is about using technology and digital tools to enhance the well-being of not only humans but also all the surrounding lives. I could expect that even the investors had a hard time deciding which company was the most promising because every single one was excellent.
• I found it greatly interesting because of the “meeting” feature, in which any attendees, including me, can directly get in touch with the entrepreneurs or CEOs I desire via the breakout rooms or published information of the registrants — even I can become an investor! So many people who are just individual investors claim to get a profit out of their investment.

• There is Investors’ Pollings to gather needs and wants from participated investors. It was pretty interesting as I could observe the current pattern and desires of investors when they declare their needs directly to the organization.
• PetMetrics and Kinometrics are both potential companies with ambitious plans. However, it is still a challenge to seek such a large amount of financial support, which will limit their investors to only large companies or VCs rather than small and individual investors who hold a significant percentage of the participants of the Rocket Pitch fest.
• This feels like Shark Tank in real life, in which I can be a Shark if I want to. I wish I had a chance to attend an in-person version of this monthly Pitchfest. So many lessons to learn and improve myself as an entrepreneur. Kudos to all the great work!

About CONNECTpreneurs:

CONNECTpreneur Forum is a global network including 25,000+ entrepreneurs, founders, CEO, venture capitalists and angel investors, CXOs, and many other business executives. The organization’s RocketPitch is the world’s biggest monthly pitchfest bringing together 800+ top founders, CEOs, investors, and business leaders for excellent networking through pitches of intriguing early-stage startups. The event is famous for the caliber of guests and participants and fascinating networking and programs, all of which combine to create unforgettable events and opportunities for our attendees and the value they receive from their sponsorship. Countless entrepreneurs, investors, and funders worldwide rely on the CONNECTpreneur team for guidance and assistance with capital raising, coaching, and other business needs.

Thank you for reading. Please show love!

10 Slides Every Pitch Deck Needs

This is a Guest blog post from Andre Averbug, an entrepreneur, economist, and writer who has been helping entrepreneurs prepare for their investor pitches for several years.

0. Title

Before the content slides, you need a slick title slide to catch people’s attention from the get-go. Include your company logo/name and perhaps a great picture that represents your mission or broader vision. I like it when companies also include a short sentence, such as a slogan or value proposition, that already gives the audience an idea of what the company is about. Mint’s title slide from its 2007 pitch is a great example.

1. Problem

Every startup should be focused on solving a particular problem – big or small. The first slide is the place where you explain what the problem is with facts and numbers. For ex, Breakthrough, a company that provides mental health services, laid out a clear problem statement that set the stage for why its business mattered. You can also focus the discussion of the problem on a typical customer or beneficiary, to make it more personable (“Mr. Smith has mental health problems, but he doesn’t feel comfortable sharing his illness with others and seeking help…”)

2. Solution

After the problem, of course, comes the solution. What is your company doing to solve the problem? This could be framed as a value proposition or the company’s broader vision but should also include specifics as to how your product or service is making people’s lives better. Gleamr, an app that provides professional auto detail on-the-go, laid out its solution very clearly.

3. Product / Service

Now is the time to describe in detail how your product or service works. Include screenshots, images, graphs, anything that helps the audience understand what is it that you’re offering. If the product is not ready yet, include pictures of the prototype or wireframes. If you provide a service, include a simple schematic showing how the service works. The example below is from Airbnb’s first pitch deck.

4. Business Model

Every investor will need to know how you plan to make money with your business. Explain how much you are charging your clients, for which offerings and, if other partners are involved, who takes how much of the profits. Gleamr makes it all very clear with a simple infographic.

5. Market Opportunity

How big is the potential market for your product or service? How many people in your country, region or even world could become paying customers? Talk about your target market, their overall characteristics and preferences. Learn about the concepts of TAM, SAM and SOM. Airbnb’s example below is good, but I personally prefer to present market size figures in dollars. Therefore, I would multiply the 84 million SOM (share of market) by the average amount charged for a trip (for ex, if the average trip is $100, total SOM would be $8.4 billion).

6. Marketing

You need to show investors you have a clear plan to attract and retain customers. What is your go-to-market strategy? How will you reach out to potential customers? Will you use social media, paid ads, attend conferences, blog etc.? Gleamr actually went beyond and included information on “staying competitive”, with insights about product development – however, in most cases, focusing on marketing and sales and saying a few words about keeping customers is enough.

7. Competition

Who are your (direct and indirect) competitors? Never say you don’t have any, it is simply not true! How do you differ from them? What is your competitive advantage? To convey the message in a clear way, many companies use graphs plotting down competition across different axes (e.g.: price, quality, speed, customer experience) or a table that compares specific features across products.

8. Traction (and/or Financials)

What have you accomplished so far? Let numbers tell the story. How many active users and paying customers do you have? How much revenue? Have you broken even yet? What is your EBITDA margin? If you’re very early stage, what partnerships have you developed? Have you won any relevant award (e.g.: innovation, product development)? Have you been selected to an accelerator/incubator? Do you have an MVP? Have you run a successful pilot and, if so, what were the results?

9. Team

Many investors bet more on the jockey (i.e., entrepreneurs) than the horse (i.e., company). But even if they don’t, you need to show them you are the best team out there to execute this wonderful business plan. Include up to 5 people maximum and be sure to use nice pictures and include short bios in bullets. This is a good time to share your passion for what you’re building and talk about how great you complement each other and work together.

10. Financial Projections and Ask

Finally, it is time to show what you plan to accomplish in the next few years and what you need to get there. Include a table or graph showing your financial projections (revenues and EBITDA or net income should suffice for a short pitch) for the next few years – I personally stop believing in year 3.  Explain how much money you need to reach your goals. Include a use-of-funds table or pie-chart, such as the one below, to show exactly how you plan to spend the funds you’re raising.

Finally, if you didn’t have your contacts and company website at the bottom of each slide, you might want to wrap up the presentation with a “Thank you!” slide including contact information.

The slides above and their order are of course suggestions only. The ultimate number and content of slides are dependent on the time available to present, whether you are presenting in an event with multiple companies and investors or to one investor only, if the audience already knows your business, among other factors. In any case, I consider these ten pieces of content to be the backbone of most investor pitches.

Good luck!

Image: freepik.com

Andre Averbug is an entrepreneur, economist, and writer. He has over two decades of international experience working in the intersection of economic development, entrepreneurship, and innovation. He has worked and lived in multiple countries across North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Central Asia.

Andre has started and run four startups, in Brazil and the US, and was awarded Global Innovator of the Year in 2009 by World Bank’s infoDev. He has extensive experience supporting companies as mentor and consultant, both independently and as part of incubators such as 1776 and the Kosmos Innovation Center, and programs like Shell LIVEWire, StartUp Weekend and WeXchange.

As an economist, Andre has worked in topics ranging from innovation ecosystems, entrepreneurship and MSME development policy, competitiveness, business climate, infrastructure finance, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and country assistance strategy for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). He has also consulted for clients such as DAI Global, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), TechnoServe, among many others. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of London (UK) and an MBA from McGill University (Canada). Andre lives in the Washington, DC area.

He writes an awesome Blog called Entrepreneurship Compass and you can sign up here: https://entrepreneurshipcompass.com

Motivate Your Sales Team to Power Through the Mid-Year Slump

This is a Guest bog post from sales and sales management guru Chris Tully.

It’s officially mid-year and given human nature, a time when too commonly Sales Reps find themselves taking their foot off the pedal of their Sales Activity. This doesn’t tend to occur in Q4 due to heavy Sales Leadership focus on closing out the year strong or during Q1 when the entire organization is rallying around new year goals. However, the gap of time from Q2 through Q3 is often when Salespeople are left to self-motivate. This is when it’s essential that Sales Managers are proactive in helping Salespeople stay focused to keep the momentum going.  

I’ve found that in addition to the trend of this period having decreased hands-on sales management attention, there are a variety of reasons that the mid-year slump can be easy for a Salesperson to fall into. The three I see the most often:

• Sellers being distracted with planning for mid-year vacations in addition to their children being off for summer break.
• Buyers being less accessible due to summer business activities along with their own personal time off.
• The mid-year interval simply giving Salespeople a false sense of security that there is “plenty of time left” to finish the year strong and no harm in lightening up activity a little.

To combat these demotivators, Sales Managers need a good pulse on key performance metrics to detect sales sluggishness early on before it turns into bad habits. This visibility prompts the Sales Leader to recognize when to deploy motivation tactics to usher back in the right balance of activities that will protect long-term Sales Goal achievement. Sales motivation tactics need to be tied to the “Dials and Levers” we know directly correlate to influencing “the right” behaviors. They also work well to bring focus to new strategic direction changes that may have been decided upon during a company-level Mid-year Review.     Haven’t completed your Leadership Team Mid-Year Review? Draw from my workshop model to learn tips on facilitating an effective review that assesses how the organization is tracking toward meeting its annual goals, and methods for collaboration when course correction is needed. Access the blog here:  Mid-Year Review: Collaborate to Accelerate Your Business     Sales Management motivation tactics offer various positive results; however, most notably, they sharpen your Sales Team’s focus and stimulate behavior adjustments to feed more strongly into meeting future sales objectives. The following are key steps to take when approaching the development of motivation tactics to ensure they are on-target to correct the break-down areas.   STEP 1: During the mid-year span, assess your sales results from a leading and lagging indicator standpoint asking yourself things such as:

• Are you ahead or behind on your fiscal-year-to-date (FYTD) Sales Goals?
• Is your revenue performance trending as you forecasted?
• Does your Sales Pipeline show adequate volume and predictability?
• What is your Sales Pipeline projecting for Q3-Q4? This critical timeframe leading up to year-end needs to be secured far in advance.

STEP 2: Isolate opportunities for improvement and develop motivation tactics that have a direct connection to your “Dials and Levers” that drive performance. I’ll get you started with a series of examples after I finish laying the groundwork on these action steps.   STEP 3: Verify your current metric tracking system is equipped to monitor performance on new programs and develop adjustments as needed. Effective tracking is essential in understanding your Sales Rep adoption rate so you know when and with whom attention may be needed.   STEP 4: Develop your Sales Team communication plan before you take action. This is the essence of Sales Management; being connected with your Salespeople, ensuring they understand the objectives for new programs and buy into the benefits to them personally. This may call for individual one-to-one meetings or pulling the group together in a creative way. Invest time in your introduction in a way that aligns with the results you’re looking to achieve.

Let’s drill into what I referred to as “Dials and Levers” in STEP 2. These are the areas you’ll want to focus on to develop your motivation tactics to achieve big impact improvements. Below I’ve laid out a model to relay how you may want to approach this exercise. However, please note this is merely a sample model. To be effective, motivation tactics need to be custom developed to align with your Sales Process and overarching Company-wide Strategy.   To get you started, here is a sampling of how certain problem areas can be tied to a motivation tactic to promote a different outcome:  

Potential Mid-Year Sales Improvement Areas	Motivation Tactic Considerations
Sales aren’t closing with desired product mix balance.	Feature in-stock inventory promo (box spiffs) Incorporate varying commission model
FYTD sales are X% down from forecast.	Establish top account action plans & review cadence Conduct weekly group calls with individual accountability
There’s not enough Sales Pipeline momentum to support Q3-Q4 sales goals.	Deploy promo/contents through supply chain partners Establish current customer referral strategy
The same Sales Rep(s) continue to under-perform.	Swap-out Sales Rep on untapped high-value accounts Formalize Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
Any of the above or others	Utilize Feedback Model by facilitating idea generation workshop with your Sales Team

Mid-year Sales Sluggishness transcends industries, which is why it’s essential that Sales Management stay attuned to their Salespeople to apply motivational tactics to avoid the slump. It’s human nature for Salespeople to lose focus and momentum, especially during certain times of the year. With impending summer vacations giving rise to false senses of security heading into the second half of the year, it’s key that you have a “finger-on-the-pulse” of your Sales Team. With the proper motivation approaches, you will help your Sales Reps keep their foot on the pedal all the way through to a successful fiscal year-end!

Chris Tully is Founder of SALES GROWTH ADVISORS. He can be reached at (571) 329-4343 and ctully@salesxceleration.com“For more than 25 years, I’ve led sales organizations in public and private technology companies, with teams as large as 400 people, and significant revenue responsibility.I founded Sales Growth Advisors to help mid-market CEOs execute proven strategies to accelerate their top line revenue. I have a great appreciation for how hard it is to start and grow a business, and it is gratifying to me to do what I am ‘best at’ to help companies grow faster and more effectively.Let’s get acquainted. I am certain I can offer you an experienced perspective to help you with your growth strategy.”

Pursuing your passion with the Passion Planner

This is not a paid endorsement and I have never spoken to anyone at the Passion Planner company. I like their product and wanted to share with our subscribers.

Planners, journals, and organization tools are highly personal. I found this planner in late 2014 while browsing around Kickstarter. What grabbed my attention was the name “Passion Planner.”  And the fact that this was a softcover, lay-flat,2-week-at-a-glance, bound 8.5″ x 11″ book.

I have tried all kinds of paper planners over the past 40 years: spiral, looseleaf, and bound; soft and hard cover, as well as 3-ring and 7-ring binder; small, medium and large; Daytimers, Dayrunners, Franklin Planners, blank notebooks, Moleskine, and other long-forgotten brands. It wasn’t until 2014 that I found what I believe is planner that best fits my work style.

For me, it has just the right amount of flexibility and just the right amount of structure. I hope you’ll check it out.

NOTE: A few times in the past, I tried planner software like Lotus Organizer (remember that from the 1990s?) and a couple of other long-forgotten programs, but never for more than a few weeks at a time. Inevitably I would revert back to paper. For me, I like the actual effort of writing stuff down on paper. With paper, I seem to remember things better, plus I like the tactile feel of highlighting things, and crossing things off, and being able to draw diagrams and charts in a free form manner.

What’s great about the Passion Planner:

They use top notch materials; the binding is high quality, the paper is perfect, and the cover is ideal; soft, slightly padded, and durable

2-page per week layout – I personally prefer the “week at a glance” layout rather than the 1 or 2 page per day

For each month, they provide a “month at a glance” view (granted, most planners have this view also)

Stirtched and bound – Yes, looseleaf is more flexible/customizable by allowing you to add pages, but NOT being able to add pages keeps things more simple for me. I keep folders and binders for loose sheets, but these days pretty much everything can be digitized.

The right amount of structure and the right amount of flexibility

You can learn more about the Passion Planner at their website: https://passionplanner.com

Building the Best Investment Pitch Deck

This is a Guest blog post by William E. Dyess, “Pitchmaster General” and Principal at TXN Advisors, a Washington, DC-region business consulting firm that provides corporate development, marketing and strategic advisory services.

This post is an analysis of the last 50 pitch decks we received at The Dyess Group’s deck review portal and our strategy on building a winning deck.

The Basics of Deck Building

At The Dyess Group (TDG) we generally follow the Sequoia Pitch Template when building decks for clients, but with our own spin. Whether you use the Sequoia template or not, it is important to follow a thoughtful narrative flow that induces and compels the reader to take the desired action. There are several effective, proven models and suggestions such as the Dale Carnegie Transactional Selling Steps from the 1950s:

1. Attention (What is the sizzle?)
2. Interest (Why does it matter? Why does the world need you? )
3. Desire (Are you better than a traditional solutions to the same problem?)
4. Conviction (How do you handle objections, what’s the traction?)
5. Action (Ask for the order, go for the close!)

The important practice here is to design a narrative flow that you believe fits your company the best and make it yours. Below we will present what we have found are the elements often forgotten, missed, or misunderstood when building an effective narrative flow. We do this using the first three slides of the Sequoia model.

Tip #1: Make sure people understand what you do, as quickly as possible (Don’t Waste Your Title Slide!)

We usually don’t hear about what the product or service does until the 5th slide.

The single most important thing you can do in your deck is to make sure people understand what you do. It needs to be in layman’s terms — meaning without using a lot of “marketing speak” and it needs to happen immediately.

When an investor, or any audience, clearly understands what you do, it provides much needed context to the rest of your story. The following is a front slide example from a deck The Dyess Group created for its client company Guac.

An example front slide from a Dyess Group deck

Here is another example illustrating how a very small amount of information immediately helps the reader (e.g., investor, partner, customer) orient themselves properly for the rest of the deck. This is for our customer, Socrates.

Tip #2: Find ways to combine key information into your narrative to make your deck more concise

Roughly 20% of the decks we review have the “Market Size” slide as the one of the first 3 slides.

And it almost always says one thing…the market is big. Unfortunately, putting this information so early is often disruptive to an effective narrative flow. Although Market Size is important and relevant, it is tangential information that can be a distraction at odds with understanding the opportunity. An alternative technique for getting attention with the size of the market is to combine the information with more important aspects of the narrative flow.

Tip #3: Combine traction and the solution to drive conviction to invest early

Only 15% of the decks we review feature customer referrals or actual market traction in the first three slides.

A solution without traction is really just an idea. You haven’t proven that you’ve solved anything. You want to eliminate as much risk from your offering as early as possible by enhancing the reader’s conviction. Introducing your product without any supporting traction in the same slide, or soon thereafter, doesn’t help the reader understand how far you’ve come in solving your problem. Inline with embedding statistics into the narrative, consider including some of the following along with your product:

• Customer Testimonials
• Success Rates
• Total Users
• Growth Rates

Applying lessons from User Experience (UX) research techniques to your pitch deck

UX research is the unsung hero of your favorite apps. A world leader in research-based UX consulting, Nielsen Norman Group have researched and documented the effectiveness of many UX techniques. We apply their forward-thinking UX methodologies to pitch decks we build for our clients.

UX Techniques

VCs only spend about three minutes reading your deck before a meeting. People can only keep seven things (plus or minus two) in their working memory. You have limited time and space to make your point, so raise the bar with respect to what information makes the cut. Key things to keep in mind through the body of your deck:

• Reduce the hard work for consuming key information (Rate of Gain)
• Don’t over-burden the reader with information (Cognitive Load)
• Be as succinct with your messaging as possible (“BLUF”)
• Organize information for max understanding (Progressive Disclosure)
• Give the deck some design basics for strong ethos (Halo Effect)

Each of these is discussed in greater detail below.

Rate of Gain

The Rate of Gain is the value a reader gets from new information divided by how much work that user needs to do to get it.

A measurement used in User Experience to measure ease of use and value to users

In the case of your pitch deck, the user is an investor, partner, or customer, and Rate of Gain measures how valuable the information on each page is divided by how many words are on the page.

This would mean that a good slide would have the most valuable information possible in the least amount of words.

How to have a high Rate of Gain in your content

One of our partners hired a highly coveted speech writer for a Series B raise and the main piece of advice — delete more words.

The best piece of free advice we can give you about your deck is to delete more words.

Cognitive Load

It’s well documented that there are limitations of one’s ability to remember things while doing a task, aka working memory. People have a very finite working memory to consume the content of your pitch. This is why you should use techniques to be as succinct as possible to convey the most value.

A reader may naturally try and determine what information they need to know in order to preserve their working memory. This means giving the reader the ability to triage a page to decide whether or not they need all of the information is a good technique for keeping a user’s memory free to remember the main points.

This really forces you to boil down the words on a page to the point where you keep track of the cost and benefit of each word. Each additional word adds additional cost to the reader to try and understand.

Bottom Line Up Front (“BLUF”)

There is a concept in journalism called the Bottom Line Up Front, you can also think of this as TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read). It’s the same reason that we put an abstract at the beginning of a research paper, or an executive summary at the beginning of a business plan. Respect the reader’s time and tell them the main point up-front so they can triage the page and decide if they need to look at the details or not.

If you use a “headline” based approach you will allow readers to skim the page and decide if it’s something that they think they need to invest the effort to further investigate. If the reader avoids taking in more information than they need, they can arrive at the end of the deck quickly having only read the information they cared about. This will reduce frustration and increase retention and overall satisfaction.

Progressive Disclosure

The concept of progressive disclosure in apps defers advanced or rarely used features to a secondary screen, making the learning process easier and less error-prone. For applications, this means showing the most important features front-and-center and leaving the seldom used, or less important features to be shown later or at the users request. This removes added complexity of needing to understand more features than may be necessary.

Take Google for example. The home page is literally just a search box, and the ability to search (or click I’m Feeling Lucky like I always do).

Now you’ve given the user the option, should they want more information, to go find it. In deck-writing, progressive disclosure serves two ends: keeping the deck clean and succinct, but also allowing the user ready access to any information they would need — perhaps even in an appendix.

Halo Effect

The halo effect is a phenomenon that causes people to be biased in their judgments by transferring their feelings about one attribute of something to other, unrelated, attributes. In the case of decks, the overall aesthetic and cleanliness of the deck will set the sense of sophistication to your reader. The easiest way to create this is to be concise; use abundant white space and be consistent throughout.

• Consistent margins (white space is your friend)
• Consistent use of font sizes (we use 32pt and 18pt fonts for everything)
• Consistent messaging (Whatever you call it, call it that every time)

We’ll cover this topic in more depth later in the series.

Pulling It All Together

The slide design below does a good job implementing the UX techniques we just covered.

• Rate of Gain: With only two to three lines (tops!) for the main message, the value of the information is high, and the workload to obtain it is low.
• Cognitive Load: By using the headline approach, we allow readers to triage whether supporting information below the headline is worth further investigation.
• Progressive Design: Byincluding the path to more information, you let users know that there is a way to learn more. In doing this you also free their minds to focus on the slide at hand.

Fundraising is always hard. Fundraising in the current climate is harder. There has never been a better time to make sure your company can stand out, effectively deliver its message, and spark the interest of investors who will be more selective than ever before. Use the Sequoia Pitch Template and our techniques outlined here to make it easy for them to understand what you do and why your company deserves to be at the top of the stack.

William E. Dyess is “Pitchmaster General” and Principal at TXN Advisors, a Washington, DC-region business consulting firm that provides corporate development, marketing and strategic advisory services. We work in partnership with executive management to save them time and advance the corporate mission by helping them create killer pitch decks, management and investor presentations, board reports, corporate dashboards and the underlying business strategy and messaging to maximize growth and value. William can be reached at wdyess@thedyessgroup.com

Email your deck to deck@thedyessgroup.com for a free deck review.

Company Culture Sustainable in Any Market

This is a Guest blog post from CONNECTpreneur partner and Coach Ines LeBow, CEO of Enterprise transformation Solutions, which specializes in helping early stage companies raise capital.

Herodotus, the ancient Greek intellectual who became known as “The Father of History” coined the phrase “Culture is King”. Companies rise and fall based on their culture, and challenging situations like we’ve faced here in 2020 test company culture to determine if it’s real or just a façade. In a recent article, I gave advice on how to “Pandemic-Proof Your Funding Pitch Deck”, but as an entrepreneur, are you really able to pandemic-proof your company culture? The answer is a resounding “yes”! In fact, you can create a culture that thrives in any market situation, including Covid and beyond.

Leadership-Driven Culture

How you, the entrepreneur, and the executive team lead at the outset of your business and through “normal” times sets the tone for your culture that will carry you through times that are trying. As Frances Hesselbein so succinctly put it, “Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.”

For the leadership team that truly prioritizes the culture of their organization, there are a few core values that will be emphasized down the management ranks to the front-line employees and a call to have the actions of all personnel align with these values. The top core values include:

• Two-Way Communication – Consistent and ongoing opportunities for the executive team to interact with staff (both speaking and listening) and for all team members to interact with customers (again, both speaking and listening)
• Engagement – Fostering a sense of ownership and a common purpose throughout the organization to energize all employees and get them working toward a uniting vision
• Organization Model – What is the composition of your workforce? Do you require staff to be on premises? Are you dependent on contractors or outsourced partners?
• Wellness and Balance – Setting policies that value employees’ work-life balance, mental and physical health, and general wellness
• Programs and Tools – Enacting programs and implementing tools that allow employees to thrive in personal and professional development, workplace collaboration, idea innovation, mobile and remote work setups, knowledge sharing, and more

The combination of forced and voluntary business shutdowns that occurred nearly overnight as a result of the Coronavirus response quickly led to 88% of companies that either required or encouraged their employees to work from home, according to a Gartner survey. Some companies were ill-prepared for this rapid shift. Many of the companies with the technical capabilities for hosting a truly remote workforce, however, lacked the type of culture that would keep employees engaged, communicating, and thriving when not in an in-person environment.

Having a great framework in place is essential and must include employees who come to a physical office location as well as employees who work from home, in the field, or from a remote office. As companies return to work, executives and board members are going to re-imaging how the company operates. The old approach of leasing large office spaces may alter significantly, causing companies to adopt a more aggressive mobile and remote work model. Re-thinking how these core values that contribute to the corporate culture can be dealt with is just as important to strategize over.

To learn more about creating an engaging culture or how to create an epic fundraising story for digital presentations to investors, contact me for a complimentary consultation by phone at 314-578-0958 or by email at ilebow@transformationsolutions.pro.

About the Author: Ines LeBow

Ines LeBow is the CEO, Transformation Executive for ETS. She is a known catalyst for business operations, bringing 30+ years of hands-on experience. Ines has a long history of being recruited into senior executive roles to improve the execution of business operations and to drive revenue growth. You can see her LinkedIn Profile at www.linkedin.com/in/ineslebow, view the ETS website at www.transformationsolutions.pro, or email her directly at ilebow@transformationsolutions.pro.