Book Excerpts

Chapter 1: Deciding to Start Your Business

 Starting a new business is sort of like starting any new project: the more projects you do, the better you get at it, and the more comfortable you feel with each endeavor. As you learn the ropes, you find it is easier each time. You know what you have to do and what things that you can skip. A friend of mine, let’s call him Rick, started a business and at times he had a lot of business. At other times, he was slow. As it turned out, Rick was looking at a new business idea and he had it all worked out in his head, right down to every last detail. Rick has a good memory, but I mentioned to him that he should still put together a business and marketing plan. However, I knew he would not.

He was verbally telling me his business plan on how he was going to make a million dollars. In one part of his verbal business plan, he indicated that he needed to get a broker’s license. Now, I know you need a license to sell real estate, insurance, and similar industries, but to sell your own manufactured products? He was asking me how to go about getting such a license. I had never heard of it, and asked him why he needed one. He didn’t know, but thought he needed one. The reason I am mentioning this is that he was wasting a lot of time and energy looking for something that wasn’t even there, and for the most part, held him back. If he would have spent more time on the meat and potatoes of the project, he might have moved forward.

Chapter 2: Are You an Entrepreneur?

I have often thought that I could train people to be entrepreneurs, but I have found out that this is not the case. People, as it turns out, can be trained to drive a car, they can be trained to run a vacuum cleaner, they can be trained in a lot of things, but for some reason they cannot be trained in being an entrepreneur.

My late great father-in-law probably said it best. He said some people were meant to wash dishes, some people were meant to manufacture them, and then some people were meant to sell them. I guess everyone has his or her place in life.

In one situation I had hired a person to run one of my divisions. Upon his hire I indicated to him that he was totally in charge, and his job was to take the division and turn it into a profitable part of the business. Most entrepreneurial people would be chomping at the bit to have a chance to show their abilities. But after nearly six months of dismal performance, I decided to pull the plug. The amount of business generated was approx 30 percent of his wages. I had been hoping for an individual who, given all the tools to be successful, would be successful. It turns out that some employees need to have their hand held every part of the way.

Chapter 5: Sales and Marketing for Manufacturing

Direct mailing is a very effective way to go as well, but the key is to have a good list. Doing a mailing is very expensive, and the postage does not seem to be getting any cheaper. Having 25 percent of your mail coming back to you as dead mail is not good. Make sure your mailing list company guarantees you no less than 2 percent dead mail. When doing a mailing, remember that this piece of mail is the first impression people may have on your company. There should also be a reason that they are getting this mail, such as you are announcing your new location, you have a new product line coming out, etc.

Lead generation companies that deal exclusively in manufacturing are a very effective way to generate sales as well. Lead generation companies like Teligence International provide all the cold calling and prospecting, which helps companies eliminate inside and outside salespeople and helps control marketing expenses. A company like Teligence International will work very closely with their manufacturing clients. Lead generation companies know that the manufacturing owners do not take enough time to do that most important function: picking up the phone and calling on a new prospect. They only need to call a new client when there is a need for a project. Many business owners just love this kind of service, because no one can sell better than the owners themselves, and they have more control over what’s going on.