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So tonight we talked about something that can be pretty painful to any business owner…losing a big customer.  When we talk about a big customer, we’re talking about someone who represents 20% or more of your sales. Which most likely also means more than 20% of your profits going away.  You’ll be hard pressed to find too many business owners who are trumpeting the day they lost a big customer, but we know that most of us business owners have been there.

If you’ve ever experienced this type of body blow (or insert any other boxing or MMA reference) then you know how devastating it can feel in the moment.  And the “hangover” effect can be tremendous if you don’t find a way to move forward. During the show tonight we shared several client stories where they lost a big customer and what they did to recover, survive, and eventually thrive!  

There is a way to get yourself out of the hole.  Start with a tourniquet then regroup and finally do an autopsy.  Sound morbid? Take a listen to the show and see what the heck we’re talking about!

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

Quincy Jack Klugman (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy,_M.E.)

Fletch (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089155/)

The post How Do I Rebound From Losing A Big Customer? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

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Over the past couple of weeks, Jack and I have been introduced to several graduates of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program.  The purpose of meeting these folks is to get to know them a bit and see if they are a fit for our monthly Goldman 10 for 10 segments. But as is often the case, we had some aha moments after meeting with these folks.  We saw certain commonalities around each of them truly respecting what they don’t know.

Why would someone be part of something like the Goldman Sachs 10KSB program and also be part of a 20 Group or EO or another peer group?  And still others who go for more intensive 1-on-1 coaching? One of the things we have found is that if you’re truly curious and like to learn, you are always open to learning more things and getting better.  Books, seminars/workshops, field trips, peer groups, 1-on-1 coaching, etc. They’ll try just about anything they think can help them.

Who do you have that you speak with on a regular basis who relates to you?  Who relates to the challenges, opportunities, and struggles that you face on a daily basis?  Usually it’s not your spouse, or sibling, or neighbor. Even though they’re smart and well intentioned.  Certain things, only those folks who have been there and done it can truly relate to you. If you don’t have someone or a group of someones to speak with about your business, start looking or keep looking!

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program (https://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/10000-small-businesses/US/)

Wild and Crazy Guys from SNL (https://giphy.com/gifs/snl-saturday-night-live-1970s-l2SpOk4GCaAtbKlRS)

E-Myth Revisited (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81948.The_E_Myth_Revisited)

Vistage (https://www.vistage.com)

The Atlternative Board (https://www.thealternativeboard.com)

20 Groups (https://www.ncmassociates.com/services/20-groups)

EO (https://www.eonetwork.org)

The post How Do You Know What You Don’t Know? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

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So Jack and I were chatting about some of our clients recently and we started to get a little heated about frustrations we were having.  As we continued to chat we started to realize that the problem was that many of our business owner clients were spending time talking about symptoms vs. problems.  The visual signs vs. the true cause.

The Dirty Secret we discussed during tonight’s show is that too many business owners (and leaders) spend too much time focused on trying to solve symptoms vs. problems.  Unfortunately solutions only work to fix problems not symptoms. During our show we gave several examples of clients who were dealing with things like high turnover or too little cash in the business.  These and many other symptoms might be disguised as problems but in reality they aren’t the problem at all. Which is why the symptom keeps coming back.

Confused yet?  Well, take a listen to this week’s show and hopefully our diarrhea example will provide some clarity for you on the symptom vs. problem situation.  That way we can all spend more time working on solutions to actual problems vs. continuing to address the symptoms of those problems!

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

Peter Principle (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle)

Shameless (https://www.sho.com/shameless)

Cleveland Browns (https://www.clevelandbrowns.com)

The post What’s Your Problem!?!? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

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Don’t let a day go by where you don’t negotiate something.  The opportunities are everywhere, whether it be your personal life or business life.  Heck, ask anyone with kids, especially younger ones, if they have to negotiate daily!

On the business front, you have opportunities with hiring employees, vendors, customers, financing, and even the eventual sale of your business.  During our show today we shared several examples of our clients negotiating well and also provided some insights and tips for how you can become a master negotiator!

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

Roger Dawson, negotiate every day (http://www.nightingale.com/authors/roger-dawson.html)

The post How And When Can I Negotiate? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

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We took a little trip down memory lane during tonight’s show.  We discussed how MVP in its early days wasn’t speaking the language of small business owners.  And because of that, we were making it too difficult for people to buy our services.

Part of our process for screening out potential prospects was to send them a list of information we wanted to see.  In our minds it was stuff we thought all companies had at their fingertips. They were things we figured anyone doing diligence on a company would ask for.  Things like recent financial statements, organization charts, details for how they set their selling price, and copies of their marketing plans. But for some reason we usually couldn’t get the owners to respond to us after we sent this list.  

What we discovered was that people weren’t responding to us because they either didn’t have most of this stuff, or more likely they didn’t know what they heck we were asking for!  We were speaking “big corporate” language but didn’t realize it as we thought all business people spoke this language. It took us a few years to “de-corporatize” ourselves. It started with not sending the list out any more.

So do you speak the language of business?  During the show we chatted about all 11 things we were asking business owners for and showed how these requests could easily be misinterpreted.  We think you’ll really enjoy the discussion!

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

Blind Man (http://www.heyblindman.com)
This Is Spinal Tap (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/)
Carnac the Magnificent (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnac_the_Magnificent)
War and Peace (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace)

The post How Do I Talk Business? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

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