Minimum Viable Audience (#14)

It’s not a new concept, but it’s an incredibly important one in a world where brand loyalty is low and a slew of options are at your fingertips. Not only do consumers not care about you (until you give them a reason to) but employees feel the same way. Linking the successes of employees to the expectations of the clients is what will cause you to be truly profitable in the long-run. Now how do you get there?

Think hard about how many people you need to “Jaw-drop” to sustain the lowest level of operations. Consider that impressed/wowed clients will make larger purchases, more frequent purchases and spread the word talking about how great your business/service/product is. The amount of clients you need isn’t the problem – it’s the relationship you build with clients that needs to change.

Figuring out how to create actual value with your client base is incredibly exciting too – one of the best parts of my job. Thinking about ways to delight people that I want to build decade-long relationships with.

If you don’t enjoy this part of the process then you should seriously re-evaluate why you’re doing what you’re doing (and you definitely don’t need to read this blog). If you’re in business only to make money, then I don’t want you taking my advice.Don’t try to scale garbage just to sell it. Don’t try to acquire hundreds/thousands/millions of clients if you don’t care about them. I have no respect for businesses that try to do this.

Start by creating value. Start with the clients in front of you. Delight them, then see what happens.

Here’s another tip for when you’re just starting out – don’t value your time so highly until you’re actually making something. If you’re not willing to do this, maybe your aren’t confident enough in your idea – to being a successful entrepreneur you need this confidence and you need the willingness to execute for yourself. Once you’ve proved something is there, then you start valuing your time appropriately to scale.

Future posts coming on how to link this value back to your employee performance/morale…

Presentation is Everything

Spoilers: For actual long-run success you will need product, team & delivery, but you can get away by starting with just presentation.

Presentation is what stops people in their tracks. It’s what gets them to circle around and come back to the aisle to read the label once more, just to make sure they saw that right. It’s what gets them excited before they really know what’s going on (this is so powerful – setting tone).

And you have to present to the right people – understand your audience and speak directly to them. If you can make a real connection with clients it will be so much more powerful in the long-run.

Spend the extra $30 for the fluorescent pink fake grass – it’ll make the booth pop!

The Weeds (#7)

It will make you go cross-eyed from the mental strain it takes on you (maybe to the point of physical strain too).

It’s also where the magic happens. The little details in movies people talk about decades later is a perfect example (see Reddit.com/r/moviedetails a website with over 1.4 million followers for just this).

A favourite analogy by a great boss* that I use to this day originates with Disney.

In their park, there are little hidden details just for children. Cracks in walls at a low eye-level that open up into fairy forests when you peep through. Not everybody finds these, but that’s part of what makes it so special and intimate.

You can’t get to this level of connection without being in the weeds a little.

*(Nancy Knyf – YMCA of Western Ontario)