You Can Teach an Old Business Owner New Tricks

I just got finished review business plans for the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition.  Reading over 20 plans took me about five hours or so, which is not easy for someone like me who is easily distracted. 

While just about all the plans were for start ups, there were a few take-aways that relate to many companies, even those who have been around for a few years.

• Too many businesses think a good idea will market itself, which is the furthest thing from the truth. For the most part, marketing is driving awareness about your product or service and getting the right people to buy. It requires a really good understanding of what it is your product does for someone as well as getting people to act. That is really, really difficult and few companies do it right.. Most companies still haven’t mastered how to get through to your customers.  
• Many entrepreneurs think they are good salespeople. While the founder often has a high degree of knowledge and passion for their product, that doesn't mean they can sell. In fact, knowledge of a product can work against you because sales is about understanding your customer first and making the sales process about them, not the product. (For the record, when I started NY Report, I did all the sales. I knew the product really well and to say I was passionate would be an understatement. But I was smart enough to realize early on that I sucked as a salesperson. So I did three years of sales training until I got better).
• You can't do everything. I give a lot of credit to the entrepreneurs who submitted business plans and are trying to launch a business with limited resources. But the founders will find out that you can't do everything yourself. And I have seen too many businesses hold on to the bootstrap mentality for too long and not bring on people with needed skills soon enough.

I really hope some of these plans become realities and their plans evolve as they get into the real world.  I also hope that fellow owners of existing businesses remember that they need to review their assumptions and evolve too.