Building Sales
Certain entrepreneurs love to spend their time brainstorming, designing, building and tweaking. But, leaving the lab to try and sell strangers on this marvellous new product or service? Yikes.
In reality, early founders will need to be out there, selling their passion to skeptical consumers and partners. Much of the battle is in pounding the pavement with purpose. In the world of accelerators, it is amazing to see how quickly entrepreneurs with initiative, push ahead and distinguish themselves. The prognosis is far less encouraging for those who are waiting for the success recipe or hoping to be discovered.
Acting with integrity, being authentic, truly listening to potential customers: these all serve the entrepreneur well in their sales. World-renowned researcher Dr. Robert Cialdini – Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology & Marketing at Arizona State University aka ‘the Godfather of Influence’ – has spent a lifetime studying key principles of persuasion. How can entrepreneurs use his findings to ethically market their wares to the world?
Here’s an informative link to Cialdini’s Influence at Work website:
http://www.influenceatwork.com/inside-influence-report/
And here is a great summary whiteboard video of Cialdini’s science of persuasion and how it can be practically and ethically applied:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw
Ethical Influence In Your Venture
1. How can you apply Cialdini’s principles to help you gain customers for your venture? Work through each of these specifically.
