When do you cross the bridge?

Have started my own venture 7 months ago. A start up, specially if it is your own, teaches you more than any teacher in the world can and will, sometimes the most obvious of the things.

There are lessons at every step, some you can look at and learn, some you choose to overlook and some you just don't see. One such lesson I learnt recently and would like to share with you here -

The Error

When you are an entrepreneur, you are the most restless and most eager of the pack (a very common mistake), almost like a child with a toy, the only difference is the attention span of the child is a little longer. You want to go ahead and do everything and even worse, all at once.

We are making a product, so I was focused on getting all the features and all the plans integrated in the first release itself. Pushing the team and myself to dish out a flawless product in the first go. This was making us loose the following:-

- Early reaction of users and a chance to incorporate their feedback
- Another chance to get in touch with our users about a new release
- Most of all, killing the joy to let the ship in the water and see it sail.

The Learning

My Co-founder then gave me my recently acquired wisdom, to not worry about all the features, because we will never have enough, It is an ongoing process. Look at any product in the world, it keeps upgrading itself, it keeps dishing out newer versions and features, We will never have control on this aspect of business, what we do though have a control over are the efforts to make sure that every release works perfectly. Simple words these were, but made me learn something very important. Cross the bridge only when it comes.

I do not mean to say that you should settle for mediocrity. Do nothing if you can but don't be ordinary. What I do want to share through this experience is that, creating something is an on-going process, it never ends and it should not. So do not worry about perfecting it, just focus on releasing versions that work just fine.

Remember "never worry about crossing the bridge that hasn't come yet."

Thank you for reading, you can write back @prateekb11

Sale is just a 'by-product'!

"Once a Salesman, always a Salesman". This statement is as true as the gravity that's pulling you down right now.

We all do Sales, sometimes while convincing the parents to delay the marriage, sometimes justifying it to your boss on why is your decision the best and sometimes negotiating the auto-rickshaw fare with the driver (yes, we do that in India).

A sale has 5 stages:-

- Finding the prospect

- Meeting the prospect

- Showcasing product/services

- Negotiating

- Closure

All of us know about these 5 stages, but the focus is mostly on the last stage, rather than focusing on all the stages equally and aptly. Statistically, if the process is focused on more, the sales triple.

Case:-

One of my friends was not getting any reply from a big prospect. Every time he would go to the client to find him busy. One day he asked him a straight question, "what occupies your time that you can't take this discussion ahead?" Client replied, "competitive analysis". Next day when the client reached office, he saw the competitive analysis email in his inbox. There were 4 other vendors trying to get this business. You won't get any points for guessing who bagged it.

Case in question shows one thing, while all other vendors focused on how to get the client's time and close this deal, the real salesman found out what took most of client's time and shared client's responsibility and hence surprised the client.

Focusing on each stage of the sale, being creative at each step and not getting overwhelmed with the sale's outcome are the keys to a perfect sale. Remember,"A Sale is just a by-product." 

Thank you for reading, you can write back @prateekb11