The Value of Giving Value

[Iwokeup]

Nothing earth shattering here and nothing that hasn't been said a million times before, but like @IceCreamKid said in his Golden Thread, you gotta have love for your customer in your heart and a true desire to provide them value (lots of it) in order to succeed.

Customers (real or potential) can tell this right away.

I posted something about this on the inside, but basically I've got a SaaS startup going and we're about to start developing our product. But before we leapt we decided to start asking for meetings with our potential customers (@ the decision maker level) and see if they would validate our product. More importantly, we're approaching them with the idea that we absolutely want them to succeed, and thereby have their customers be extremely happy with them in the bargain.

I'd already done a bunch of cold calls and put the same message across and gotten a very positive response. However, yesterday we had our first meeting with the CEO of a medium sized (~500 employee) company. We started by saying that we were there because we believed in their mission and were committed to their success. We gave our presentation and continued to emphasize that we were committed to them and would totally value their input. Amazing result: CEO LOVED our product, our attitude, and aims. He gave us his personal contact information, wants to be actively involved in the development of our product, and is willing to let us beta test if we can deliver a product quickly. PLUS he's offered to give us an introduction to others in our market when our product rolls out in Beta form.

It was NEVER a sales call but it definitely SOLD him on our vision, our product, and ourselves.

If his company ends up giving us their business, that one contract alone would be worth well into the six figures and we'd be on our way.

So anyway, thanks to all of those who have shared their experiences and the idea of Give Value to Receive Value. And thanks to Vigilante and MJ ("SUCS"), we're committed to being a company that provides LEGENDARY customer service as well.

[On a side note, I was listening to an otherwise excellent podcast by Rob and Mike called "Startups for the Rest of Us" where they basically denigrated the idea of excellent customer service for most early startup. What a load of crap!]

 

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[Andy Black]

Awesome result. You can't fake who you're putting first. Congrats!

 

[Iwokeup]

Thanks, Andy.

 

[DrJake]

Awesome man! I know you're gonna make it with that mindsets. Good luck!

 

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[Solrac]

Your success is inspiring! Awesome, and good luck brother.

 

[PSDSH]

Good for you my friend. I like your approach!

I've had many meetings such as yours and mostly they don't lead anywhere, so I encourage you to keep on keeping on through the good and the bad. As you've no doubt heard: it's a marathon not a sprint. But in my opinion it's nice to sprint for as long and as hard as you can!

 

[Iwokeup]

Good for you my friend. I like your approach!

I've had many meetings such as yours and mostly they don't lead anywhere, so I encourage you to keep on keeping on through the good and the bad. As you've no doubt heard: it's a marathon not a sprint. But in my opinion it's nice to sprint for as long and as hard as you can!

It's like everything in life..lots of plodding with bursts of Cheetah-like sprints.

Today is a rest day though (or was, after working on the web page).

 

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[Silverhawk851]

Congrats bud

 

[Emanuel]

Great job! Keep up the good work!

Your mentality is very similar to the one presented in the book "The Go Giver" (which everyone should read in my opinion).

I took a picture of the 5 laws presented in the book. Hopefully some of you will find them useful.

 

[Iwokeup]

Great job! Keep up the good work!

Your mentality is very similar to the one presented in the book "The Go Giver" (which everyone should read in my opinion).

I took a picture of the 5 laws presented in the book. Hopefully some of you will find them useful.

Thank you so much for this! I'm going to print it out and put it on the wall....

You know, I don't know if I'll actually succeed at this endeavor or with this product. However, I do know that this is the most fun that I've ever had outside medicine, and in many ways is even more enjoyable. My teenager and I were chatting yesterday after getting haircuts. I told him that now that I've had the mere taste of what's possible (being a producer & having control over 98% of what happens) that I could no longer be satisfied with anything less. Why working for someone else when you have no control is always a losing proposition.

So he and I have been having the "College, should I or shouldn't I?" conversation for some time now. I know that I've previously posted that college is worthless except in certain circumstances. I've since modified my thinking to include this: if you don't know what you want to do, and you're not sure that you want to be an entrepreneur (or know that you don't) then college may be an option.

I know that in my wife's family not going to college is NOT an option (think of the Royal Tannenbaums and you have an idea). So I made a deal with the lad: you get a business going in the next two years that makes you at least $50K in gross receipts and it's growing, and I'll back you on not going to college when the time comes. We'll see if he takes up the challenge..his eyes did light up quite a bit. I asked him to imagine going into a local dealership and paying ca$h money for his dream car:

And how his GF's eyes would shine at him when he did that. That visual got a very thoughtful look.

(And for that matter, my wife has been giving me looks that I've never ever seen before...not sure how to describe it but I want more of them!)

I'm curious how other entrepreneurs have motivated their offspring into taking the leap, especially when their parents got into it so late in their (the kid's) lives.

 

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