The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Where to find business problems (B2B)?

Neighbour

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
36%
Jan 10, 2020
11
4
Hi,
I am looking for method to search for some business problem (B2B), related to strategic business management consulting (so related to entrepreneurship) that particular company is having regardless of the country? So I can do my review process to figure out whether or not my service/product (my offer) could solve the problem and if it does, create Value Proposition, also known as Value Articulation, file and appropriate pitch (speech) demonstrating how to solve that problem. So I can then send the file to their decision maker and use it as a bait for their willingness to invest the time with me on web appointment to reveal my plan further. Of course it is very important that information about business problem is ''live'', meaning in real time, and not outdated (already solved). Where could I find such info? No company would ever admit their business management problem publicly, even if it is just some internal discussion (idea) and not really a problem.

However, the thing is that I don't have internal reports to companies like Bain&Company, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and neither internal reports of revision companies like Deloitte. Obviously surveys and phone calls, or discussion board lookup (e.g. quora), won't help either. Hiring employee of such consulting firm won't be an option either because he/she/they wouldn't share internal confidential info. Multiple reasons why, one of them is surely protecting their deal with that client (company) so I wouldn't get in touch with them on my own.

I also considered Bloomberg Terminal for finances and even Thompson Reuter's Eikon but neither of them contains real time business problems, even if is just consideration about acquiring a company or some Case Interview (task for job applicants who want to be consultants).

Mass spamming everyone on LinkedIn won't be an option either. No one would tell or admit the business problem they might be having. They may not even be aware about it. I thought about Market Drivers lookup but this isn't a way to go either.

What else could I do to find such real time up to date (NOT yet solved) information about business problems, being clearly described?

THANK YOU!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ronak

Gold Contributor
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
317%
Sep 13, 2013
573
1,814
Hi,
I am looking for method to search for some business problem (B2B), related to strategic business management consulting (so related to entrepreneurship) that particular company is having regardless of the country? So I can do my review process to figure out whether or not my service/product (my offer) could solve the problem and if it does, create Value Proposition, also known as Value Articulation, file and appropriate pitch (speech) demonstrating how to solve that problem. So I can then send the file to their decision maker and use it as a bait for their willingness to invest the time with me on web appointment to reveal my plan further. Of course it is very important that information about business problem is ''live'', meaning in real time, and not outdated (already solved). Where could I find such info? No company would ever admit their business management problem publicly, even if it is just some internal discussion (idea) and not really a problem.

However, the thing is that I don't have internal reports to companies like Bain&Company, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and neither internal reports of revision companies like Deloitte. Obviously surveys and phone calls, or discussion board lookup (e.g. quora), won't help either. Hiring employee of such consulting firm won't be an option either because he/she/they wouldn't share internal confidential info. Multiple reasons why, one of them is surely protecting their deal with that client (company) so I wouldn't get in touch with them on my own.

I also considered Bloomberg Terminal for finances and even Thompson Reuter's Eikon but neither of them contains real time business problems, even if is just consideration about acquiring a company or some Case Interview (task for job applicants who want to be consultants).

Mass spamming everyone on LinkedIn won't be an option either. No one would tell or admit the business problem they might be having. They may not even be aware about it. I thought about Market Drivers lookup but this isn't a way to go either.

What else could I do to find such real time up to date (NOT yet solved) information about business problems, being clearly described?

THANK YOU!

You can easily google it. It took me literally 5 seconds to lookup "industry challenges for roofing".
Industry journals are another-- again, google x industry journal and you'll get a ton of results.

The issue will not be in finding the problems. If you approached someone the way you wrote your post, they would run in the other direction. You need to learn how to be more succinct and to the point. In other words, you need to learn how to sell, or get someone that can.

Welcome to the forum.
 

Ernman

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Feb 8, 2019
969
2,168
64
Florida, USA
First of all - welcome to the forum.
Second - have you read either of MJ's books? If so you should the associated thread and drop a comment. That way you get the chevron under your name and it helps us to understand if you'll understand our explanations.

Now to your question: I am using what I've learned through first hand experience. Experience is the best sources material. Not only do I know there's a need for what I'm offering, but I also know that I can offer meaningful solutions.
 

SEBASTlAN

Marketing Wizard
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
149%
Dec 22, 2014
1,888
2,813
Los Angeles
- Join your local chamber or BNI and talk to business owners.

- Read reviews on Trustpilot, GetApp, G2 and Capterra.

- Apply for The Foundation program
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

sparechange

Platinum Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
161%
Nov 11, 2016
2,804
4,502
Canada (Vancouver)
Easy

Cold call your local business's and ask them what their biggest struggles are. Offer a free trial solution. Charge them if they are happy.

Two of my problems I'm anticipating (product based business in eCommerce) are marketing & shipping
 

Neighbour

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
36%
Jan 10, 2020
11
4
Thank you very much for replies and for welcoming me.

I am working hard on ability to get some work because I'm unemployed without any source of income. Learned very limited amount ( * ) of skillset during all those years of unemployment so I wouldn't waste time and endlessly hope to get a job.

( * ) actually just two and one of of those two is something I would like to offer to the companies B2B as self-made entrepreneur because I believe I would be able to bring huge value to companies. Been doing some real time practice, imaging I was working with the real company with very high self-criticism rate and I believe I am pretty good at particular skillset.

I am just looking for as detailed as possible described business problem related to strategic business consulting so to entrepreneurship in general. This way I could learn what will really attract the prospect: the decision maker in the company. So I can create Value Proposition file and demonstration pitch according to it. The only way to do it is to have some kind of remote look what is happening under their business roof. However, I don't have internal reports and no connections related to consulting firms (McKinsey etc.).

We are talking about worldwide companies here.

Ronak: googling it won't make me find internal information. No company would ever publicly admit anything. Their competitors could make a huge advantage of it just with doing their best to avoid the problem without even knowing potential solution. Admitting the problem could risk their number of clients and potential new clients. You may have thought about general industry problems yes but just because it is some general problem, it doesn't mean that X company is having it who is operating in the same industry. I repeat again that the main goal why I want to do such research is to know in advance what will attract the prospect and his/her/their willingness to invest their time with me, listen to me and trust me. Once I manage to get them on first ever web appointment with pre-prepared demonstration pitch (speech), it would be easier. While qualifying them with qualification questions there is no reason to not tell me their problem IF:

1) value proposition file was correctly developed with all required elements
AND
2) i brainstormed well that my learned skillset will actually solve the problem.

The thing is that I have strong belief that people are buying a way out of something and not a way into something. There could be only two possibilities what is ''something'' that people want the way out of it. Those are:

1) the problem
OR
2) the luxury dream handing them ability to be focused on something else or to have benefit elsewhere so that ''dream'' could be exited and at the same time turned to reality.

Having said that, I don't believe if I try to offer to prospects some service out of nowhere. That's why it is so much important to learn their business problem first and not just general problem but as I said twice, I don't have any internal connections with consulting firms :rage:

Ronak no, it's not learning how to sell. It's learning how to approach prospects in correct way and demonstrate them the solution because they don't want to be sold, sometimes even they don't like admit the problem they may be having. If you are selling the offer, whether it is a service or product and try to get him/her/them into something telling how good this is, you are challenging his/her/their integrity and intelligence. Obviously they will defend themselves and say NO. It's more about having impact on them to see whether their mindset changes, this is where sale is closed. But we are talking about how to find what attracts particular prospect without ever speaking to him/her/them in the past (yet). So the value proposition file can be developed in such way.

One way but I am not satisfied with it (hence I decided to make this post on "your" forum), how this could be approached differently, is brainstorming in what SITUATIONS and for whom (target audience definition via market segmentation) would be my learned skillset I want to offer useful. This would partially let me bypass having to know internal, confidential information like current business problem for particular company. But this is not the best approach either :mad: Why? There are zero signs whether or not it would attract the prospect. It's really hard to find a way what is attractive for exact decision maker if not ever speaking in the past with this person. Due to timing reasons, so the lead doesn't go cold, it is required to have everything ready, not just value proposition file but also some words for demonstration pitch, before requesting connection on LinkedIn. Why? Obviously because prospect may accept the LinkedIn connection request quickly, almost too quickly and if I was considering the way to approach him/her/them after connection is approved, it may be too late. Doing such file and pitch requires some work to be done very well.

Ernman: MJ books? :wideyed: No, I don't think so. I'm not that much into motivational, mindset books because there is no much benefit in them other than something psychologically moving me forward telling me how good the world will be the next day if I work smart and hard today. Those motivations don't help me. I am looking for something more physical that will help me to create the value in advance. To remind you, and everyone else again: All I am hoping to currently get on this forum is some assistance how to figure out what will work as the bait for prospect. Even if your assistance wouldn't be based on researching for detailed business problem, it would be still great to know. Already having my plan written down, already knowing how to approach the prospect, already having wonderful collection of qualifying questions and feedbacks to sales objections IF any. Also some strategy for follow ups. However, what I don't know is how to be aware in advance what is exciting for the prospect, decision maker with years or decades or experiences in very high job hierarchy level, to get the attention. So far the only way this could be done is solving the problem but such exact company related problem cannot be found online. They won't admit it anywhere.

Sebastya: We don't have such meetings here and I'm not aware of any such online meetings as you suggested. Regarding TrustPilot; 99% of the companies I would be interested for don't have any reports there. The ones that do are more based on customer feedback that is usually further based on actual performance of the product. So more engineering related topics. I'm looking for the business problems decision makers are complaining about under their roof and not customer feedback. Problems related to entrepreneurship and not to so much to engineering. The point is getting in touch with appropriate value proposition file while the problem is in progress. So as rescuer. Not as seller, trying to advertise benefits of some service or product.

sparechange: This 100% guaranteed won't work. No one would ever be even willing to start conversation when I ask them, as total stranger, what their strategic business management problem is. Imagine you, being in the office, getting a call and someone ask you: ''What's your problem? Let's see if I can solve it, I recently learned some skillset and would like to do my best to perform it so I can get you out of the problem IF it matches what can I do." Would you really reveal your problem to stranger annoying you on call? No, of course not. Such company would also never admit anything internally to me.
 

Kid

Gold Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
98%
Mar 1, 2016
1,736
1,707
Are you sure McKinsey et.al, will give you problems on plate?

It seems like you block yourself from finding problems by believing so.
 

Neighbour

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
36%
Jan 10, 2020
11
4
Kid: They won't which is what I have been saying since starting this topic. Neither BCG or Bain would. So finding their employee who works there as consultant and explaining my story to him/her would not really help. I have seen so called "Case Interviews" that start with description of some situation which is sometimes a business problem but those are useless.
 

MaxKhalus

Silver Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
119%
Jun 7, 2018
492
587
23
Spain
Easy

Cold call your local business's and ask them what their biggest struggles are. Offer a free trial solution. Charge them if they are happy.

Two of my problems I'm anticipating (product based business in eCommerce) are marketing & shipping
That always works. I did a similar thing scheduling calls after I got their attention on email
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

broswoodwork

Intermediate User of the Flying Guillotine
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
313%
Oct 16, 2015
890
2,790
@Neighbour

You can tag people by typing @[their name] don't use the brackets.
 

loop101

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
161%
Mar 3, 2013
1,556
2,505
Hi,
I am looking for method to search for some business problem (B2B), related to strategic business management consulting (so related to entrepreneurship) that particular company is having regardless of the country? So I can do my review process to figure out whether or not my service/product (my offer) could solve the problem and if it does, create Value Proposition, also known as Value Articulation, file and appropriate pitch (speech) demonstrating how to solve that problem. So I can then send the file to their decision maker and use it as a bait for their willingness to invest the time with me on web appointment to reveal my plan further. Of course it is very important that information about business problem is ''live'', meaning in real time, and not outdated (already solved). Where could I find such info? No company would ever admit their business management problem publicly, even if it is just some internal discussion (idea) and not really a problem.

However, the thing is that I don't have internal reports to companies like Bain&Company, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and neither internal reports of revision companies like Deloitte. Obviously surveys and phone calls, or discussion board lookup (e.g. quora), won't help either. Hiring employee of such consulting firm won't be an option either because he/she/they wouldn't share internal confidential info. Multiple reasons why, one of them is surely protecting their deal with that client (company) so I wouldn't get in touch with them on my own.

I also considered Bloomberg Terminal for finances and even Thompson Reuter's Eikon but neither of them contains real time business problems, even if is just consideration about acquiring a company or some Case Interview (task for job applicants who want to be consultants).

Mass spamming everyone on LinkedIn won't be an option either. No one would tell or admit the business problem they might be having. They may not even be aware about it. I thought about Market Drivers lookup but this isn't a way to go either.

What else could I do to find such real time up to date (NOT yet solved) information about business problems, being clearly described?

THANK YOU!

You don't need company specific information. You can do fine doing something as simple as:
  • Find an industry that appears to be growing
  • Find out what they spend the most time and most money on
  • Find a way to save them time, save them money, or make them money
  • Develop a solution that delivers (see MJ's books)
  • Make the solution available to the market (see MJ's books)
 

Neighbour

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
36%
Jan 10, 2020
11
4
which MJ books are you referring to?

I did a quick "your" forum search, are you referring to this:

UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship: MJ DeMarco: 9780984358168: Amazon.com: Books

?

or this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004BDOUAI/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

?

That won't bring any benefit. The title of the book already tells you it's all about motivations.. This is not something I am looking for. It won't bring any benefit.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ronak

Gold Contributor
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
317%
Sep 13, 2013
573
1,814
which MJ books are you referring to?

I did a quick "your" forum search, are you referring to this:

UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship: MJ DeMarco: 9780984358168: Amazon.com: Books

?

or this:

Amazon.com: The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime eBook: MJ DeMarco: Kindle Store

?

That won't bring any benefit. The title of the book already tells you it's all about motivations.. This is not something I am looking for. It won't bring any benefit.

Wow.
You do realize that this forum was created and based on the principles of the author, right? It is probably the farthest from "motivations" you can get, and is based on solid principles. If you take the time to look around, you'll find hundreds of success stories from people who started from nothing.

A lot of people have tried to offer some valuable suggestions in good faith, but you seem to already know why they're all wrong and you're right. Take a step back, try to reread the posts with an open mind and you might find something actionable. Or, continue the way you have been, and get similar results. Totally up to you.

Good luck.
 

SEBASTlAN

Marketing Wizard
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
149%
Dec 22, 2014
1,888
2,813
Los Angeles
Thank you very much for replies and for welcoming me.

I am working hard on ability to get some work because I'm unemployed without any source of income. Learned very limited amount ( * ) of skillset during all those years of unemployment so I wouldn't waste time and endlessly hope to get a job.

( * ) actually just two and one of of those two is something I would like to offer to the companies B2B as self-made entrepreneur because I believe I would be able to bring huge value to companies. Been doing some real time practice, imaging I was working with the real company with very high self-criticism rate and I believe I am pretty good at particular skillset.

I am just looking for as detailed as possible described business problem related to strategic business consulting so to entrepreneurship in general. This way I could learn what will really attract the prospect: the decision maker in the company. So I can create Value Proposition file and demonstration pitch according to it. The only way to do it is to have some kind of remote look what is happening under their business roof. However, I don't have internal reports and no connections related to consulting firms (McKinsey etc.).

We are talking about worldwide companies here.

Ronak: googling it won't make me find internal information. No company would ever publicly admit anything. Their competitors could make a huge advantage of it just with doing their best to avoid the problem without even knowing potential solution. Admitting the problem could risk their number of clients and potential new clients. You may have thought about general industry problems yes but just because it is some general problem, it doesn't mean that X company is having it who is operating in the same industry. I repeat again that the main goal why I want to do such research is to know in advance what will attract the prospect and his/her/their willingness to invest their time with me, listen to me and trust me. Once I manage to get them on first ever web appointment with pre-prepared demonstration pitch (speech), it would be easier. While qualifying them with qualification questions there is no reason to not tell me their problem IF:

1) value proposition file was correctly developed with all required elements
AND
2) i brainstormed well that my learned skillset will actually solve the problem.

The thing is that I have strong belief that people are buying a way out of something and not a way into something. There could be only two possibilities what is ''something'' that people want the way out of it. Those are:

1) the problem
OR
2) the luxury dream handing them ability to be focused on something else or to have benefit elsewhere so that ''dream'' could be exited and at the same time turned to reality.

Having said that, I don't believe if I try to offer to prospects some service out of nowhere. That's why it is so much important to learn their business problem first and not just general problem but as I said twice, I don't have any internal connections with consulting firms :rage:

Ronak no, it's not learning how to sell. It's learning how to approach prospects in correct way and demonstrate them the solution because they don't want to be sold, sometimes even they don't like admit the problem they may be having. If you are selling the offer, whether it is a service or product and try to get him/her/them into something telling how good this is, you are challenging his/her/their integrity and intelligence. Obviously they will defend themselves and say NO. It's more about having impact on them to see whether their mindset changes, this is where sale is closed. But we are talking about how to find what attracts particular prospect without ever speaking to him/her/them in the past (yet). So the value proposition file can be developed in such way.

One way but I am not satisfied with it (hence I decided to make this post on "your" forum), how this could be approached differently, is brainstorming in what SITUATIONS and for whom (target audience definition via market segmentation) would be my learned skillset I want to offer useful. This would partially let me bypass having to know internal, confidential information like current business problem for particular company. But this is not the best approach either :mad: Why? There are zero signs whether or not it would attract the prospect. It's really hard to find a way what is attractive for exact decision maker if not ever speaking in the past with this person. Due to timing reasons, so the lead doesn't go cold, it is required to have everything ready, not just value proposition file but also some words for demonstration pitch, before requesting connection on LinkedIn. Why? Obviously because prospect may accept the LinkedIn connection request quickly, almost too quickly and if I was considering the way to approach him/her/them after connection is approved, it may be too late. Doing such file and pitch requires some work to be done very well.

Ernman: MJ books? :wideyed: No, I don't think so. I'm not that much into motivational, mindset books because there is no much benefit in them other than something psychologically moving me forward telling me how good the world will be the next day if I work smart and hard today. Those motivations don't help me. I am looking for something more physical that will help me to create the value in advance. To remind you, and everyone else again: All I am hoping to currently get on this forum is some assistance how to figure out what will work as the bait for prospect. Even if your assistance wouldn't be based on researching for detailed business problem, it would be still great to know. Already having my plan written down, already knowing how to approach the prospect, already having wonderful collection of qualifying questions and feedbacks to sales objections IF any. Also some strategy for follow ups. However, what I don't know is how to be aware in advance what is exciting for the prospect, decision maker with years or decades or experiences in very high job hierarchy level, to get the attention. So far the only way this could be done is solving the problem but such exact company related problem cannot be found online. They won't admit it anywhere.

Sebastya: We don't have such meetings here and I'm not aware of any such online meetings as you suggested. Regarding TrustPilot; 99% of the companies I would be interested for don't have any reports there. The ones that do are more based on customer feedback that is usually further based on actual performance of the product. So more engineering related topics. I'm looking for the business problems decision makers are complaining about under their roof and not customer feedback. Problems related to entrepreneurship and not to so much to engineering. The point is getting in touch with appropriate value proposition file while the problem is in progress. So as rescuer. Not as seller, trying to advertise benefits of some service or product.

sparechange: This 100% guaranteed won't work. No one would ever be even willing to start conversation when I ask them, as total stranger, what their strategic business management problem is. Imagine you, being in the office, getting a call and someone ask you: ''What's your problem? Let's see if I can solve it, I recently learned some skillset and would like to do my best to perform it so I can get you out of the problem IF it matches what can I do." Would you really reveal your problem to stranger annoying you on call? No, of course not. Such company would also never admit anything internally to me.

Man, the way you mischaracterized both books without even reading them is shocking.

You're not aware of any such meetings? Did you take the time to look into it or are you not even going to entertain the idea?

To say that cold calling "100% guaranteed won't work"....Dude. You can't be serious. I mentioned The Foundation program, which is all they do and they have made millionaires from that program. So clearly it does work.

Either you're trolling everyone here under a burner account, or you are not serious about succeeding, considering the amount of excuses and pushback you're giving to every entrepreneur here who offered you some solid advice.

Good luck.
 

Nolan Harper

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
150%
May 31, 2018
8
12
Hi,
I am looking for method to search for some business problem (B2B), related to strategic business management consulting (so related to entrepreneurship) that particular company is having regardless of the country? So I can do my review process to figure out whether or not my service/product (my offer) could solve the problem and if it does, create Value Proposition, also known as Value Articulation, file and appropriate pitch (speech) demonstrating how to solve that problem. So I can then send the file to their decision maker and use it as a bait for their willingness to invest the time with me on web appointment to reveal my plan further. Of course it is very important that information about business problem is ''live'', meaning in real time, and not outdated (already solved). Where could I find such info? No company would ever admit their business management problem publicly, even if it is just some internal discussion (idea) and not really a problem.

However, the thing is that I don't have internal reports to companies like Bain&Company, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and neither internal reports of revision companies like Deloitte. Obviously surveys and phone calls, or discussion board lookup (e.g. quora), won't help either. Hiring employee of such consulting firm won't be an option either because he/she/they wouldn't share internal confidential info. Multiple reasons why, one of them is surely protecting their deal with that client (company) so I wouldn't get in touch with them on my own.

I also considered Bloomberg Terminal for finances and even Thompson Reuter's Eikon but neither of them contains real time business problems, even if is just consideration about acquiring a company or some Case Interview (task for job applicants who want to be consultants).

Mass spamming everyone on LinkedIn won't be an option either. No one would tell or admit the business problem they might be having. They may not even be aware about it. I thought about Market Drivers lookup but this isn't a way to go either.

What else could I do to find such real time up to date (NOT yet solved) information about business problems, being clearly described?

THANK YOU!


I wonder if you're approaching this wrong.

You mentioned you have experience and feel you can bring real value to businesses. Instead of looking for the problems they have, focus on the problems you've already have solved, and get so good at solving those same problems for others that you become the go-to expert.

Just a thought. I know that often times when I'm looking for answers, reframing my mindset or the question I have can often get me where I wanted to go in the first place.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Sandholdt

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
113%
Nov 3, 2018
47
53
It seems to me that you believe you have a good solution to a problem, which you believe a lot of companies have, but they won't admit to having .. Correct?

If that's the case, instead of looking to go VERY in-depth with information in a single/ a few companies, would you consider to phrase your solution and skillset very nicely and then make it a numbers game?

Simply coldcall/e-mail a lot of companies you believe have said problem, and just await positive response. Even if it takes 10.000 calls or e-mails to get your first customer, it may propel you forward toward the next customer, assuming you're doing a good job solving the first clients problem.

If this or any of the former advices can't be used, I'm going to call you out on BS, stop procrastinating and get a job to develop a useful skill, or atleast get some knowledge of the working industry.
 

Miketing

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
199%
May 7, 2014
137
273
which MJ books are you referring to?

I did a quick "your" forum search, are you referring to this:

UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship: MJ DeMarco: 9780984358168: Amazon.com: Books

?

or this:

Amazon.com: The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime eBook: MJ DeMarco: Kindle Store

?

That won't bring any benefit. The title of the book already tells you it's all about motivations.. This is not something I am looking for. It won't bring any benefit.

29726

Isn't there a phrase about not judging a book by its cover or something? I'm sure I heard that somewhere...
 

Thomas Baptiste

Guide Yourself!
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
161%
Jun 8, 2018
163
263
Commonwealth of Dominica
Try talking to the right people. Not necessarily directly about problems but just conversations about how business/operations are going. If there are real problems, eventually they will surely be made mention of.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Neighbour

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
36%
Jan 10, 2020
11
4
There are several reasons why I am trying my best to find the real time clearly defined problems. Few of them are:

1) People are buying a way to exit the problem

2) It is much better to offer a product or service to the company (if b2b) while they are being in problem. Why? Imagine if you sell fire distinguisher and go randomly knocking on doors if anyone wants to buy it while the last thing they thought about is the danger of the fire in their apartment or house. Would anyone buy it? No, of course not. Now imagine different situation: you see the fire in the house, run to the house, ring, hand fire distinguisher to the person who somehow manages to pass the fire flames to come and open the door. Doing no discussion, no pricing request, nothing. Just handing the fire distinguisher to him. Do you think he wouldn't take it? Of course he would and soon enough pay for it. So the key is approaching the prospect while problem is in progress.

3) My offer may solve very limited quantity of problems, most of them is related to inability to finalize the sales (high ticket closing). Of course I could just go ahead with creating breath-taking Value Proposition file also known as Value Articulation file and demonstration pitch for first web appointment. Why don't I do that? Because if the problem cannot be solved with my offer then I still have some backup plan: I could hire entrepreneurship consultant who can solve the company's problem, be literally the messenger of information/questions/answers/reports/instructions/etc so the knowledge broker and have triple benefit at the same time:

A) learn from instructions so one day I could perform such consultancy on my own on the same case
B) finally be able to earn some money since I am without earned a single cent for years: the difference between being paid and having to pay to expert
C) work on my personal branding and reputation. At the end, I assume that my own LinkedIn profile would be +1 on references and my client would see me but not expert behind me.

Anyway, I am mostly interested for offering my primary service and not that much being knowledge broker. It's just extra plan if I find out that my offer wouldn't solve the problem.

4) Impossible to do Value Proposition file if not knowing the problem description.

@Sandholdt Yes, correct. To whom should I phrase the solution (the offer)? To prospects directly? I need some reason to get in touch with particular decision maker of particular worldwide company. Can't just mass-connect every single LinkedIn profile just because the person works in X industry in Y department. I may lack the understanding of market segmentation but what I am showing in ATTACHED file is simply not enough to have quality based reason why I would want to get in touch with particular prospect from some Z company. What I mean with ''the reason to approach the prospect'' is actually knowing in advance what attracts him/her/them without ever speaking together YET. This basically hands me great opportunity that even if I am the one who approaches another person first, this contact is still NOT ''cold'' because I am not asking for commitment only but I have the hard reason to be attractive so prospect would listen and invest the time. How else could I have the reason if not defining the actual business problem? I don't trust at fairy-tales that someone would be willing to go on web appointment with me and to further let me offer my service to them just because the file seems good or just because the outcome of my demonstration pitch on web appointment seems interesting. Do you think that some CEO standing behind billion in annual revenue company would be really willing to invest time with stranger like me who never paid a single utility bill with own money? Of course not. I need something that will block any chance of prospect in refraining to use my service. I'm still just a beginner in the world of entrepreneurship so it is very possible that I may be mistaken but how else could be this done if not verbally handing to the prospect something that cannot be denied? As far as I understand, you can only do this if telling them about my awareness what problem is under their business roof.

@Thomas Baptiste imagine a stranger calling you with a question "How is your business going?" while you have XYZ tasks to do before ending your work for the day. What would you do? Getting the timing right for his/her availability can be challenging also. I have some script to get passed from gate keeper (secretary) but there is really no hard real valuable reason to start quoted question.
 

Attachments

  • Market Segmentation, Market Targeting.docx
    13.7 KB · Views: 7

Sandholdt

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
113%
Nov 3, 2018
47
53
What if you assumed a company would need your solution to their problem? Simply contact the business owner assuming you can help them. If they have no fire to be extinguished, they will tell you off - no big deal.

Get in touch with the next CEO and assume he has a problem for your solution.

IF they have the problem you assume they do, BAIT, if not - move on down the prospect list.

That's all there is to it, really - and why so many people tell you to just reach out. If noone has a need for your help, then your skill is simply not valuable to the market at this point.

If you don't mind me asking - What is your particular skill? I think knowing where you want to go, could get you brainstorming help from a lot of other clever minds - there's loads of those on this forum.
 

Neighbour

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
36%
Jan 10, 2020
11
4
@Sandholdt If I assumed the company would need my solution to their problem that I somehow manage to find then I have a reason to contact them instead of doing just the cold contact. This way, I can start working on Value Proposition file which would be basically the same for all prospects (companies) having the problem that could be solved using my offer and continue working on demonstration pitch development. I'm not saying I would read the actual text on appointment but its always good to prepare some words in advance, including the brief verbal revelation of my plan that would be basically the same regardless of the answer on one of qualifying questions:

''Tell me about your biggest challenge that you are facing now''

You may be thinking why am I so much eager to find the business problem if I am saying that I ask for it? Because I have to earn the willingness to get appointment and earn the answer. How could earn this? Obviously via trust and reliability. How could I show reliability and proof that I am worth the trust? Via value that I deliver in advance. How can I deliver the value? Via value proposition file. How can I create it? Obviously based on the business problem but I need to find it first.

Assuming the problem is not enough because attractivity, resulting in willingness to invest the time with me, is under the risk in that case. Something ''general'' may not be relevant to exact company. This is what worries me and this is why I am asking how to know what is attractive enough to particular prospect BEFORE approaching him/her/them.

Without giving any value in advance or at least in the same message comparing to appointment invitation, there won't be any prospect's willingness to listen to me.

Brainstorming the business problems that can be solved with particular offer, either product or service, is something I already thought about in the past. However, even IF description of the problem is "brainstormed" correctly, there is no indication that company is really having that problem. Anyway, my answer to your question: I would like to offer high ticket closing where my % would be based on the price of deal IF successfully closed. So finalization of sales. Basically the same as Ryan Stewman is doing and also Dan Lok. The primary reason why I want to do this is to help companies showing trust in me to finalize more sales on warm leads on inbound calls. So I can add the value to them. I believe the main goal is in figuring out what could the company benefit from me and not my earned money. If I look at the money only then things could go bad quickly. Secondary reasons are several ones. First is obviously finally getting an income that I can rely on because I am at the bottom in my (no)life. Even with university degree but without any income, I cannot afford to pay even utility bills for healthcare. Since I am entirely financially dependent on closest relative, it hurts a lot and I'm doing my best every day to change that. I don't recall if I ever paid any bill on my own to be honest but I'm not giving up yet. Additional reasons are to be able to work on my so called dream job using recently developed strategy that it took me few years to create after having big loss: financial assets trading. Third, I have been reviewing Dan Pena's (no, its not a typing mistake: I follow and study from Dan Lok all the time but this time I am speaking about Dan Pena) QLA and just few days ago I found, for the first time ever, some young genious "kid" (absolutelly NO disrespect to him) whose name is Josh (Joshua) Kim. As far as I know he got his entire skillset of company acquisition method with no upfront money investment (or minimum?) from Dan Pena and doing better than anyone has ever done. Really like them both and would also like to start learning that acquisition method on my own but consulting fees from Bruce Whipple, who seem to be the main consultant behind Dan Pena, are surely not free of charge and some day I would like to be able to invest in his consulting as well.

Previous paragraph was long version answer of your question. If you were looking for short version then I have only three words for you: high ticket closing.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Stargazer

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
184%
Mar 8, 2018
806
1,481
England
I thought you were some sort of Business Management Consultant as it seemed you wish to approach large organisations and implement some Strategic Solutions. (your references to Bain, McKinsey) which also struck me as odd as people who set up as Business Management Consultants already know the answers to what you were asking as they have track record in an Industry before setting up independently.

But it turns out you just want a Commission Sales Job selling warm leads and used a million words to get to this simple point.

Phone up any Home Improvement Company or Car Dealership etc and say you will work Commission only if they provide leads, (Car Dealership is almost anyone turning up to look at a car) and you will be starting next week.

Then you can work up to Higher Ticket Items. eg Second Hand Car Sales to BMW Dealership to Ferrari - you get the gist - as you will have concrete proof of your ability by time you aim at Ferrari. Or not as the case may be.

Dan
 

Miketing

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
199%
May 7, 2014
137
273
This is what worries me and this is why I am asking how to know what is attractive enough to particular prospect BEFORE approaching him/her/them.

I think this sums up your mindset right here.

You're refusing to take action because you're "worried" it might not work out in your favour.

You're looking for a way to know what your prospect is thinking without being willing to take any risk to call them up and do the research or test the product-market fit first.

It sounds like what you really need is some kind of mind reading device. Let us know when you discover one - I think the entire forum, market research industry, and business world will be very grateful.
 

Neighbour

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
36%
Jan 10, 2020
11
4
@Stargazer Such business management consultant (strategic business growth) is something I would like to be doing also but on those Case Interview situations, where I try to study from, I am stuck at the beginning already when job candidate starts brainstorming impacts on the business problem. I don't have ability to think about those impacts, hence I am also reading some Problem Solving book(s) for that purpose. The purpose is different than the one for method of researching for problem - my original question and I am still waiting to get the answer. However, since I need to get some earnings very urgently, I don't have the time to search for detailed methods how to be able to learn so called Case Interviews from those firms you mentioned. I won't sell any leads in high ticket closing business. The warm leads would call me so I make them buy the offer. As I said, I need to find a way how to research for particular business problem of the company but I am yet to receive appropriate answer on that.

@MrStoic886 I pretty much agree with what you said. However, I need a quality reason for approaching the prospect before doing so. The reason is NOT to learn whether they are committed but something that shows me they are in need for such solution and they look for the way to exit such problem. Only in this way value can be given as a bait to attractivity.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Miketing

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
199%
May 7, 2014
137
273
It's quite ironic really. You refuse to read either book because you wrongly assume they're just motivational or mindset books, yet your mindset is probably the biggest thing you need to change.

If you weren't so scared/stubborn/lazy to take action on these suggestions from successful entrepreneurs, you would have already solved your problem!
 

DragoonDB

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
244%
Oct 17, 2018
41
100
It's quite ironic really. You refuse to read either book because you wrongly assume they're just motivational or mindset books, yet your mindset is probably the biggest thing you need to change.

If you weren't so scared/stubborn/lazy to take action on these suggestions from successful entrepreneurs, you would have already solved your problem!

@Neighbour: @MrStoic is completely right - your mindset is NOT in the right place. I had to stop reading through some of your posts because they drip so much pessimism.

When you're reaching out to people (here, consulting firms or potential customers) you sure better not be more negative than who you're talking to. Consider this - you asked a question here (and you haven't even introduced yourself on the forum) - and systematically provided an excuse or push back on nearly every comment that was shared with you. How do you honestly expect to be taken seriously on the forum, much less the people you talk to for business ideas/business pitches?

Honestly, you need to be out in the trenches gaining experience and learning the field. Your first stop should NOT be a major consulting company for business ideas. Take a job, go to meetups, try to do your research on the web, etc. Your goal and reality are simply not aligned at the moment.

A few things that apply here and in life - people will help, but you have to have the impetus to work independently, look for solutions and not problems, not have excuses, and have a little optimism.

I think everyone can grow, but being a little blunt so you recognize the type of responses your writing - and they aren't good, nor will they help you grow.
 

Neighbour

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
36%
Jan 10, 2020
11
4
I did some positive progress when it comes to searching the business problems. Unfortunately only general ones but still this is by far better than nothing since it's completely impossible to find particular company publicly complaining about their own business management related problem.

I managed to collect few ones but the bad thing is that neither of the ones I found can be anyhow solved with my service I would like to offer. The positive ''trick'' that made me finding or starting to find few business problems (general ones), so the work on value proposition file can be started to attract the prospect how can I add the value to them, was just choosing the right keyword phrase on google. It seems like I was using wrong ones and I'm NOT using the one @Ronak said.

But the new step I need to figure out is 100 times harder: find out some brainstorming way how can be problem solved with my service. This is 100% required to figure out before I go any further because ability to provide the service (IF i even have enough ability) is not enough! I somehow need to make sure that the problem I am describing must be able to be solved with what I have to offer. What do you think @Sandholdt @Stargazer ?

Examples: for e-learning (education management) industry:

Problem definition (not detailed enough anyway): "Unreliable source of information for learning process"
Possible solution: "Implementation of social learning tool to be used by all employee in the company and hired experts outside of the company and then usage of that collected info on internal projects"

Problem definition: "Excess of distractions and/or lack of motivation in learning process"
Possible solution: "Implementation of engagement drivers (e.g. constant daily feedback requests) that block distractions in advance and create attractivity for every next lecture"

Problem definition: "Too much or too large content that provides irrelevant and/or not absolutely required content in order to learn particular skillset"
Possible solution: "Implementation of AI automated scraping tool that filters out only the relevant info"

and so on. But neither of found problems can be solved with what would I like to offer.

My plan has to be changed somehow. Most likely there is no way to find the method which will tell me:

"Define your offer, either product or service"
+
I define it
+
"The business problems that can be solved with your offer are...."

I understand this is probably not possible. Such brainstorming doesn't exist. So instead of finding particular business problems in particular industry, I need some way to find, REGARDLESS of the industry, what problems can be solved with my offer. So far I have only two ideas (two problems) but those are brainstormed with lack of my own experiences and they (i haven't even named them) are not defined in details enough. Once I would be able to link my offer with problem(s) that can be solved with the offer, I could continue and choose the industry to start with. However, it seems like searching for the problems in the industry may not be that much important. More important is searching for problems that can be solved with either service or product (my offer) so the key searching parameter would be my offer for filtering of results purpose.

So far the best way I can think of is asking myself for every single problem I manage to find the following question: ''Can this be solved with what I offer?''

I'm doing what I should had done like 15 years ago, that's very sad... My urgency to finally get some income for ability to pay for at least most basic life expenses is so huge that it further complicates everything, so sad.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ernman

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Feb 8, 2019
969
2,168
64
Florida, USA
I'm doing what I should had done like 15 years ago, that's very sad... My urgency to finally get some income for ability to pay for at least most basic life expenses is so huge that it further complicates everything, so sad.
Yes, sad on many levels. I'm sorry Neighbour but I don't think this forum is right for you. I'd go into details, but given your track record in this thread, all you'd do is push back. I hope you find the silver bullet or magic solution you're looking for.
 

broswoodwork

Intermediate User of the Flying Guillotine
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
313%
Oct 16, 2015
890
2,790
Quick question: are your prospective clients English speakers?

If so, I humbly suggest picking up a book on copywriting. Your diction is frustratingly convoluted.

Not trying to be a jerk.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top