Ep. 41 - The Valley of Death Stage of Bootstrap Entrepreneurship with Lou Ellman

Hi there folks!

Creatives Meet Business is an event and podcast series based out of Austin, Texas for artists and creatives to learn the ropes of entrepreneurship.

This episode features Lou Ellman who joined us in November during our roundtable event on Bootstrap. This episode outlines the Valley of Death Stage of Bootstrap Entrepreneurship and includes so much amazing info on how to SELL your way out. This episode is chock full of sales tips, tricks, tactics, and much much more. Without further ado, let's hop in and hear what he has to say!

Notes:

• 0:00 to 1:42 - Ashland Opening Remarks and Intro of Lou Ellman, Founder of RoyaltyZone
  • Like what you hear? Join us for CMBXP (9/20 to 9/22 in Austin, TX) for Lou's workshop on "Sales Skills to Grow Your Business"
• 1:48 to 2:39 - Introduction of Topic - Valley of Death
  • Only way out is to sell your way out
  • No outside funding in bootstrapping, the only way to get funding is through sales
• 2:40 to 6:06 - Three Concepts for Selling
  • Hunting - traditional sales prospecting, finding targets and closing deals
    • Cold calling, emailing, events, trade shows, networking, social media - identify your ideal prospect and engage with them
    • Ideal prospect - intersection of two circles; the people who want to buy your product and the people that you want to sell to
  • Fishing - marketing
    • Content is king
    • Partnerships - a way to really move the needle for bootstrappers
  • Farming - once you have a client, keep them happy to be a referral source and to stay a client
    • Service your clients as best as you can
    • Keep educating them
  • Lou's original business plan:
    1. Get a customer
    2. Make that customer ridiculously happy
    3. Repeat
• 6:07 to 8:38 - Techniques for Selling to your Ideal Prospect
  • Qualifying - early and often
  • Two ways you win: by losing early and winning
  • Qualified prospect = willing AND able to buy your product / service
  • BANT (IBM acronym) = Budget, Authority, Needs and Timeline
  • How do you learn this info? Through a conversation!
• 8:39 to 10:47 - Navigating the Sales Cycle
  • Actually a Buying Cycle, not Sales Cycle
  • Important to overcome objections, uncover their needs and concerns
  • Find out what and who the competition is and differentiate yourself
  • You have to drive the process forward
  • Negotiating and closing are key for bootstrappers!
  • As the person who sold the product, be part of the delivery process!
• 10:48 to 14:47 - Tips and Tricks
  • No one cares what you think about the status of the deal. What you really want to know is what THEY think about the status of the deal
  • Listen more than you talk. Work questions in at every phase of the proposal / pitch
  • Always ask for next steps, never leave a conversation without understanding the next steps in the process from their perspective 
  • Get before you give 
  • Work backwards from the end to establish a calendar of events
  • Save the proposal / contract until the very end (discuss pricing and budget early on). Once you send this, you've lost all your leverage.
• 14:50 to 16:48 - Ashland Closing Remarks
  
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  • Big thanks to Jamal Knox (audio engineer) and Chris James (composer)!

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More on Bootstrap, so stay tuned!

Thanks!

Ashland, Creatives Meet Business