Here is video recap from the Startup Grind Triangle tech conference in Raleigh, NC! Stay tuned for the new Startup Summit coming this October! You can learn more about the new Startup Conference at NC State University this October here. Hope to see you there. Any questions, let me know! ​http://startupsummitnc.com/

Happy to share with you wisdom gained from ProductCampRTP featuring keynote speaker: Marshall Brain. Mr. Brain is a serial entrepreneur, Founder of HowStuffWorks.com, Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program at NCSU, and author of more than a dozen books. He talked about a framework for turning ideas into successful products. Here are 8 rules on successful product attributes to pass insights your way. Enjoy!

Rule #1: Find something that resonates! You really want that "thing" if you show someone they really like it and want to share it with others. He used "Viagra" as an example. It really resonated with people. Viagra got your attention and people talked about it. Many people need it, use it, like it, and pass on the word! Viagra resonated so it took off!
*Alternative to Rule #1: You want advertisement to product that causes a, "Wow, I need that!" An equation perspective: When person A sees that person B has it, person A thinks I need that too!

Rule #2: Offer a killer value proposition! Find a big fat pain point, offer a solution that addresses it, and make it reasonable to acquire for what seems like little investment for a lot of gain. If you can solve a problem and/or make the world a better place through your product and value gained is far greater then the cost to acquire you have a winner!

Rule #3: Need product people are willing to pay for! People are used to paying for a $5 coffee, but not used to paying anything for an APP. Make sure your product is something people have an expectation to pay for and are willing to open their wallet.
*Alternative to Rule 3: If you can't easily get people to perceive paying at first, offer a creative way for people to pay. For example, DropBox gives free accounts, but if you use DropBox a lot and need more storage they ask you to pay. Subscription fees and re-occuring revenue is holy grail!

Rule #4: Business needs to be able to scale up! Need large audience to go big and have business model with resources that can peak up fast too. Think big, start small, and then scale from small to big! Example, Walmart started with one five & dime store!

Rule #5: Need to reach audience easily! For example, going after college kids would be a reasonable accessible market. You know the campus with access to thousands of students, marketing boards you can impact, sidewalks you can market on, street fairs to attend, and mailing lists to send materials so clear defined path to reach audience.

Rule #6: Keep in mind the magical three: A) Growth potential (People like and share it) B) Sticky (People come back to use product again and again) C) Monetize (You can make money on product/service efficiently)

Rule #7: You can copy an existing successful product idea! If an idea works and already has proven market then consider doing it yourself with unique twist or better! There was Viagra and then came Ciallis! Or take something that is hard and make it easy like Uber did for Taxi.

Rule #8" Price matters! You need right price that makes it easy for people to say "Yes" to buy! Test product and pricing. Do surveys. Offer a website with the product to see if it resonates!
​
Overall in the USA $18 trillion of dollars of commerce flow like a river over our head every year. If you can put up a product into this stream of commerce and people like it and tell others you can pull that money stream your way. The only way to know is to jump in and play ball! Follow these 8 rules and it will ensure your idea has the ingredients for success. Kudos to Marshall Brain for sharing these great insights and Productcamp RTP for hosting great educational event! Wishing you the best!

For this year’s ‘Professional Pathways’ program, Elon University’s Triangle Alumni Chapter presented a moderated panel with local experts who shared insights and anecdotes about the Triangle’s robust entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The Raleigh-Durham area has earned a national reputation for embracing and fostering entrepreneurship. This has led to a gathering of creative minds and a startup community launching many new products and services. In this session the panelists comprised of four accomplished Triangle professionals with firsthand experience turning good ideas into successful enterprises talked about their respective career journeys. Here was my take on top insights gained from panel. Enjoy!

• Always be learning and jump in. Learn by doing! The point was don't over analyze. It's good to be diligent and research, but then jump in to take action. Learn from it and move forward on best path. Be "Action biased" vs "Analyze biased". Lean on the side of action to prevent paralysis through analysis.
• Be mindful we can sometimes be our own worst enemy. Our fears or doubts can get in the way of our progress. Instead think of being your own best advocate. To overcome fear take action against it.
• One thing learned from failure is to remember you can't please everybody. Watch out for the "lowest common denominator factor" in which you come to a path that settles to meet the needs of the group, but is not the optimal path for greatest success. You can't be a people please-er if it gets in the way of the right thing to do.
• For anyone about to launch a start-up you absolutely must make sure you are going to love what you do and are passionate about it. The start-up will be a long hard battle and if you don't absolutely enjoy it and thrive off the idea, product, or service the forces against you will pull you down and make you quit. You have to love it to keep the drive and dream alive!

In closing some quotes were shared that panel found helpful to their success. One quote that stood out was, "If things are going really well, be ready". The point is life and business are not always great all the time. We go through trials and tribulations so if things are good be thankful, appreciative, relish it, but also be ready in case things go south. Be prepared and watchful to not be caught off guard. Always have a plan B in mind for the rainy days. One funny quote was, "Everyone poops the same way". This was a visual expression to level set any situation or person so you can confidently address people equally. Everyone is just another human being like you and me. No better or worse. So don't be intimidated and remember everyone is your equal. The panel consisted of these experts:
Tatiana Birgisson, Founder & CEO, MATI Engery
Emily Sexton '07, Founder & CEO, The Flourish Market
Craig Stone '90, CEO, HireNetworks
Liz Tracy, Director, HQ Raleigh,

Are you looking for ways to improve your communications, better manage any business crisis, and understand how social media can help you? Here are three tips I learned at Duke University during my executive program studies that can support your improvement.

1. Tip one on your communications is stand tall and smile. Whenever you are tasked to speak in front of audience it's proven your message will be better received when you stand to communicate. Also, research shows when you stand to deliver a message you're viewed as more credible then someone who delivers the same message sitting. In addition, smile! Smiling makes you more like-able and your message is better received when audience has affinity for you. By standing and smiling you kill two birds with one stone for an easy way to improve communications. In terms of content and delivery when you are using slides, the key is keeping each slide to one main point. And show a visual that helps communicate this point in the most effective way. Do not fill a slide with stats, figures, and tons of words like many people do and lose the audience. To see how to best use slides, watch a video of Steve Jobs from Apple presenting. He keeps the main thing, the main thing.

2. The advice on managing crisis is understanding three responses to crisis and executing on option three asap if that is the bottom line. For example, your response to a crisis can be 1). I didn't do it 2) I did it, but I was justified 3) I did it and I'm sorry. The key is to go straight to response three if that is the truth and deal with it head-on asap. Goal is to make any press a one day story event versus weeks of stories. You want to pull oxygen out from flaming media fires. By admitting a mistake and apologizing upfront quickly you can nip most press flares at the bud.

3. Lastly, the tip on social media is around the branding of you. You need to get out in front and take control of your presence online. People, employers, and future employers will Google your name and the best way to have results show what you want seen is to have a strong social media presence you control. Own your own URL like your name.com to present who you are. Then be active in your social media to build content around you. All of your social media sites feed your search results bringing forth content that you manage versus sites popping up with info controlled from outside sources.

​All the above tips around communicating effectively, handling crisis, and managing social media are easy things to do and in your control. These small tweaks can effect big results. Taking the communication for leaders class at Duke University gave hundreds of valuable tips, but these three are worth thinking about and taking action on. Enjoy!

​Find The Red ThreadToday at the American Marketing Association in RTP we had opportunity to hear speaker Tamsen Webster talk about "The Red Thread". Tamsen is the executive producer of TEDxCambridge, “idea whisperer,” and brand marketer.
A lot was shared on wisdom in marketing and business like why the process of branding doesn’t create great brands. What “consonance” is and why it’s key to driving action. And the universal template for meaning and how to use it to build a better brand.
Here are my top 5 insights gained from the event today. I hope it helps you.

1. The key to better branding and customer perception of your company is to close the gap between how customers see us and how we want to be seen. The gap that matters isn’t the one between how we’re seen and how we want to be seen. The gap that matters is the one between who we want to be seen as and what we already are seen as. Perception vs. Reality.
2. People don’t buy brands, they buy meaning — they buy what the brand means to them. Meaning requires no gap. A brand that doesn’t make sense internally to someone's experience and heart, will not make sense externally. Must deliver first a really valued good experience that mean's something to the person. The brand then extends upon that meaning to make an already good perception even better. To get the connections we truly want with customers, we have to close the meaning gap first. Then marketing can help air cover on top of this solid foundation for supportive push in exposure, presence, and deeper engaged relationships to further build upon that brand.

3. We make meaning following a universal, yet unique to each situation, “Red Thread.”  For something to have meaning for us, we have to see the "Red Thread" that ties it all together. And that means we need something other than branding. We need to find the Red Thread that connects the who, why, what, where, and main thing why people need and value the product, service, and company. The "Red Thread" is that special place in the heart and mind of the customer that makes sense to them and gives them meaning about your product/service/company.
4. Remember the five step process: 1. Goal: What is the goal customer wants to achieve with you and focus in on deliver that goal. 2. Problem: What is the problem you help them solve and ensure your offering a great solution that drives results on that problem 3. Ideas: What ideas do you give that offer to help overcome these identified problems 4. Change: What positive change do you deliver that result in goals being obtained 5. Action: Identify the actions needed to accomplish change, implement the idea, overcome the problem, and deliver the solution. Then execute on these action items!
5.Good quotes from presentation:

• "Nothing killed a bad product better then good marketing"
• "You can't solve a product problem with a good marketing message or campaign"
• "There is no good brand for a bad company. No bad brand for a good company."

Overall a great AMA event and represented well by RTP professionals. Tamsen Webster did a great job presenting the concept of "Finding The Red Thread". If you follow this advice shared I believe it will help us all build a better brand and most importantly be smarter about building the best product first to ensure a strong brand can follow suit!

Tonight we reviewed the topic of sales with a perspective on what the CEO thinks of the role of sales professionals and growth implications for a company. An all-star cast filled the stage for a stellar panel consisting of Scot Wingo (CEO, Spiffy & Founder/Executive Chairman, ChannelAdvisor), Doug Kaufman (CEO, TransLoc), Darren Pierce (CEO, etailinsights), and Todd Olson (CEO, Pendo). The tech CEO’s provided valuable insights on sales management and keys to success in sales results. An engaging and stimulating sales-related conversation. Here are some wisdom points shared at the session:
How do you define sales?
*Sales is all about driving growth. Help find customers and close them.
*Sales is about trust earned. Be honest and committed to genuinely help your customer and sales result.
*First starts with a great product then sales helps ensure the great product cuts through the clutter and gets into the hands of buying customers.

• How involved should the CEO be in sales?

*CEO should hire a good head of sales and then back out and get out of the way. Be there to support, help remove impediments, and be a resource, but let the head of sales manage and lead sales!
*Create a sales driven culture. Listen to the customer and have a feedback loop into company to help serve the customer better through sales process. Everyone in company is part of the sales quota. Everyone plays a role in sales achievement. Every deal counts no matter what group or source. Everyone should care. Collaborate.

• What are the metrics for judging sales results?

*Quota obtainment! Activity level. And right customers and right deals.
*Making sure the sales are healthy and not selling ahead of product or having hairy deals with bad terms.
*Reviewing the demo to close ratio and understanding how good the prospects in sales funnel are for what's best for business.

• What are the most important sales traits?

*Brilliant skilled sales people who are also team players. Sales professionals who also help others around them be better and support company growth overall.
*Hard worker. A networking champion. Relationship builder. An excellent listener.
*Ability to work your way up the food chain at companies to get to the executive level for buying decisions and then ability to navigate meetings, listen, and get customer to talk about price. What do they think the service or solution is worth to them?
*Sales professionals who are problem solvers and authentic. Real deal rain makers with proven success obtaining results for companies.

• What are characteristics of a successful sales person?

*Ability to explain difficult concepts clearly. Handle pressure and rejection.
*Strong energy and passion.
*Four main things: Proven past performance, Intelligent, Creative, and Positive Attitude!
Per Chris Damico's favorite insights, "Remember the mind shift you have to make as a CEO vs Employee. As a CEO it's all about working "on" the business vs. working "in" the business (CEO/Leadership position vs. Employee). This is why the CEO needs to let sales management own their role and stand back to work on company having good sales culture. The panel also noted that the sales profession is a great career path worth doing per gaining valuable people, relationship, and team building skills. The sales profession often leads to important executive roles at companies so worth a go!
Overall a great event. Thank you Pendo for hosting and the great panel members for sharing insights!

On July 13, 1937, Krispy Kreme opened its doors in North Carolina. Fast forward 80 years and Krispy Kreme is sharing the Hot Light, creating virtual reality experiences, promoting emoji doughnuts, and digital social interactions. Today at the American Marketing Association luncheon we learned how Krispy Kreme stays relevant in culture using social and digital marketing to drive consumer engagement. Kelley O’Brien, the director of social media at Krispy Kreme, gave a great presentation on social media/marketing/branding. The presentation points focused on these three areas:

1. Consumer engagement via personalized experiences
2. Measuring the effectiveness of a campaign
3. Global opportunities and vehicles to match your brand

In driving relevance Krispy Kreme is unique because their brand is global expanding into six continents where Krispy Kreme has not had a physical location. Connecting fans across the world and connecting customers while waiting in line at a store openings has been a strategic focus. One best practice has been focused on creating personalized experiences to get people engaged that result in an expansion of their following.
Social engagements help people remember Krispy Kreme moments and create new ones. Krispy Kreme has leverage virtual reality, live events, and surprised fans across the globe by sharing smiles and joy in many ways like "Power Ranger" themed events tied to movie releases. Here are some key takeaways from talk to help your business:

• Listen very closely to your customers. Listen to their posts and comments in social media. Then build content and even products that help deliver on requests made and demand shown for products. Surprise them with it! Learn and adapt!
• Focus on winning "Word of Mouth" marketing so you build legit following organically by real fans who love your product and share it with others.
• Best marketing platforms that help build your following and engagements are Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Instagram, and Spotify. Then leverage other review and blog sites who write about your favorably to co-promote their content.
• Always look for opportunity to reward your customers for participating in events like donuts for a year for first 10 people in line for new store opening. Then once you have hundreds of people lined up, engage with them to join your rewards program and have them become "Ambassadors" for your company. Capture the loyal fans and then convert them into active evangelists for your company.
• When targeting audiences with your message and content make sure it's only being shown to people who genuinely would have an interest in your offering. It's important to exclude people who won't convert so you keep focused on the people that will care and act.
• Be relevant and timely with your content to stay fresh. For example, during the big "Eclipse" solar moment Krispy Kreme launched "Eclipse" donuts and content relevant to this moment in time.
• Know the strengths of your brand and then play to it. Have your content match your company and product positioning. "Tell a story" "Create a community" "Have purpose and connect". For Krispy Kreme it's "Surprise and Delight", "Bring Happy Moments" hence they focus on ceremonies, celebrations, and party occasions.
• Form great relationships with the AD platforms so you can have access to fixes to improve your measurements when needed and have first access to beta programs so you can launch new innovative marketing programs ahead of the rest!

Overall, a good talk by Kelly O' Brien from Krispy Kreme on implementing programs and campaigns via social media channels and branded digital platforms. Thank you American Marketing Association for hosting a good learning experience!

​RevBoss and ExitEvent hosted SalesJam at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham today. This was a half-day event combining speakers,content, and networking with aim to help sales pros build more effective sales organizations and deliver more sales results. It was presented by sales development software provider RevBoss and powered by ExitEvent. Keynoting the event was Brad Brinegar, CEO of the global ad agency McKinney. He shared experiences helping companies like Sherman Williams and Travelocity meet sales and revenue goals through successful marketing and branding campaigns. In addition, Todd Barr, the former vice president of sales and marketing at Ansible who now leads the division inside Red Hat. Other speakers included, Sue Harnett, founder of Replay Photos and Rewriting the Code; Justin Winter, co-founder of Boostopia and Diamond Candles; Brandon Walker, vice president of sales at Untappd, and Larry Long, vice president of business development at Pendo.
This was a great sales training event both inspiring and educational providing access to some of the most successful sales leaders and entrepreneurs in NC, who provided best practices and tips for sales success. Here is my take on key points shared:

• Sales is a critical function of any organization, but in order to be successful, salespeople need to work closely with leaders in marketing and customer success.
• Always ASK for the sale
• Find the emotion in every sale. Be fully present in your conversations with customers to find their true interest, pain point, and need so you can cater exactly to what they are interested in that your product or service can fulfill.
• Fail Fast! If something is not working, do something different. Learn and move on quickly. Adapt.
• When in start-up sales mode do not do crazy special deals. Work towards consistency and clean deals. Rate card with standard process. Test your value and proposition then look for consistent pricing and levers that can be pulled at right time to boost sales.
• To be successful in sales never stop prospecting and moving the ball down the court. Keep knocking and keep pushing through and around obstacles.
• Treat accounts more like relationships vs. transactions. Get to know them personally and deeply so you can really know them to build a strong bond!
• Provide value. Show the ROI and give prospect reason to move relationship forward.
• You must love and believe in what you are selling!Have to be convinced that your product/service has real value to ask for sale with confidence!
• Don't be a "Me-Monster"! Keep the focus on your prospect. It's all about them. "Show Them The Money".
• Get creative and diversify the channels that you communicate to prospects (Phone, email, social media, handwritten note, lumpy mail with gift)
• Be fearless. Be passionate about your product/company

Top 7 Tips For Prospecting:

1. Plan- Know who you are going after and why
2. Prioritize- Rank the A, B, C most important targets and where your time/resources need to go first
3. Know- "What is in it for them" and have your "Value Proposition" for that specific customer identified. Avoid the "Me-Monster"
4. Value- Understand the most valuable thing you can give your potential customer and make sure you can articulate it clearly and quickly
5. Phone- Good to use phone to get more meetings and attention from potential buyers. Email can be overused and ineffective in prospecting so good to explore other communication tools
6. Diversity and Creativity- Get out of the "Black Box" just another sales person calling on prospect to make yourself unique and stand-out. Be unique to get their attention.
7. Persistence- Don't quit. Be relentless. Believe and keep pushing on!

• Top Keys For Closing:

I. Overall be confident, energetic, passionate, and have good sales tone that evokes buyer interest to get them leaning forward.
II. 5 Steps For Closing Deals Successfully:
1) Make sure you are talking to the right decision maker who can help you win the deal.
2) Demonstrate ROI and solid data that shows how product/service will help their customers and business in tangible ways. Build up so much value that the price looks small in comparison. Make product a "Must Have" vs. "Nice to have" for their business.
3) "Roll into price casually". Present the value proposition so strongly so when you offer the price they think it will be much higher so price comes across like a great deal!
4) Listen closely with empathy to any objections and work to overcome them with best efforts and strong diligence.
5) Ask for the sale and ask for next steps to move forward. Work toward a firm yes or no.
Overall a great sales event here in Raleigh-Durham. Special thanks to all the speakers and RevBoss and ExitEvent for hosting!