Looking At Your Customers, Through An Angel Investors’ Eyes
by Eric Gilboord

Angel Investors often invest money and time. As a business owner you’re investing your time, resources and money in acquiring or keeping customers. The wrong customer can be costly and disruptive to your company. Your customer base is like an investors’ portfolio. Smart Angels review their investments to adjust for performance and economic changes. Wise business owners do the same with their customer base.

Typically 20% of the customers contribute 80% of your income. An experienced Angel may invest in 10 companies hoping to score a hit with one or two. It may be time to review your customer list and fire the bottom 10% as an investor might do while cutting their losing investments. Then focus your resources on finding better customers with larger opportunities. Or simply spend more time on some of the good customers you already have.

Finding good customers and keeping them is hard enough without spending a disproportionate amount of your time and resources on generating more new ones. Before you accept a new customer, consider using the indicators below to determine whether or not they are a good fit for your company. Various criteria may be utilized. Here are 7 to get you started.

7 Things to Consider About Current or New Customers

1. Do they have the ability to pay for your services? 
2. Have they used a service like yours before and was it successful? What went wrong?
3. Are their sales up or down? Do you want to be part of a winning or losing situation? 
4. Are their employees happy or biding their time waiting for the doors to close?
5. What is their reputation with customers and competitors? Are they forward thinking or out of pace with their industry?
6. Do they have a plan to grow? This includes Business, Sales and Marketing plans. 
7. Do they have complete management and worker teams or are there holes? Is that trouble or an opportunity for you as a supplier?

Featuring Eric Gilboord

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Video Transcript
Marketing goes well beyond advertising, website and brochures. It also includes many intangible ideas the small business owner/operator needs to understand, observe, and respond to, including the following:

1. Customers' Needs. A clear understanding of your customers' needs and a strong commitment to satisfy them should be at the heart of your marketing program. You do not have a business without customers. The survival and growth of your business will come from providing great customer service. Happy customers will be loyal and bring you new customers.

2. Competition. Many businesses are aware of their competitors but do not possess intimate knowledge of them. If you know what things they are doing right and what things they may be doing wrong, you can learn from their experiences and apply the good to your organization and avoid the bad. Understanding your competitors will often give you the opportunity to anticipate how they may respond to your tactics. You can then anticipate their marketing activities and be prepared.

3. True Value Of An Opportunity. Look under the surface. Not every opportunity is as it may seem. You need a strategy to assess new opportunities and to allow yourself the choice to walk away from what could be a damaging experience to your company. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

4. Times Are Changing. This is a time of rapid and constant change. Traditional ways of thinking will either produce traditional results or prove to be fatal in this non-traditional business climate.

5. Get Progressive. Think about your marketing in an aggressive manner. Break away from the old reliable ways and begin new traditions. If you apply new thinking to new problems and new opportunities, you will see new results. New traditions will have much shorter life spans and will be quickly replaced by more new ideas. Thinking about your business is much like hitting a moving target.

6. Know What You Don't Know. The awareness that there are many things you do not know is also important to the constant updating of information on customers, competitors, and the industry you are in. A wise business owner knows what he or she doesn't know, employs a strategy, and finds the answers.

7. Develop New Business. Business owners would like to believe that customers will just come to them, but this is not the reality. New business development is just as important to a marketing program as satisfying existing customers. If you wish to grow your business or even to keep it at a certain level (customers can leave for various reasons and you often do not have control over their decisions), you will need new customers. You will require a formal, well-thought-out new business development strategy.

8. Customer Contact. In order to meet the sometimes enormous challenge of monitoring and interacting with large numbers of customers and new prospects, you will need a contact management strategy. How you keep in touch with customers and the ease with which you or your staff are able to reach them will dramatically affect the level of customer service you can offer.

"Demonstrate, you know your business and a clear understanding of their needs." A2E

Allies and Acquaintances: Two Key Types of Professional Relationships
By Reid Hoffman (The man behind LinkedIn)

Professional Allies: People Who Have Your Back.
What makes someone an ally in your job and career? First, it's someone you consult regularly for advice. You trust his or her judgment. Second, you proactively share and collaborate on opportunities together. You keep your antennae especially attuned to an ally’s interests, and when it makes sense to pursue something jointly, you do so. Third, you talk up an ally to other friends. You promote his or her brand. When an ally comes into conflict, you defend him, and stand up for his reputation. And he does the same for you when times get tough. Finally, you are explicit about your bond. You might say to each other, “Hey, we’re allies, right? How can we best help each other?”

4 Minute Video with Eric Gilboord

1. Know What You Want. Know what information you are looking for. Much of what you are seeking is readily available. Talk to your staff, customers, and suppliers. Equip yourself with a list of the specific information you require. Look at competitors' price plans, additional services, and staff capabilities. Review their product lines and determine how much they overlap with yours.

2. Get to Know Your Competitors. Make sure you balance older established businesses with new ones. Talk to competitors at trade shows when they are more inclined to be chatty. But be cautious: sharp competitors may feed you misinformation or embellish sales figures to make themselves look good. Or they could just be seeing what you know. It goes both ways.   Print this post out for your staff.