Eric Flamholtz has it right in his book Growing Pains (now in a 4th edition, by the way). In an early stage business almost all of your focus must be on two things:
1) You must get your product or service properly aligned with the market. Our business plans offer our best guess about this, but the reality of the reaction from real customers tells us the truth of what will really work.
2) Selling! We must actively engage the market to gain a customer base. They almost never just “show up” at our doorstep.
Entrepreneur magazine has a great feature story on selling in this month’s issue. Included are several specific tips on such topics as selling to department stores, selling on eBay, selling expensive products, creating a buzz and so forth. It is well worth a careful read whether you are starting a new venture or simply trying to expand the sales of your existing business.
Dr Jeff Cornwall
Co-founder of The Entrepreneurial Mind, serial entrepreneur and professor of entrepreneurship.
With rising oil prices and the conflicts in “oil rich” regions of the world, such as Venezuela, Iran, and Iraq, the renewable energy is being placed in the forefront of the American consumer. In your opinion, what areas of the renewable energy industry is the most accessible for the first-time entrepreneurs? Is it solar and wind power or do you dive into capital intensive alternative fuels such as the ethanol, bi-diesel, or hydrogen?