B.)  BOUNCE BACK – As Jack Welch wrote, “We would also add two other qualities to the must-have list. One is heavy-duty resilience, a requirement because anyone who is really in the game messes up at some point. You’re not playing hard enough if you don’t! But when your turn comes, don’t make the all-too-human mistake of thinking getting ahead is about minimizing what happened. The most successful people in any new job always own their failures, learn from them, regroup, and then start again with renewed speed, vigor, and conviction.”

A.) ABILITY TO SEE AROUND CORNERS – Jack Welch also wrote, “The other quality we’d mention is really special but quite rare: the ability to see around corners, to anticipate the radically unexpected. Now, practically no one starts their career with a sixth sense for market changes. It takes time to get a feel for what competitors are thinking and what product or service customers will eventually want – once they know it exists. But the bottom line is, the sooner you develop this acumen and the more you hone it, the farther you will go.”

L.) LEVERAGE – From a marketing standpoint, take full advantage of publicity and the social media to create your brand and illustrate how your products or services solve problems and help serve the community.  Be consistent because in B2B marketing there are three things that matter most: repetition, repetition, and repetition.  Regardless of how many messages you put in front of prospects and how many times you call on them, they are only going to be receptive when they are ready and that is typically beyond your control.  Unless, of course, you can tell when their current vendor is going to raise prices or botch an order, or some other event creates the opportunity.

L.) LEVITY – Being an entrepreneur is serious business and very stressful. You have money at risk, often times other peoples’ money too, and are responsible for employees and their families.  So, to help diffuse the weight of this responsibility you need to laugh and live.  Make the time for vacations and truly “vacate” and get away.  Schedule them in advance.  Sitting on the beach with an iPad solving problems back at the office isn’t vacating.  You need to provide fun for your  employees beyond building something together which, of course, is a blast!  Quarterly parties, barbecues, softball games, beach parties, and other social-business events can go a long way to build a cohesive team.

S.) STAND FOR SOMETHING – This relates to your brand and the way you conduct business.  I am a product publicist and truly believe that publicity is the best marketing value there is and in order to serve the small business community, I had to create a business model that would allow our firm, Venmark International, to provide high-level publicity services, domestic and international; for fees small businesses could afford.  Further, in order to service media outlets properly and get the most possible exposure for our clients, I created a writing formula that I have never violated.  The result is the product news we provide is sought after by many editors and we have a loyal client base including many companies which have partnered with us since 1977.

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© 2013  Steven M. Stroum     [All rights reserved]