This post was originally featured on Technori.com, a leading digital publication for the world’s best starters.
There are certain people out there that seem to always have amazing things come their way. NEWFLASH. It’s not a coincidence.
Your ability to attract great opportunities comes down to a simple formula:
Size and Quality of Your Network + Transparency + Perceived Ability to Create Value = Volume of Opportunities
Let’s dig in.
Network:
Your “true network” is not everyone you’ve ever met. Your true network is the group of people who’d gravitate towards helping you out given the opportunity (assuming the ask is appropriate).
The larger your true network, the larger the pool of people who might decide to send an opportunity your way. Network quality has implications …
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In the second edition of my new interview series, I have a chat with Dan Shipper. Dan is a co-founder of Firefly and has made a few waves in the tech scene.
In this conversation Dan reveals:
The details of his new startup Firefly and where he got the idea
Why he decided to shelve his last startup and the biggest lesson he learned
A recap on the most valuable lesson he learned from Jason Fried, founder of 37 Signals
How he’s started relationships with guys like Gary Vaynerchuk and Jason Freedman
Insight into what I call the “horizontal relationship building technique”
How he manages his time amidst running a startup and being a philosophy major at Penn
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Show notes:
Clay Christiansen video here
Find Dan on twitter or his …
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This post is about strategies I’ve used to close the deal.
One of the biggest challenges in sales and business development can be inspiring urgency to get a deal done. Just because someone perceives value in your offering, doesn’t mean they’ll make it a priority.
There are a number of tactics I’ve used to push deals through the finish line. Though most of these have been in the context of API partnerships, these strategies can be effective in many situations.
The Press Bait
One way to expedite a conversation is by baiting a prospect with a potential press opportunity. Only do this if you actually plan on doing a press release at some point. Here is an example script that demonstrates more precisely what …
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I’m constantly trying to optimize my sleep.
Why you ask? So I have can as many waking hours of the day to do the things I love and be productive while maintaining a high energy level and healthy lifestyle : )
I compiled some of my learnings into a slideshare presentation called Sleep Hacking: How to Sleep Better. It’s a primer to a new online course I’m teaching on How to Have More Energy and Spend Less Time in Bed. Take a gander:
Sleep Hacks: How to Sleep Better from Scott Britton
Do you know someone who wish they could sleep better, desires more energy, and/or is constantly trying to optimize their life? Share this with them so they don’t miss out …
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I’m pumped to announce I’m starting a new interview show. I’m aiming to interview people who’ve done really cool things in order to expose their knowledge to others.
My first interview is with Biz Dev pro Alex Taub. In our interview he reveals:
How he “broke into tech”
The most important thing he’s done for building his person brand
One major reason he left to join Dwolla
What BD means at Dwolla (for him)
The one thing he wish he knew when he started out in the tech space
This interview also reveals how excessively I move my eyebrows when I talk. Geez. Going to work on that for next time.
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My next interview will be with “America’s Youngest VC” Alex Banayan. Subscribe here or follow me on …
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About 2 weeks ago, I realized I made a huge business development mistake that could have easily been avoided.
Rewind to mid-December: I connected with an ideal prospect via a cold call that told me to reach back out in the new year. Immediately following the call I made an annotation to call them back in the new year so that I remembered.
It’s early January. Jogging through my hitlist, I see the note and excitedly decide to reach back out. I start constructing an email that read “I just wanted to circle back on connecting like we chatted about on Dec 12th”….and then it hit me:
Someone who receives 40 cold calls a day like this person probably has no recollection of …
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I’ve been doing some smiling and dialing recently and thought I’d share some free resources to find corporate phone numbers. I’m listing these in the order of how I approach finding one. The hierarchy of this list is determined by a combination of accuracy and speed.
1. Company Website
I’ll spare you a proverbial explanation. Many company sites contain the corporate phone number on the “Contact Us” or “About Us” page.
Note* it’s important to understand that many phone numbers on company sites are customer service numbers instead of corporate office numbers. Make sure the number explicitly reads as “Corporate Office” or “Headquarters”.
2. ECorporateOffices.com
ECorporateOffices.com has pretty accurate phone numbers. Their data set isn’t as robust as some other sources, but you can search …
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When I set out to start a newsletter, I had absolutely no idea about many of the benefits I’m now receiving. I wanted to share some of the less obvious perks of starting a newsletter.
A Reason to Email People You Want to Meet
I try to feature the best articles I’ve read each month that relate to business development. Many times, these articles are written by badasses I want to meet (crazy coincidence).
Something that David Siteman Garland taught me is that this scenario provides a great reason for me to email the authors. Specifically, I’ll shoot them a note to let them know that I featured them. I sent the following email and got a great response:
Hey X,
Happy new year!
Just wanted …
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