The following are bottom lines from ‘The Knack’ as seen above. I recommend this book to you. (Published 2008)
Notes Compiled Raj 2 July 2009, for personnel reference =)
How to succeed in Business (Chapter 1)1. Don’t let emotions lead you into hasty decisions that will make it more difficult for you to achieve your real goals.
2. Make sure you understand what cash flow is and figure in advance where it’s going to come from.
3. Control the sales mentality and balance it with a business mentality and before it’s too late.
4. Learn to anticipate and recognize the changes in your business by developing a good feel for the numbers.
The Right Stuff (Chapter 2)1. Those who perseveres win. Be resilient and welcome failure. That’s how you become a better businessperson.
2. You learn by refusing to make excuses and looking deep inside yourself for the reasons things have gone wrong.
3. Focus (what kind of customer & focus on building the base) and discipline are more important than identifying opportunities, but they have to be balanced with flexibility
4. The solutions are seldom right in front of you. You need to learn how to spot them out of the corner of your eye.
Why Start-up Fail (Chapter 3)1. It’s good to have a lot of competitors because education a market is a very expensive proposition.
– agree, with my team mate started a mobile location based services start-up, take a while for people to comprehend what we are doing, no standards to follow and so forth
2. If you are a first time entrepreneur, It’s generally better to start a business than to buy one
3. The first business plan should be simple and you should write it for yourself, not for potential investors.
4. Your time is more valuable than money and you should be careful not waste it.
- I fully agree with this point, money can always be earn, time nope, don’t want to waste my youth
Where the Money Is (Chapter 4)1. Before you ask people for money, make sure you know how much they like to invest and what they are looking for.
2. Start early to build a relationship with a commercial banker and use an asset-based lender only If you can’t get the money you need from a commercial bank
3. Bankers are businesspeople too. Treat them the way you would like your customers to treat you.
4. Your receivables are loans to your customers. Make sure your portfolio is in good shape.
Magic Numbers (Chapter 5)
1. Whenever you launch a new business, keep track of your monthly sales and gross margin by hand until you have a good feel for them. --- will require discipline
2. Find the key numbers that tells you how your business is doing real time, before you get the sales report.
3. More sales usually mean less cash flow. Figure out your future cash needs while you still have time to address them.
4. Understand your earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and use a multiple of that not sales as the measure of your business’s value.
The Art of the Deal (Chapter6)1. Listening is the most important part of any negotiation. Make sure your hear what is really being said.
2. Go in with no preconceptions, and always assume that the other side is smarter than you. -Agree
3. Develop the habit of questioning what you see on the surface and dig to find out what ‘really going on. - Agree
4. In an adversarial negotiation, the best deal is one that leaves both sides a little unhappy.
It Begin with a Sale (Chapter7)1. The secret of successful selling lies in losing your fear of asking. You don’t ask, you don’t get
2. You probably won’t discover your company’s niche until after you have launched the business.
3. No niche lasts forever. You may have to discover new ones as you go along
4. Your reputation is your most valuable business asset, and your competitors play a critical role in shaping it.
5. What business are you really in ?
Good Sales, Bad Sales and the Ones That Get Away (Chapter8)1. You are better off with a base of many small customers than with few large ones
2. Showing is more effective than telling when it comes to signing up new customers. Let them experience what you have to offer
3. Listening is a lost art. You can gain a competition advantage just by listening carefully to what your prospects and customers are saying.
4. It is almost always a bad idea to reduce your prices just to fill unused capacity. You will just undermine the more profitable part of your business. (Watch out for hidden expenses)
Customer for Keeps (Chapter 9)1. Customer retention is the key to growth, and you retain customers by building strong relationship with them.
2. One way to build strong relationship with customers is to help them become smarter buyers by teaching them your business.
3. Make a point of treating old customers like new prospects. Otherwise, it’s easy to start taking them for granted.
4. You will lose contract with your customers as your company grows unless you build customer face-time into your schedule.
How to Lose Customers (Chapter 10)1. Customers don’t like feeling that they are supporting your lavish lifestyle. Don’ give them reason reasons to think they are
2. Make a habit of a having a small piece increases on a regular basis so that you aren’t forced to have a big increase later on. This reminds me of the regular price hike in transport fee in the lion city.
3. Your company is probably your most valuable personal assert. Don’t undermine its value by letting your margin erode
4. Beware of the rules you make. They may inadvertently force your employees to provide poor service to customers.
The Decision to Grow (Chapter 11)1. Business is a mean to an end. Does a life plan before you make your business plan. --- This is an eye opener to me!
2. When trying to move to the next level sales, don’t assume you know all the factors that led to your initial success.
3. Growing a business is a matter of choice. Before deciding to grow, make sure you know why you are doing it
4. Biggest is not always better. Small companies have some advantage that large companies can’t match
Becoming the Boss (Chapter 12)1. As close as you may be to your employees, neither you nor they should forget that it’s a business relationship and needs to be treated as such
2. If you, like most entrepreneurs, prefer selling to managing, remember that you can hire other people to do management. You don’t have to do it yourself.
3. The way to deal with employee theft is to improve your system, not stop trusting people.
4. When the time comes for you to step aside and turn day-to-day operations over to your managers, get someone you trust to help you with the transition, and find other ways that you can contribute to the business.
Becoming the Boss (Chapter 13)1. Your company’s culture can be your most powerful tool for finding and keeping great employees. Don’t miss the opportunities to shape it that arise every day.
2. The one thing you can’t delegate is the responsibility for making sure the company has a single culture, not several competing ones
3. Expenses have a natural tendency to creep up over time. If you want to control them, you need to get everyone involved in the effort.
4. Look for opportunities to send the message to employees that you really care about them, and that you want to them to care about keeping costs done (the pen)
Selling is a Team Sport (Chapter 14)1. Salespeople are your representatives in the marketplace. Make sure you choose salespeople who will represent you well.
2. Beware of hotspots and would be entrepreneurs and don’t hire salespeople from within your industry.
3. Sales commission cause divisions in a company and get in the way of building a team. Don’t pay on commission unless you have to, and switch to salary plus bonus as soon as you can.
4. All your employees have an impact on sales, at least indirectly. With the right training, you can teach them how to have a direct impact.
Help! I Need Somebody (Chapter 15)1. Sometimes you get so close to the problem that you lose other perspective.
2. You usually need help from someone who is not emotionally involved and who knows the right question to ask.
3. When you are struggling with a problem, get an outside perspective to make sure you are identified the real one and come up with a solution that’s going to address it.
4. Accountants are good for explaining what has happened in the past, but don’t go to them for business advice. Talk to an experience business owner instead.
5. Your Lawyer’s job is to tell you the potential legal consequences of a decision or a course of action – not to give you business advice.
6. Yes, your small companies can afford to hire world-class executives as long as you are willing to create a situation in which they can make money and have fun.
When the Student Is Ready, the Teacher Appears (Chapter 16)1. There are great business lessons to be learned wherever you go, but you have to remember to look for them.
2. Solving a problem is a two-step process. First you should stop the bleeding, and then you need to address the underlying cause.
3. Preparation is a crucial competitive edge. Don’t assume you know what’s in a contract – even an old contract – unless you have gone back and reread it.
4. The harder someone pushes you to make a quick decision, the more insistent you should be about taking your time.
Keeping Up with Stones (Chapter 17)1. Be prepared to carry new salespeople for up to a year before getting the kind of production that will justify what it cost to hire them
2. If you want salespeople to make good sales, teach them how your business makes money
3. Watch your numbers carefully and when they change – find out why. There’s always a reason
4. Enthusiasm is lifeblood of a business. Be generous with it.
