Comments on: Are You a ‘Whatever’ Business Person?

By: Mario Sanchez

Mario Sanchez — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:51:27 +0000

@Andy Greider: great points Andy, especially your last paragraph. It echoes one of the main takeaways in Meatball Sundae: it is easier to find products for your customers than it is to find customers for your products. Couldn’t agree more.

By: Andy Greider

Andy Greider — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:12:03 +0000

When given a choice to be unique, most people choose to imitate others – this is why chains and other large entities are successful.

As a small business owner, it is VERY important to stand out from the crowd and make a solid impression. You must be the thought leader, the rainmaker and the decision provider.

When you are searching for a way in the door, specifics work much better than generalities. The more specialized, the easier the entry. You can’t be all things to all people, but you can be one thing to many…and then once you are in the door – the other things you excel at become evident…but you can’t lead with all of them.

Pick something, brand yourself (see my link for an example how) – and specialize – become one thing to all your customers and then let them ask for more.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:09:48 +0000

Interesting intro story since i’m sure most of us have been in that situation at least once. I find that simply naming a few options I can remove the ones I don’t want which makes actually picking one easier. For example if I had to choose between: Pizza, Subs, Thai and Mexican the first two would instantly drop off since I eat them too often and I’m left with a simple choice (especially since they’re very different from each other)

By: Mario Sanchez

Mario Sanchez — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:09:56 +0000

@Scot Herrick: Great tip Scot! I’m going to try that more often.

@Adam: Thanks. True, It’s a very common situation, and one that can tell a lot about people by the way they react to it. I’m glad you’re the decision maker…

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:37:27 +0000

great story to intro this post – it’s funny, this happens to me so often and im usually the one who makes the decision…

By: Scot Herrick

Scot Herrick — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:08:59 +0000

One of the more interesting tactics I’ve used in my career is to offer a solution to a problem — often an extreme solution — so that the other person or people in the group have something to attack.

It’s difficult to create from nothing. It’s a lot easier to take something already there and criticize it in order to make it better.

Besides, you get 80% of what you wanted in the first place because you’re the one that came up with a solution!