Big Failure Story! And the Learning from It (5m 59s) – Association Hustle Podcast Episode 306

j
}

11/17/2021

 

The most popular podcast episodes, clicked on stories, reposted blogs, and engaged content were about failure, not the things we did right. 

 

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.
Here’s JP.
Posting failure content came across as vulnerable and authentic, but it wasn’t just that. I wanted to give the people what they wanted. I wanted to fall on my sword, and share the trials and tribulations that I went through.
But today I want to tell you about what I did right, I want to pass those along too.  Here are 10 things that were successful.
First, I started a flexible workspace for my staff more than a decade ago, before it was in vogue or before we were forced into it.  Work was what you did, not where you were.
Two, a healthy sales mentality where we were obligated to let the prospects know about the opportunity, and then we sorted people out that were not interested. That was healthy and was successful. We didn’t get all wrapped around the axle about when we were told no, or when we received objections.  We’re just sorting people out.
Three, we developed a sales and business development platform that charged a retainer. Lots of people in the space will sell for free, and frankly, that is a cop out. It’s easy for the salesperson to ignore if the value proposition is bad, they just won’t sell it anymore.  It doesn’t encourage the client to collaborate or invest in the relationship because they have no skin in the game. So, we had a different model, we’re going to charge you a retainer for the work, plus commission.  I think that gave both people an obligation and commitment to the relationship.
Four, we were willing to give away all the best tips through social media, webinars, speeches, and our entire thought leadership platform, because we had an abundance mindset.  If someone wants to take the idea and run with it, well good for them.
Five, I recognized that people knew what they should do, but most often they won’t.  We were pretty intensive about execution and did what many people thought was a good idea in the first place. That’s how we were different.
Six, accept that business is very personal.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have a healthy relationship with objection, I do. This keeps the word “no” from being crushing to you. But I also recognize that being successful in an entrepreneurial endeavor takes everything that you have, and that means your full being which is very personal.
Seven, burn the boats. Over the last couple decades, I’ve run into great people who would be fantastic entrepreneurs, but they were not willing to commit 100%.  As a result, they had these little projects that were just a series of side hustle after side hustle. Eventually the main job became a side hustle, too.  As a result, they weren’t really excellent at anything. Burn the boats, 100% commitment makes you much more focused. In healthy way it also makes you kind of desperate, realizing that if this doesn’t work out, you don’t have another option.
Eight, transparency around the numbers of the business. I always showed our team the profit/loss every month, that way they would have had more understanding about the decision-making process, and they knew more about the business. Now, they didn’t always agree with the decisions that I was going to make around the business, but they certainly could see the numbers and have context of why I made the calls that I did.
Nine, I still considered myself, even in the last days before we sold the business, a big part of the sales operation. I think CEOs and leaders need to be on the front lines of their business operation and that means in the market, testing and hearing the themes that would work and not work around sales and business development.
Ten, if you don’t have brand and company awareness, the business isn’t worth very much. I think you should always be out there building your brand and your reputation, not only through good work, but sharing what you learn through the work.  When you do that your brand and your company are much more valuable.
I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page
Subscribe to The Moery Company’s bi-weekly newsletter.

Featured

Related Posts

Need Help?

Follow Us

Contact

803 W Broad St, Ste 730, Falls Church, VA 22046

info@bigredm.com

(571) 814-3443