What One Little Girl Learned from Shark Tank

I heard my colleague Matt Bacak make a presentation about what his young daughter learned from Shark Tank. Wow! It was impressive! His little girl picked up from listening to pitches on the show.

Matt added his own two cents about running your own business, too. Here's what he shared. I think it's a great list for anyone who owns their own business.

1. Be clear about what you want. This sounds simple but 9 times out of 10 the clients I work with need to gain clarity about who they are, what they do, and who they serve. They need to temper dreams and desires with what they are willing to do toward those dreams and desires. Clarity gives you a chance to stay focused and let go of being uncertain and stuck.

2. Don't trip over the pennies on the way to the dollars. In other words, you've got to invest in your business if you expect a decent return in your business.

3. Focus on the customer, not on yourself. I frequently listen to clients who build their business entirely around their own desires, not considering how their practices and policies sound to their customers. Yet some of these same clients are quick to point out that large corporations often stack their customer “service” policies against the customers who keep them in business.

4. Know your numbers! If you worked for someone else before you became an entrepreneur you were probably taught that you should not discuss salary or talk about money. In fact, you might have been taught as a kid not to ask or talk about money at all. But as a business owner you should talk about money! Be prepared to know what your cost of doing business is, what you stand to gain in any collaboration or cross-promotion, and whether you get a return on the investment of time and money you have made in your business.

5. Master the art of the pitch. To do this, remove all distractions in your pitch and stay on course – otherwise you will confuse your prospects. During your pitch tell your prospects exactly what you want them to do next. Don't assume they will logically move toward the action you want them to take.

6. As you create your offers ask yourself, “What's so good about that?” Don't be blinded by your own passion into thinking that others will see the good in what you are offering. Just because your friends and family love your idea doesn't mean it's a good idea.

7. Rules to run your business by (these are Matt’s words):

• Keep in mind that the best businesses solve real problems.
• Concentrate on your core competency, and how that allows you to stand out.
• If someone agrees to what you asked for, take it. Don't keep trying to sweeten the deal.
• Customers want to see that you have other customers.
• If you are not making money, it's just a hobby.
• You can't multiply a zero.
• If you're not consistent you're non-existent.
• Embrace the hero's journey, meaning that you will have successes and failures and challenges along the way. It's all part of the deal of being a business owner.

8. Finally, Matt shared his formula for successfully selling on webinars.

• Here's what you are going to get on this webinar.
• Here's the benefits of what you are going to get.
• Here's a little bit about me.
• Here's what to do to get the upsell.
• Here’s the offer (here's what you need to do this, and here, we are offering it to you).
• Here's how to get what we are offering to you.
• 45 minutes, tops.

I know Matt is super-smart when it comes to e-mail marketing. I think his daughter has gotten a great education from watching Shark Tank, don’t you?

By the way, Matt has a book on Amazon that might be helpful for your business. Matt’s book is Marketing Sidekick: A Collection of High Converting, Attention Grabbing Words, Phrases and Headlines to Help You Promote Your Products, Services and Ideas. I own the book. myself, it’s a treasure trove for your marketing efforts.

http://amzn.to/1pZEJXP

What have you picked up from Shark Tank? I’d love to see your comment below.