In this episode of #TBNE Rob shares one of the biggest challenges early-growing startups face, which is how to say NO more often. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.
In this episode of #TBNE Rob shares one of the biggest challenges early-growing startups face, which is how to say NO more often.
Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.
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EP 84_Rob
Say No More Often
00:00:07:12 - 00:00:42:15
Rob Napoli
Hey, y'all, how we doing? This is your host, Rob Napoli back again for another episode of the Bare Necessities podcast. And I just wanted to say, hope you all, if you celebrated thanksgiving or had some sort of friendsgiving that you enjoyed the time with friends and family for us, we actually stayed in New York City and we hosted a friendsgiving party for a lot of our non-American friends and just being thankful that we had each other in our lives, being thankful for the talent in the room and host to 22 people in a one bedroom Brooklyn apartment.
00:00:42:15 - 00:01:13:02
Rob Napoli
And for those that know it was pretty amazing of a feat. And over the the kind of time off I took a couple of days off last week set up for the party and cooking but also having some really interesting conversations and wanted to share some thoughts on where that conversation that I keep having with entrepreneurs and it was also inspired by a friend of mine, Walker McKay, who did a recent podcast on Why You Should Say No as a Salesperson.
00:01:13:22 - 00:01:37:04
Rob Napoli
And it's funny because the same reasons you should say no as a salesperson, is the same reason you should say no as a business owner, as an entrepreneur. And the conversation I've been having, I was running a soft landing program and working for a sort of for accelerators. And a lot of founders come up and like, I want to come over the U.S. and in two weeks or in a month, I get an investor come over in two weeks, in a month and get our beachhead client.
00:01:37:04 - 00:01:58:03
Rob Napoli
And I'm kind of like, Yo, slow the fuck down. How long is your sales cycle normally? Oh, 9 or 12 months. So why do you think you're going to come into the U.S. market and go that much faster in two weeks or a month whenever people come over here? The first conversation I have is your goal should get meetings, you should do 15 to 20 meetings.
00:01:58:10 - 00:02:23:09
Rob Napoli
And it's not sales meetings. It's meetings to validate your product market fit. It's meetings to open up doors for sales conversations. It's meetings to get the word out because no one knows you and so many founders like Rob, I'm just looking for an early client. I'll take anything and I have to say why? Why take anything? And I understand as entrepreneurs and I had my business, we made this mistake.
00:02:24:00 - 00:02:44:01
Rob Napoli
We needed money, we needed to keep the business going. And what we tend to do is we tend to take whatever contracts come our way and we're willing to negotiate on price. And most new companies come to the market and they want to undercut everyone's like, Hey, we'll be the cheapest in the market, but you don’t want to be the cheapest on the market for a long time right.
00:02:44:01 - 00:03:19:00
Rob Napoli
So what tends to happen is we go make deals based on price and price along just to get that client. And what ends up happening is clients that buy on pricing will be the worst client you have. They're going to take more from you mentally, emotionally, physically than what they're paying. And as a new business owner, as an entrepreneur, are really scaling it to this market or, you know, if you're coming over from another country to the U.S. or you're already here and building up, the most powerful thing that you can do is choosing your customers.
00:03:19:17 - 00:03:48:06
Rob Napoli
Right? It's having the power to say no when customers are going to buy only on price, they're going to be the worst ones. And granted, you need to make money. There's got to be money coming in. Sometimes you have to take what you have to take, but I'd still challenge you on that because if you take on a client like that, it's going to suffocate you away from closing bigger, better clients that are willing to pay for value, that are good clients that are working with you.
00:03:49:05 - 00:04:21:23
Rob Napoli
And so sometimes as scary as it may be, as a business owner, we need to say no, before we say yes. We need to be the ones to pick who we work with. And that's scary when your business is reliant on revenue coming in. But if you can make that change early and you can really take that mindset from the very beginning, understanding what you're trying to build, understanding the mission of the company, understanding the vision and values that you have.
00:04:23:04 - 00:04:46:12
Rob Napoli
Go find customers that are willing to pay what you're worth, willing to pay for your product or service, because those clients will work with you. They'll believe in you, and they will offer you, and they will continue to help make you better by showing you where there's bugs, where there's issue, and what could be improved. And they're going to be collaborative.
00:04:46:12 - 00:05:18:15
Rob Napoli
So for all those early entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs out there, a lesson we can take from sales is say no. Be okay with saying I'll be okay with turning down clients because they're not willing to pay you. Well, you know what? I've made this mistake personally where I've charged a lot less just to get a client in the door. And that being such a pain that we lost out on other deals because we couldn't manage our time.
00:05:18:15 - 00:05:39:20
Rob Napoli
So I wanted to just share that with you all today, that it is okay to say no as an entrepreneur, it is okay to say no. And it's a scary thing to say no, especially when you don't have a lot of business coming in or you're early. So know how to say no. So set great expectations upfront.
00:05:39:20 - 00:06:06:02
Rob Napoli
If you're coming to the US or you're starting a business, understand that it's going to take time to get investment. You don't get investors in a month or weeks. It takes months, plural, right? 6 to 9 months. Just like your sales cycle. 6 to 9 months. So understand when you're coming into the market, you're launching a new company and new products as entrepreneur that you need to understand how long it's going to take from first touchpoint to closing a sale.
00:06:06:02 - 00:06:28:17
Rob Napoli
And you can look at competition. There's plenty of competition in the market to understand the sales cycle. So be realistic about what time it's going to take to close deals. Be realistic about what time it's going to take to go get funding and then be real with yourself and be okay saying no, be okay. I'm the one to have that power.
00:06:28:22 - 00:06:50:05
Rob Napoli
And when you do that as an entrepreneur, I promise you it will help you grow and scale much faster by not taking on bad clients. And if you have bad clients on your books, know when it's okay to fire your clients. It's okay to say, Hey, this isn't working out. Here's what I'll do to finish up the integration.
00:06:50:05 - 00:07:07:11
Rob Napoli
Here's what I'll do to finish up support and dropping clients. It's okay to fire clients as well. It needs to be a two way relationship, right? You're there to serve them and you have to have that high level of service. But they also have to work with you, right? It's got to be kind of a two way street.
00:07:07:11 - 00:07:39:05
Rob Napoli
I think those expectations need to be set up on the front end because you need your team running at 100% and you need to be able to focus on having great clients, driving good business and driving good growth. So the message as we head into the final month of the year and what tends to happen in this kind of sprint from Thanksgiving to Christmas, is everyone's trying to cut deals, everyone's trying to close as many deals as possible, get things rolling before the end of the year, before everyone goes on vacation.
00:07:40:12 - 00:08:04:00
Rob Napoli
And it's a time when we can make mistakes, taking on too much and not being ready in January. So be okay. Say no, make the most of these next three weeks, right? Usually about December 15th, December 20th, people start to really shut down. No decisions are being made between December 20th to the end of the year. So take advantage of them.
00:08:04:23 - 00:08:28:09
Rob Napoli
But don't be caught into the allure of cutting as many deals as possible. Make sure that you still go get good clients. You still know when to say no and drive the rest of the year strong. Being an entrepreneur is tough. Starting a business is hard, but you need to be confident in yourself, drive for the year and know your worth in the market.
00:08:29:21 - 00:08:50:20
Rob Napoli
And is it for me and this episode this week as we head into December, if there's things you topics to cover, let me know, robertriseupcoaching.co. You know how to get a hold of me, robnapoli.com All my information is there. DM me on Instagram, all the things. Let me know what you're missing, what we want to cover, what you want to hear more of.
00:08:50:20 - 00:09:15:16
Rob Napoli
You know, good people that should be on the pod. I'm kind of booked through early next year, but excited to talk to great entrepreneurs. Doing amazing things. Would love to also talk to some really cool entrepreneurs that are in some of these emerging spaces that are really focusing on big issues like sustainability challenges and climate tech and decarbonization and, you know, the metaverse, AI, web3
00:09:15:16 - 00:09:34:24
Rob Napoli
So these are really cool things that are happening and kind of dig in to what are challenges faced when building a business in some of these emerging tech, when we still don't quite know what's happening in the market, still trying to figure out what it's about. So if you've got good people, let me know. Otherwise appreciate you tuning in, do me a huge favor.
00:09:34:24 - 00:09:53:12
Rob Napoli
Make sure you subscribe. If you want to be a tier one, make sure you unsubscribe. Resubscribe Leave a review. Help make us trending. I was just talking to him the other day. We're in the top 100 business podcast in five different countries, not in the U.S., unfortunately, but globally. They were top hundred business podcast in five different countries.
00:09:53:12 - 00:10:03:16
Rob Napoli
Would love to really keep driving that up. It's because of all that. I love to do this and I appreciate you all for tuning in. Week in and week out. Until next time, stay well and rise up.
00:10:06:00 - 00:10:15:11
Rob Napoli
Bear nation. Thanks for listening to the bare necessities of entrepreneurship. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review.