To a lay person, the two solutions are similar. But for a marketing/sales manager, these are two are different worlds altogether. Below is a brief..

The essential difference is the difference between a “prospect” and a “customer”.

A prospect is one who hasn’t yet taken your product/service.

Customer is one who has already taken your product/service.

Now its natural that managing these two entities would be very different.

Some of the prime differences are:

1. With a prospect, you’d require much smoother followups.

2. A prospect requires more frequent interactions.

3. The ways in which you reach a prospect is much more than how you reach a customer.

4. A professional face is extremely important to a prospect, since mostly it would be the first impression that would be defining the outcome.

A complete CRM solution, helps you work with your customers. Though converting “prospects” to “customers” needs special attention and a tailor-made solution.

A Lead Management System should help you keep a track of your leads, assign them to right people & help you follow-up at the right time and make the most of every lead you get.

In an effort to cater to this need, we at Quads have come up with a solution called Lead Simplified(www.leadsimplified.com).

Its a simple to use and neat solution, tailored for Indian Market.

Well.. Every business knows that prospects come first.

via Trends : Lead Management System vs. CRM.

Guys, we need to achieve whats never been done.

Have you ever had your boss tell your team these words? Most Probably sometime in your career you have..

What does the team think when they see their manager deliver this speech?

The team looks at the manager and thinks,

Is he himself part of this delivering process?

How much of an effort is he going to put into this?

What happens to him if it is done?

What happens if we don’t achieve it?

Then comes the question.. whats in it for me?

Most of the time today’s managers faulter, and try to answer the last question first.

This is the outcome:

Over the ages, this has been an efficient means of motivating a team. A team needs a common goal. This makes the individual differences look small and the bonding begins. A common goal is extremely important.

By making a common goal look individual, the manager not only cuts down the efficiency of that person, he cuts down the efficiency of the team as well.

One should put himself first and take my word, the team would follow. Thats the inherent nature of a team.

That I would say is the difference between a manager and a leader.

Great advice by Guy Kawasaki..

Ten points for VC presentation..

# Problem

# Your solution

# Business model

# Underlying magic/technology

# Marketing and sales

# Competition

# Team

# Projections and milestones

# Status and timeline

# Summary and call to action

via How to Change the World: The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.

Teams & Leaders

We’ve always heard about teams and leaders. Always wonder what is the relation.

Can a team not succeed if it does not have a leader?

Why do we always speak about one leader for a team?

These are questions that have been answered multiple times in the past and the answers keep varying every 5 to 10 years. The time and age that we are right now, the conventional leadership model of the past, where one person takes care of all the decisions, would not be effective.

The age is about having multiple leaders in a team at different levels playing different roles. In the experiences I’ve had personally as well as looking at the successful teams in the current scenario, it shows that teams which have multiple leaders are succeeding better than a single person led team.

The age is about identifying the right person and giving autonomy for the particular division.

The challenge here identifying the right person. Good teams/corporates groom such people.

The major challenge though is the autonomy part which many are not comfortable. Even the large corporates struggle with this part of the problem. I believe its a mindset, a mental set up, for the organization. Its about clear definition of roles.

Future teams would be following this model, like professional football teams, where you’d have leaders at different levels with specific responsibilities and they’d have a co-ordinator/manager to take care of the convergence.

One would wonder why the title reads competition “vs” collaboration. Let me try and explain. The fact is that competition is inevitable. There would always be competition in any field.

Competition vs. Collaboration

Then why does the word collaboration feature in the title? Well.. the nature and the fierceness of the competition changes with time. Right now, the time is to take competition to the next level. In clear terms, collaboration with right brands, right partners, keeps you ahead of competition. The current age is not about remaining individual and trying to do everything by oneself. It is about finding the right people, right brand which helps you fill gaps in your organization. There are quite a few real world examples in contemporary world where collaboration has helped smaller companies challenge even bigger ones on their territory.

As a small company, a startup that Quads is right now, we look to collaborate with likeminded people, companies which can add value and fill gaps for our organization. This has certainly helped us in getting an edge over similar companies, and we’re looking at extending the similar approach in future days to come as well.

The way I see it, both problems and solutions have lot of things in common. They are both similar. Hence they should be treated in the same way (which rarely is the case). Let me demonstrate..

Problems & Solutions

How do we face a problem?
1. We think about the problem. Think long and hard. Try to identify the possible solutions.
2. We share the problems and our proposed variations with others. This lets you believe that you’re only human and there are things beyond you.
3. We finally get to a solution and aha! there you are.

In actuality, it doesn’t/shouldn’t end there. Why.. please follow:

How should we face a solution?
4. We should think hard about the solution. Think long and hard. Try to identify possible problems with the solution.
5. We should share the solution and discuss the drawbacks with people. Again proving that there are things external to you.
6. Try to make a list of problems.

Now for each problem repeat step 1 to 3. and for each solution repeat step 4 to 6.

For the perfectionists, don’t take it to the last possible permutation and combination. Please keep the iterations to a limited number depending on the constraints of time and priority.

After all this effort, what you get is a refined, well-thought solution (with probably a list of problems attached).

What you know is a solution and its limitations.

Now ask any expert. Thats priceless. Thank you.

Check out these information about LeadSimplified, the new way to stay connected to your customers.