The 9 Best Real-World Strategies Every Entrepreneur Should Know

I sometimes troll popular business websites.
Don’t ask me why I do it to myself. It drives me
nuts to see all the mind-numbingly generic fluff
that passes for business advice these days.
It’s as if some evil genius sat down at the
drawing board and said, “How do I get half the
population to think they’re experts and the other
half to read everything they write?” So he made
cheap computers, smartphones, Web 2.0,
WordPress, blogs and social media. Voila. Here
we are.
Let's try something different. Let me show you
what real-world business strategies look like. You
know, ideas that get you thinking in new ways
that actually help you differentiate and beat the
competition. That’s right: if you want to be
successful you have to think. You have to
differentiate. And you have to beat the
competition.
Now let’s get down to business.
Create a cult-like culture of religious zealots.
Letting people bring dogs to the office is not a
corporate culture. Neither is a waterslide on the
premises or Friday beer blasts. The Green Bay
Packers. Harley-Davidson. Apple. Trader Joe’s.
Zappos. They’re all like religious cults. Getting
your people to believe they can accomplish
something insanely great and create an amazing
customer experience, that’s corporate culture.
Study what works and doesn’t work. We learn
from experience. We also learn from the
experience of others. That’s how all successful
executives and business leaders got that way. If
you have to read anything, read about real
successes and failures in the real business
world. Try Organizing Genius by Warren Bennis
or Business Adventures by John Brooks. It’s
Warren Buffett’s and Bill Gates’s favorite
business book for a reason.
Related: Learning to Adapt Is the Key to Success
Go where your competitors aren’t. How did
China-based Huawei take 7% market share from
Samsung in the hypercompetitive smartphone
market? By focusing on Africa, Latin America and
the Middle East. Apple in retail. Amazon, eBay and
Alibaba online. The Uber app. They all used new
sales channels or existing ones in innovative
ways.
Plan for success and develop competitive
barriers. Come up with a plan, put all you’ve got
behind it, then figure out what can go wrong,
including coming up with a strategy to keep bigger
and better funded competitors from beating you at
your own game. If you’re successful, that’s
exactly what will happen. If you’re not, it doesn’t
really matter, now does it? That’s why you
always plan for success.
Create a larger-than-life buzz. There once was a
startup that made microprocessors. Yawn. Then
they painted a bulls-eye on industry giant Intel.
They actually had a tombstone in the lobby with
“RIP” beneath the trademark Intel Inside swirl.
Now that was news. Everyone loves a David
versus Goliath story. If you’re creative you can
generate buzz on a shoestring budget, but it does
help to deliver a competitive product.

STEVE TOBAK
MANAGING PARTNER, INVISOR
CONSULTING

Turn Prospects Into Customers With These 8 Tips

Not all of your prospects are going to pass
through your automated sales funnel and
automatically convert into customers as you
intend. Sometimes it requires a little outside
assistance to get them to bite. Here are 8 tips to
help you close more sales.
1. Set a deadline. Establish a "no communication"
deadline to remove prospects from your funnel.
Example: “We have not heard from you in 30
days. While this will be our final communication,
feel free to contact us in the future if you are in
the position to move forward.”
Related: Getting the Sale Without Being a
Sleazeball
This will often get their attention -- and if it
doesn’t then it will prevent you from wasting any
more time and energy on a dead prospect.
2. Ask a question. When you ask a question it
requires your prospect to reply. Try something
along the lines of, “It has been over a week since
we have heard from you. Have you had a chance
to go over the materials and make a decision?”
This is a good way to apply the pressure while
also opening up the dialogue to discover questions
or concerns the prospect might have.
3. Put together a FAQ section on your website.
Address questions that your prospects might
have and make it easily accessible on your
website. Talk to your sales team and customer-
service representatives to source the most
frequently-asked questions. Check out this simple
FAQ for Netflix for some inspiration.
4. Mix some icebreakers into your email
marketing. Most of your prospects are also being
marketed to by your competition, so do something
to stand out from the bland and overly
promotional emails that are flooding their inboxes.
Mix in some fun facts about your company or
your local area. This can really get the attention
of your prospects, causing them to forget about
the other options.
5. Offer incentives. Who doesn't like free stuff?
Tossing in a free gift or offering a discount is
often a great way to convert sales. It doesn’t
have to be a significant discount or something
valuable. Many people simply can’t pass on
something for free.
Related: 5 Ways to Stop Your Sales-Pitch Email
From Getting Trashed
6. Return on investment reminder. If your product
or service has the potential to increase your
prospect’s ROI, make sure you remind them. You
are basically asking, “So, when are you ready to
increase your revenue?” Reminding them that you
have a solution that is going to make them more
money will often trigger the sale.
7. Quick follow-up. Often times a simple follow-
up email or phone call asking your prospects if
they have any additional questions will get them
back into purchase mode. This is a great way to
quickly convert them into a customer before too
much time passes.
All of the leads that my company generates
through our website are immediately contacted
and we also follow up with them a couple of days
later, offering to answer any questions that they
might have.
8. Ask for the sale. Simply asking for the sale is
not groundbreaking. It’s common sense, yet
many people don't do it. Ask your prospects if
they are ready to get started and watch how
many say “yes.” They became a prospect
because of their interest in what was being
offered. If you don’t ask for the sale, your
competition will.
What other ways have you used to successfully
turn your prospects into customers? Share your
experiences in the comments section below.

JONATHAN LONG
FOUNDER AND CEO, MARKET
DOMINATION MEDIA

U.S. air marshal boarded flight to U.S. after syringe attack in Nigerian airport

An on-duty U.S. air marshal was attacked with
a syringe in Nigeria’s main airport Sunday, but
FBI officials said the syringe didn’t appear
to include deadly pathogens such as the Ebola
virus, the Associated Press reported.
The marshal boarded a United flight after the
attack in Lagos, landing in Houston and then
went to the hospital, the AP reported. A law
enforcement official told CNN that the marshal
“felt fine” during the 12-hour flight.
The FBI said in a statement that “out of an
abundance of caution” the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention conducted an on-site
screening of the marshal when he landed
Monday morning. “The victim did not exhibit
any signs of illness during the flight and was
transported to a hospital upon landing for
further testing,” the statement read. “None of
the testing conducted has indicated a danger to
other passengers.”
It’s still unclear what was in the syringe,
though. CDC’s initial testing was negative for
deadly infectious agents, including “any bad
stuff” such as Ebola, FBI spokesman Christos
Sinos told AP.
The World Health Organization
announced Tuesday that West Africa has more
than 4,000 confirmed, probable and suspected
cases of Ebola. The virus is mostly
concentrated in Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Guinea, with just 21 of those cases in
Nigeria. But officials in Nigeria are cautious
about the epidemic within their borders; this
week, the country’s health ministry announced
477 people in the oil city of Port Harcourt
are under surveillance for Ebola.
Elahe Izadi is a general assignment national
reporter for The Washington Post. She can be
reached at elahe.izadi@washpost.com and on
Twitter @ElaheIzadi.

Popular Yoruba Actress Returns To Nigeria After Competing 5- Year Jail Term For drug trafficking In Dubai

Fast-risin g Yoruba actress, Temmy who has
spent the past 5 years in a Dubai prison for
drug trafficking has been released and is back
in Nigeria. The plumpy actress who rocked
many party scenes in Lagos before she was
caught in the web of drug trafficking by Dubai
authorities came back into the country last
week.
She arrived at Murtala Muhammed
International Airport Lagos into the waiting
hands of the father of her baby girl. We have
it on good authority that Temmy and her man
will soon be walking down the aisle. As you
read this, the actress has not indicated any
intention to return to movie location to
continue her career in acting.
About 5 years ago, news filtered in from the oil
rich United Arab Emirates State of Dubai that
Temmy had been jailed for 10 years for drug
trafficking.
Nothing was heard about her until a year later
when news broke that she has been delivered
of a baby girl while in prison. Sources who
know the high flying actress confirmed to us
that shortly before her arrest in Dubai, she was
seen around with a top baron in Dubai.
Having a baby, traditionally, is a thing of joy,
but for the beautiful Nigerian actress it’s a sad
tale to have her first baby in a gas chamber
and worst of it all, far from her fatherland,
Nigeria. A source revealed, “Nigerians in Dubai
have neglected Temmy like a bad habit for fear
of arrest. All her efforts to reach her close pals
in Dubai to come to her aid shortly after she
had the baby proved abortive as friends and
business associates have all avoided her like a
plague.”
Though, Temmy initially bagged a 21-year jail
term, her condition as a pregnant woman then,
was said to have them reduce it to 10 years. It
will be recalled that when Temmy was arrested
for drugs, she was not lucky enough when the
custodians of UAE law and constitution found
her wanting aside the drug issue.
Temmy, we learnt, had police cases of stealing
and forgery inside Dubai major markets and
had been warned severally never to return to
country again. But as fate would have it, she
was said to have used another forged name
and documents to enter Dubai while she was
trafficking drugs. Left with no choice of
curbing her excesses, the UAE authorities gave
her two options.
Firstly, to be amputated on her left arm and
right leg or face 21 years imprisonment. She
however fell for the latter.
Citypeople

Tell Nigerians why you took Modu Sheriff to Chad, APC to Jonathan

ABUJA—All Progressives Congress, APC, has
accused President Goodluck Jonathan of exhibiting
a shocking act of indiscretion by hobnobbing with an
alleged Boko Haram sponsor, Ali Modu Sheriff, who
is not known to have been investigated and cleared
of the weighty allegation against him.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party wondered what
message President Jonathan was sending to his
compatriots and indeed to the international
community when he took Modu Sheriff along during
his visit to Chad Monday to confer with President
Idriss Deby on cooperation against terrorism.
‘’This action by President Jonathan confirms what
the APC has always believed: That the President
either knows more than he is willing to admit on the
issue of those who are behind the Boko Haram
insurgency or he is willing to sacrifice the battle
against terrorism on the altar of political
expediency. Either way, this action by the President
is the height of indiscretion at best, or a palpable
exhibition of callowness at worst.
‘’It also confirms our fears that Modu Sheriff was
planted as a mole in the APC by his friends in high
places, who are jittery about the birth of the party
and would do anything to destabilize it,’’ it said.
APC said the President could not pretend not to be
aware of a report sent home by Nigeria’s Defence
Adviser in Ndjamena, Chad, in 2011, detailing the
suspicious activities of Modu Sheriff in Chad
concerning alleged Boko Haram sponsorship and
asking the Federal Government to investigate him.
‘’If this is a joke, it is one joke taken too far,
especially at a time that Nigeria has been losing
territories after territories to Boko Haram; at a time
that the same Modu Sheriff has been fingered by
another source other than the Nigerian Defence
Adviser in Chad, and at a time that calls are being
made for an independent investigation into the
allegation that Modu Sheriff and former Army Chief
Azubuike Ihejirika are Boko Haram sponsors.
‘’Or could it be the case of it takes a thief to catch a
thief?’’