You might have noticed that it takes longer to get deals done in today’s economy. What took 6 weeks is taking 12 to 16 weeks; what took 3 months is now taking 9 months if not a year. There are many reasons for it, but the reality is that to get deals done, you have sell across three domains.

Today, you need product value propositions, mindset value propositions and economic value propositions. Missing out one of them will double up on the time it usually takes you to do your deals.

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Beware who you tie your fortunes to – they may inspire your start and hinder your end.

Why and how you start your business is deeply personal and specific to your circumstances and opportunities at that time. There are many right ways which often turn out to be wrong ways simply because plans seldom work out. Just start. But, always do so with the end in mind.

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We received a long email from a listener who is considering going into his parent’s business. He has a career in a different industry but has worked in the family business before. His folks have an option to get external professional management into it, but they are reluctant because it’s part of the family heritage.

Pavlo Phitidis announced the launch of Aurik Capital, a S12J Fund to back the growth of established businesses with annual revenues between R15m to R150m.

Pricing sensitivity has driven innovation for years. Because the economy is a massive, complex ecosystem, everything in it is linked and poor growth drives pricing pressures on us all. Yet, the fundamentals of pricing are static. How then do you deal with pricing in this economy when you face the challenges stated in the message below?

This is a Twitter message from a listener “The pricing game is emotional…Suppliers raise prices and you are forced to decide:
1. Do you segment and risk alienating the very people you want to be serving or,
2. Run at a loss until economies of scale kick-in and you can negotiate better bulk cost price. HELP”

We hear the expression used so often by business people, advisors and consultants and in the media; “I want to get to the next level”, “this will get you to the next level” and so it goes. Yet so few people understand what the jargon truly means and how to get there. The term deser ves a good, solid technical treatment and discussion since in it lies another jargonised expression: “scale”. This word is also a catch all for growth, business beyond you, profitability and more. Let’s tackle them both.