5 Tips To Being Taken Seriously As A Young Entrepreneur
| posted by Buhle DlaminiOne of the biggest challenges as a young
entrepreneur is not being taken seriously by the very people you are
trying to do business with. If you are going to succeed in in business
you need to learn the skills necessary command a presence and make an
impression on your prospects. Apart from the fact that you have
developed and are growing a thriving business, others who meet you or
want to do business with you don’t really know you. It is then up to
you to show up and reveal the real you.
1. Create Great First Impressions
You’ve heard it said over and over again ‘first impressions count’.
Well it’s true when I make a presentation I know that the first few
minutes are crucial. The people you want to influence use the first few
minutes to weigh you up on their scales. If you are found wanting in
those first few minutes it becomes even harder to convince them that
you can deliver successfully. So how do you create great first
impressions? Your grooming is the first hoop to jump through. Neat and
presentable is the bare minimum. But you don’t want the bare minimum,
you want to catch attention, to wow to say I am here and I want you to
know it.
So your grooming has to be great but not over bearing. You need to
look at yourself in the mirror and feel comfortable and even proud of
yourself. You need to be able to say to yourself ‘Mmmmm you good
looking thing’ then you can leave the house. Your grooming also needs
to be suitable for the occasion, no point in wearing a evening gown at
a cocktail or business presentation.
2. Be Confident and Friendly
Confidence and friendliness is worth more to your business image
than all the tea in China. The previous tip should help out with this
one, if you are well groomed you walk a little bit taller and carry
yourself confidently. But to really be confident you need more than
nice clothes, you need preparation. Confident
people are prepared people. They have answered potential questions in
their heads and they are confident of the answers. Confidence does not
mean being cocky either, that is why I have combined confidence with
friendliness. Smile and smile genuinely. If you not used to smiling
then get practising. Smiles opens doors that clever words can’t. Trust
me on this one a smile can win a deal much quicker than a cocky well
practised speech can.
3. Clarity About The Value You Bring
The third tip to being taken seriously in business is being very
clear about the value you bring to your prospects and clients. This is
your unique selling proposition, it’s what sets you apart and will make
clients to want to use you over your competition.
To get clarity about this you need to ask yourself ‘what
value do I bring to those who use my service or products’ and ‘What
difference does my business make to my clients’.
Answer this questions succinctly and clearly then you have narrowed
your value proposition. When people ask you what do you do, you need to
be able to quickly answer them in the way that excites them about your
service/product or makes them think of people who can make use of your
business. Nothing is more off putting than an entrepreneur who seems
scatter brained about the offering he has for clients.
4. Maintain Professionalism Consistently
As a young entrepreneur you are prone to just want to have fun and
monkey around sometimes. That alright as long as you keep that to
yourself and partners. No monkeying around when it comes to how you
handle business communication, business service delivery and
presentation. You should maintain a professional image in your business
dealings. From having a clear business card to keeping a professional
office it all adds up to how seriously you will be taken. Do not print
your own business cards at home with you home printer. It’s tacky, I
know, I have done it and have lost business as a result. Rather take
people’s information and email them your details as soon as possible.
Oh about that email address, try and make sure that it’s to your
business name - no 'hotspicy@yahoo.com' or 'men-eater@gmail.com'. This also
means you should look at getting a domain for your company and a
professional website asap. I think you get the point, once people have
met with you they also want to look at your website, your business card
and other communication to make a decision about your business.
5. Always Deliver On The Promise
As entrepreneurs we often get it wrong by spending a lot of time and
resources on getting the business and not enough on delivering the
goods. The only way for people to keep taking you seriously and even
giving you referrals is by giving a really good service. Make sure that
as much detail goes into the experience created for every customer and
you’ll never have issues with people not taking you seriously. So there
you are go make money and tons of it despite or inspite of your age!
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Buhle Dlamini is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Writer as well as the
Founder of Young & Able Youth Advisory Services cc, helping
individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance,
succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams. Buhle is
also a consulting Project Manager to Heartlines a values-based Mass
Media Initiative. Get Buhle’s FREE monthly Success Newsletter by
visiting his website at www.youngable.com and visit the membership motivated site at www.motivated.co.za
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