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Engineering Business, Case By Case

I’m an engineer, by background, so at the core I’m inspired by helping people build new things. Even though I now work primarily with large bankers I still haven’t given up my engineering mindset.

Working with large investors and vendors of technology I’ve seen up close how they analyze new technologies hoping to break into the enterprise system as new vendors or as business opportunities.

The hard truth is that 99% of vendor spend by these companies is going to enterprise providers who are already in the system!
 
It’s much easier and less risky to renew a five year contract than it is to take a chance on an unproven newcomer.

However, this created a situation where less new technologies were being developed, and that’s where I came in as a business analyst.

I worked as a go between for new technologies and CTOs. I work with both sides to showcase technologies and the business cases behind them. The hope is to give more start ups a chance and to improve the standard of technology across the board.

As a close observer of this process, here’s the best advice I can offer to small businesses and new companies working to break in.

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Pitfalls To Avoid When Starting Out

One of the attributes I need to test for with young companies is to see if they are on the right track, and if their development process is working towards a product that’s going to be a fit with enterprise businesses.

A critical component here is what their advisory board looks like and if they are venture backed or not. These board members should have strong relationships already in place in the enterprise world.

If you’re not venture backed then you need to be on the look for these individuals within the technology network you’re a part of.
 
For example, if you are focusing on Health Care then you want the makeup of your advisory board to have enough expertise and relationship capital to get you those key meetings as your product develops. This needs to be done early on so the track record has had time to grow.
 

Don’t Try To Sell Too Early

A lot of companies want to jump into a sales cycle as early as possible. I strongly caution against this – don’t try to mimic the large vendors!

What typically happens here is that companies will spend hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, of their capital into recruiting seasoned sales people from places like Cisco or IBM.

These folks actually have no idea how to make sales for small start ups! They’re used to the style and treatment big vendors have already earned. This can mess up everything from your cash flow to your marketability.
 

Strategizing For A Quick Win

Before you go and build a demo, it helps to do some thought experiment style strategizing on what’s going on within your target enterprises. This is why you need board members on your side who can lend their expertise.

If there’s leadership within an enterprise that’s trying to make a dramatic change, then they’re looking for immediate quick wins. They’re looking at the next quarter, not the next five years.
 
If you’re going to come in with a demo or test solution for them, then figuring out how you can make them look good before their next internal review is going to go a long way. Again, this is where relationships come into play.

It’s imperative that your point of contact with the company has the ability to say yes and sign the check. If not you need to get those relationships in place first.

Once that’s taken care of, build the demo that will give this person the success they’re looking for and you’ll be on your way.

Action Steps

1. Build an advisory board of experts with experience in your target segments of the enterprise world.
2. Don’t waste funds on hiring salespeople who don’t understand small start up sales.
3. Leverage your relationships to understand the biggest problems facing your target enterprise customers.
4. Produce a demo that solves one of their biggest immediate challenges and produces a big win for them.
5. Ensure your contacts have the power to sign off financially.

Result You Will Achieve

Insight into the business practices of enterprises and how to position yourself to join their system as a startup company.

<img src="https://entrepreneurshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/LSS-Manoj-Govindan.jpg">

Mentor: Manoj Govindan

VP – Corporate Development of Levvel IO. Manoj has helped 100s of young VC-backed tech startups navigate and scale enterprise.

 
This article is based on an EHQ interview with the mentor.
 
 

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A £1.6bn government fund has been launched to boost less well-off towns in England after Brexit.

The pot is split into £1bn, divided in England using a needs-based formula, and £600m communities can bid for.

More than half of the money, to be spread over seven years, will go to the north of England and the Midlands.

Labour called it a bribe to influence MPs to back the PM's Brexit deal and critics say it does not cover cuts to local authority funding.

The Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government said there will be additional announcements "in due course" for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In January, MPs rejected the withdrawal deal Theresa May has reached with the EU by 230 votes - the biggest defeat for a sitting government in history.

To win another vote, which Mrs May has promised will be on or before 12 March, she could find herself relying on the votes of Labour MPs from Leave-voting parts of the country.

John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw, a former coal mining area in Nottinghamshire, told the PM last month to "show us the money" with "transformative investment" in areas that voted to leave.

The Labour MP, who backed Mrs May's Brexit deal at the first vote, denied it amounted to "transactional politics".

But John McDonnell, Labour's shadow chancellor, said the fund "smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation".

The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said the money will be targeted on coastal communities, market towns, and de-industrialised towns, which meets the demands of some Labour MPs, who say regeneration funding tends to go to big cities.

The funding will go to specific projects like a new university campus or railway station, our correspondent added.

'Drop in the ocean'

Dismissing the claim that the funding aimed to entice Labour MPs, Housing and Communities Secretary James Brokenshire insisted the cash would be made available even if the withdrawal agreement was rejected and denied the funding was a bribe.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This funding is there regardless of the outcome, but obviously we want to see a deal happening, we believe that is what is in the best interests of our country."

He said the money would "supplement the work of councils" and could be "transformative" and was there "to see that towns grow".

However, Labour MP Alex Sobel, of the cross-party People's Vote campaign, which wants a new referendum on Brexit, said it was "a drop in the ocean" compared with the cost of leaving the EU.

He said the annual loss to local economies would be more than enough to wipe out any potential return from this scheme.

Labour's Ruth Smeeth, the MP for Leave-supporting Stoke-on-Trent, described the amount of money as "extraordinarily pathetic".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour programme, she said: "If you're talking about national renewal, this is less money than is being taken out of my economy by the introduction of [new welfare system] universal credit over the next four years."

Labour and Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Gareth Snell said the announcement was a "huge disappointment", tweeting: "The entire allocation for the West Midlands over four years is less than the total value of cuts faced by Stoke-on-Trent City Council alone over the same period."

Anna Turley, Labour MP for Redcar, has described the funding as "a shameless little bung."

She told BBC Radio 5 Live that £90m had been lost from her local council over nine years of austerity and the money was "bobbins" and was "shameless and embarrassing".

And Labour's Rhondda MP Chris Bryant tweeted: "And not a penny for Wales. The trouble with bribes is they embody injustice."

But the prime minister insisted: "Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change - that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control.

"These towns have a glorious heritage, huge potential and, with the right help, a bright future ahead of them."

She said prosperity had been "unfairly spread" for "too long".

Analysis: Is May buying votes?

By BBC political correspondent Iain Watson

A month ago John Mann - who voted to leave the EU - told the BBC there was a "good dialogue" going on with the government.

And he was hopeful Mrs May would come back with "something significant" for his, and other, areas outside London.

He and a group of Labour MPs from Leave areas were demanding the protection of employment rights after Brexit - and assurances poorer areas wouldn't lose out when EU regional funding ended.

The cash on offer from the government is equivalent to less than 2% of English local authority spending.

Theresa May says she is simply making good a promise she made in her first speech as prime minister to help "ordinary working class families".

But the Labour leadership see this as a "bribe" to tempt some of their own MPs to break ranks and back Mrs May's deal.

The former Conservative, now Independent, MP Anna Soubry claims it's an attempt to buy votes.

But the government insists the true beneficiaries will be residents of coastal and industrial communities who feel left behind.

The £1.6bn Stronger Towns Fund will be broken down into £600m, which communities in any part of England can bid for, and £1bn allocated using a needs-based formula to the following areas:

• North-west England: £281m

• North-east England: £105m

• Yorkshire and the Humber: £197m

• West Midlands: £212m

• East Midlands: £110m

• South-west England: £33m

• South-east England: £37m

• East England: £25m

"The formula allocations are based on a combination of productivity, income, skills, deprivation metrics and proportion of the population living in towns," a department spokesperson said.

"This targets funding at those places with economies that are performing relatively less well to the England average."

London is not included in the list, but towns within Greater London can bid for a share of the £600m pot, the department spokesperson added.

The government said communities would be able to draw up job-boosting plans for their town, with the support and advice of their Local Enterprise Partnerships.

It added that it would also seek to ensure towns in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would benefit from the new funding.

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“And suddenly you know… It’s time to try something new and trust new beginnings.” - Meister Ekhart #happymonday #dosomethingnew #newbeginnings

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The UK will not lower food standards to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, the government says.

It comes after Washington published its objectives for a US-UK trade pact.

The US wants "comprehensive market access" for its farmers' products that would see more US-made food on British supermarket shelves.

European Union rules currently limit US exports of certain food products, including chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-boosted beef.

If free of EU trade rules, the US want the UK to remove such so-called "sanitary and physiosanitary" standards on imported goods.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "We have always been very clear that we will not lower our food standards as part of a future trading agreement."

• What trade deals has the UK done so far?
• US firms seek changes to UK beef standards

America's National Farmers Union has always maintained that its chicken and beef, which uses processes banned by the EU, is "perfectly safe" and argues there has been a lot of "fear-mongering".

However, its British counterpart, the National Farmers Union, said the UK government should not accept an American deal "which allows food to be imported into this country produced in ways which would be illegal here".

Amy Mount from Greener UK, an environmental lobby group, said: "This wish-list shows that a hard-Brexit pivot away from the EU in favour of the US would mean pressure to scrap important protections for our environment and food quality.

"Any future trade deals should reflect the high standards that the UK public both wants and expects."

Currency controversy

The 18-page negotiating stance from Washington also demands that the pound should not be "manipulated" to improve trade income or make UK products cheaper in the US.

US President Donald Trump has previously been outspoken about China "unfairly" using its currency to improve its trade balance - arguing that it keeps the yuan artificially low to make its goods cheaper to sell abroad.

His team has included similar demands in its trade negotiations with Japan.

Another demand from President Trump's negotiators is for the NHS to not "discriminate" against US pharmaceuticals and medical devices when purchasing goods and services.

The negotiating objectives, published by the office of US trade representative Robert Lighthizer, are only an initial move in what may be lengthy negotiations between Washington and London.

The US-UK trade relationship is currently worth £173bn annually.

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Branded content can engage your biggest fans, but you'll have to rethink what storytelling means now.

March 1, 2019 5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Taco Bell recently relaunched its nacho fries with a cosmic bang. In its third faux movie trailer, the fast food chain parodies a sci-fi epic -- think “Interstellar” or “Arrival” -- to show the world that its menu is expanding rather than contracting. This one, called “Retrieval,” features actor James Marsden, whose road to stardom began in a “Saved by the Bell” spinoff (which seems fitting), and it has fans on social media demanding the release of a feature film.

CMO Marisa Thalberg says that the expectations around the campaign have perhaps been just as great as those around the product, which is any marketer’s dream. So, where are these great expectations coming from? How did Taco Bell build such a buzz?

Well, in the world of fast food, Taco Bell’s nacho fries might be good. They might be really good. That’s for you to decide. But in the world of marketing, Taco Bell’s storytelling is undeniably superb.

A great commercial -- in fact, any great piece of branded content -- can engage your audience and inspire viewers to action. Well-done branded content will build or strengthen loyalty to your brand. But to accomplish any of this, it must provide a compelling story. As large as the American appetite for T-Bell’s nacho fries might be, it’s tiny compared to the human appetite for great stories. Always seeking stories that resonate, we are obsessed with creating and consuming content in countless forms.

Related: How Brand Storytelling Is the Missing Link to Building a Loyal Community of Followers

It’s not easy for a brand to get noticed amidst the flashy videos and photos endlessly cascading down our news feeds or being projected from our tablets, televisions and mobile devices, but it can be done. If your storytelling isn’t compelling, however, you might as well be shouting into the void.

If you’re a marketer or entrepreneur hoping to tell a better story through branded content, here are three tips from people and brands that have done it before.

1. Find the right spokesfolks.

Consumers are more likely to pay attention to your story if it’s coming from a source they trust. Consider Airbnb’s “Airbnb Magazine,” a travel magazine for the sharing economy, published by the hospitality disruptor in partnership with Hearst.

Unlike most travel magazines, this one highlights real people. Its contributors include top columnists and authors who are experts in their fields. As the magazine continues to circulate, Airbnb fulfills its mission of connecting people who love to travel while adding credibility to its message.

Similarly, Uber partners with local experts in its operating cities to publish its city guides. These local blogs offer relevant stories from Uber’s corporate offices, as well as news and things to do in the area. Its Once Upon a Ride section features real rider stories, including one in which a couple met in an UberPool and later got engaged.

Publishing your own content can be extremely beneficial. Just make sure you get the right voices -- whether experts or normal folks -- to contribute.

Related: Branded Content vs Developing Content for Brands - What’s the Difference?

2. Give the people a hero.

The most memorable stories always involve a relatable, heroic character of some kind. Hope Horner, CEO and founder of video production company Lemonlight, points to Intuit’s recent campaign as an example of how storytelling can transform a brand’s image. The financial software company has been around for more than 30 years but had never run an ad campaign until 2018. Last year, it decided to invest in a massive effort that included a Super Bowl ad, as well as longer-form video content published on YouTube and Facebook. Its videos centered on the story of a surprisingly relatable giant robot -- brought to life in Pixar-like fashion -- which represented its various products.

Within days, the campaign had been viewed 16.8 million times. It ultimately lifted brand awareness and favorability significantly among consumers. “Storytelling personifies a brand better than any other tactic,” says Horner. “When audience members relate to a story on a personal level, they remember the brand behind it -- and when it comes time to purchase, they give that brand the first shot at their business.”

Related: Win More Business by Copying Nike's Storytelling Playbook

3. Let audience members choose their own adventure.

In the consumer world, we’re seeing companies like Netflix experiment with innovative storytelling approaches. The content giant’s release of “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” -- which allows viewers to select their own narrative path -- made headlines for weeks, and it definitely got some marketing junkies more than a little excited. Interactive content can certainly help brands get noticed, too, especially those trying to reach niche audiences.

Related: How to Use Storytelling to Sell Your Brand and Vision

Interactive video gets pretty expensive but if your budget is smaller, there are still innovative ways you can incorporate video content into your marketing. Take, for example, the “Tax Spa” videos from Geico and Vice. The two companies partnered just in time for tax season to enlighten viewers struggling with their taxes and, in an immersive twist that almost feels interactive, to help them relax at the same time. The campaign was an unprecedented success, with viewers, on average, watching at least 83 percent of all four videos.

The ability to tell a compelling story is a competitive advantage for any brand. Capturing consumer attention is only going to get more challenging. Companies that want to grow or maintain market share, regardless of what industry they’re in, will find that great storytelling is an essential ingredient of their branded content.

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Some car buyers are being overcharged by more than £1,000 when they take out a loan to buy a car, the UK's financial watchdog has warned.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the industry practice of allowing dealers to set their own interest rates was costing consumers £300m a year.

Dealers overcharge to boost their commission, the FCA concluded.

But the Finance and Leasing Association said the watchdog's survey was "based largely on out-of-date information".

Conflicts of interest

The regulator launched its investigation into the car finance market in April 2017 after there was a rapid surge in consumer credit led by car dealership finance.

At the time, it said it was concerned about a lack of transparency and potential conflicts of interest.

In its final findings on motor finance, the FCA concluded that the widespread use of commission models, which allow brokers discretion to set the customer's interest rate and thus earn higher commission, can lead to conflicts of interest that are not controlled adequately by lenders.

It said the practice can lead to customers paying significantly more for their motor finance.

Jonathan Davidson of the FCA said: "We found that some motor dealers are overcharging unsuspecting customers over a thousand pounds in interest charges in order to obtain bigger commission payouts for themselves.

"We also have concerns that firms may be failing to meet their existing obligations in relation to pre-contract disclosure and explanations, and affordability assessments.

"This is simply not good enough and we expect firms to review their operations to address our concerns."

Problem finance?

Four-fifths of new car finance deals are now what are known as Personal Contract Purchase, or PCP.

Instead of buying a car outright, a PCP allows consumers to rent a car over a three or four-year period.

At the end of the period consumers can buy the car for its residual value (known as a "balloon" payment), hand the car back, or roll over the residual value into a new PCP on a new vehicle.

But problems have arisen because lenders have allowed brokers to set interest rates on the PCP agreements.

The FCA estimated that on a typical motor finance agreement of £10,000, higher broker commission can result in the customer paying around £1,100 more in interest charges over a four-year term of an agreement.

'Considerable progress'

The FCA said it was assessing the options for intervening in the market.

Options include strengthening existing rules or other steps such as banning certain types of commission model or limiting broker discretion.

In the meantime, the regulator said it would deal with individual firms where problems were identified, but it expects all lenders and brokers to review the way they do business to make sure they comply with the law and treat customers fairly.

The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), a UK trade body for asset finance, consumer finance and motor finance, said that the FCA's survey work was "based largely on out-of-date information, and therefore does not reflect the very considerable progress the market has already made in moving away from such structures".

The FCA analysed contracts between lenders and dealers from 2013 to 2016 and examined lenders' data from January 2017 to July 2018.

The FLA added: "We look forward to working with the FCA as it modernises its regulations in line with market best practice."

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Referrals aren't favors-- no need to be embarrassed! @referralsales explains how to ask for a #referral from your network: https://clik.site/referrals-jb/

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It doesn’t matter what industry your business operates, social media marketing is the perfect way to connect your business directly to consumers. At Adodo Consultancy Services Limited we are experts in helping businesses like yours connect. Set up a free consultation at https://adodo.co.uk #socialmediamarketing #socialmedia