In business and life, you’ve got to MSU!
But what the heck is MSU?
Is that the thing in Asian foods that can make you feel bloated? Is it some new technology or business practice you need to know about?
MSU is one of my favorite acronyms and one where the actual words always seems to surprise people: Making Stuff Up! I realized some time past that no matter who’s the “Expert” on something, they’ve always and will always MSU.
Here’s what I mean: if you’re first starting out in your field, heck even life, you’re not great at anything, even if you have talent. What’s more, you may read about how others became great at that thing, but what recommendations or “Best Practices” you read about are still not specific to you and what you’re pursuing. You have to experiment, even with Best Practices.
Bill Gates wasn’t a great businessman when he was a teenager. He had to practice it, even if he read the various books on how to be successful in business from the likes of Henry Ford, Jack Welch or Warren Buffett. All of those businessmen had or have pearls of wisdom to depart, but Bill still had to figure out how to apply those ideas to the software business and the market he was trying to develop in his post-high-school days.
This past week reminded me of this idea. What’s the best sales channel? How can I get the attention of our prospects?
There are so many books and recommendations that tell you “how it’s done.” In fact, I’ve read many recommendations on different sales channels to try and how to approach them. None of them should be treated as formulas that you plug in your values and get results. Every idea requires tweaking for your scenario, industry…heck even year in business and region. What’s more, you have to be willing to tweak without getting utterly frustrated.
In today’s video, I give an example of how I applied and experimented with one sales channel and what specific and general lessons I gained from it.