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Your startup has been plugging along without revenue for a year or so and you feel like you’ve hit a roadblock. How long do you continue on before pulling the plug? More or less than 6 Months?
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Small business owners work life balance is not always balanced, how many hours do you typically work in a week? More or less than 60?
😎 100% MORE |
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When hiring a consultant are you willing to give them full control or ask them to “own” the process you’re bringing them in to consult on?
😎 100% YES | 0% NO |
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If you have a trusted consultant for sales or marketing and have a slight difference of opinion about the next step, do you take your advice or the advice of your consultant to proceed?
😎 100% YES | 0% NO |
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If your sales were stagnant or flatlined, would you look outside your company for answers?
😎 100% YES | 0% NO |
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You can always find free sales and marketing tools online but are you going to actually use them?
😎 78% YES | 22% NO |
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Getting information in shorter bursts has been an ongoing trend in our “on-demand” life but is this true in business too? Do small business owners prefer to read quick tips or full articles?
😎 67% Quick Tips | 33% Articles |
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Do you find sales & marketing articles helpful to plan your strategy?
😎 71% YES | 29% NO |
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We recently ask this question to our email list…now we want to know from our social network. Are you more likely to manage your sales and marketing in-house or outsource it?
43% In-House | 😎 57% Outsource |
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So, you found an awesome tool to help your business! How likely are you to share that tools with fellow business owners?
😎 60% Very Likely | 40% Unlikely |
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If given the choice which would you prefer, to enter an industry that is established with “a better product/service offering” or being an innovator and establishing a brand-new selling environment?
36% Established | 😎 64% Inventor |
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Considering no one is perfect, no company can be perfect…how many chances do you give a company to correct errors or misgivings before moving on to a competitor?
12% More than 3 Chances | 😎 88% Less than 3 Chances |
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In the absence of a CFO, most entrepreneurs look to their accountant to advise them on financial issues. Is this a good idea or should you have a CFO type adviser?
25% Accountant | 😎 75% CFO |
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Emoji’s are everywhere, but how often do you use them in your business communications (i.e. email marketing, social media posts, etc.)? All the time or Not too often?
22% All the Time | 😎 78% Not to Often |
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Exit strategies are talked about quite often, but how important are they to small business owners in startup mode? Don’t go far without it or It can wait until you’re established?
😎 66% Start with One | 33% Wait until Established |
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Podcast or Blog? If you could only do one, which would be the ideal vehicle for you to reach your audience?
😎 Podcast |
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Do titles matter? Calling yourself a founder, owner, CEO, or president can make an impact to your way of thinking, but does it impact how your customers see you?
😎 NO |
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Cutting operations costs can be a way to increase profits, would you rather decrease costs or increase sales?
😎 INCREASE SALES |
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Burn out is a real thing in the working word, even more so in small business. Can you really make sure you have work/life balance when you run a small business?
😎 NO - WORK LIFE BALANCE |
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Would it make more sense to you to have 1% of a $1 Billion industry or 25% of a $40 Million industry? Small piece of a large pie or large piece of a small pie, which makes life easier?
😎 LARGER PIECE - SMALLER PIE |
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Naming a company can be really tough and if you have partners, even more difficult to agree on one.
Is the name of the company the most important issue at the start? 😎 No! |
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Sales enablement is a new buzz word…but how important is it really?
😎 Not so much! |
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Marketing is tough but needed, would you rather be marketed to via email or social media?
40% Email | 😎 60% Social Media |
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Do you think in this economic environment that small businesses are better off or worse off than they were 10 years ago?
35% Better | 😎 65% Worse |
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Does the daily economic reports or markets impact your day to day business decisions?
23% Yes | 😎 77% No? |
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Regarding funding…is it still OK to bootstrap, or should you be looking for help immediately (Angel Investors, VC’s, or Loans)?
😎 75% Bootstrap | 25% Funding Sources? |
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There are a lot of areas that draw your attention when starting a company, but should your first focus be on operations (HR, product development, customer service, etc.) or Sales & Marketing?
20% Operations | 😎 80% Sales & Marketing |
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How are you feeling about the current economic climate?
46% Positive | 😎 54% Negative |
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You started a business and have come to grips with the fact that you failed, you close your business…what would be the likelihood of you trying again?
😎 77% Highly Likely | 23% Highly Unlikely? |
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Hiring your first employee can be very exciting but it can be high risk as well. How vital is it for this hire to be successful?
😎 83% Very Important | 17% Not So Much |
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You start a company, put in a TON of hours…it’s your baby. How long do you “give it your best”
before deciding to give it up and move on? 33% Less than 5 years? | 😎 67% Greater than 5 years? |
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You found that you’re not really that good at the sales function of your new start-up…Can you still run a successful company?
😎 59% Yes | 41% NO |
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How important is a business plan as the first stage of starting a business?
27% Very Important? |😎 73% Not so much |
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The choosing of what type of business to start can be vital to its success
😎 77% Love What You Do | 23% Well Trained in Your Field |
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Family can be very helpful at times when in the early stages of a start-up…but would you or should you hire them as an employee?
20% YES | 😎 80% No |
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If starting a small business in the near future, would you go it alone or with a partner?
😎 52% Alone | 48% Partner |
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Multiple revenue streams are important to small businesses but how many should there be? More than 5 or less than 5?
😎 58% Less than 8 | 42% More then 8 |
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How many times do contact a prospect before giving up one them? Less than 8 or Greater that 8 Times?
😎 58% Less than 8 | 42% More then 8 |
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Buying habits seem to trend in business but do they change at home…Do you change the way you purchase things at home versus business?
😎 60% Yes | 40% No |
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Email Marketing: Is once a week too frequent to send to your email list?
43% Yes | 😎 57% No |
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Both are expected to have a positive ROI but, what do you feel has a higher cost associated to it…Sales or Marketing?
😎 Sales - 60% | Marketing 40% |
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If we all agree that Marketing is important, if not vital…then do you currently measure your marketing efforts?
😎 Yes 67% | No 33% |
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What would work better for you…a commission structure that is mission based or target (quota) based?
😎 67% Mission | 33% Quota |
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Would the thought of making tons of money motivate you to start your own company? YES or NO
😎 83% YES | 17% NO |
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Which influences your buying process more…sales (a sales person) or marketing (ads, social media posts, or other marketing activities)?
😎 50% Sales | 😎 50% Marketing |
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How long is your sales cycle…start to finish (From identifying the prospect to close)? Less than 3 months or More than 3 months.
😎 < 83% | > 17% |
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Do you wait for the perfect sales strategy before launching your business?
😎 67% - No | 33% - Yes |
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You're a start-up and need to decide which to spend money on first?
😎 66% Marketing | 34% Sales |
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Who owns Lead Generation, the Sales or Marketing Department?
😎 92 % Marketing | 8% Sales |
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