Gather input
Chen was obviously hoping to capture new customers with his plan to get into biofuel. But it never hurts to see what your existing customers think about your idea.
“What kind of customer or client do we have right now?” Chen says. “Do I have to go to a totally new client or can I just go to current existing clients and say, ‘OK, I have a new product. Are you interested?’”
Chen found that his current clients were interested and since there was already a familiarity as to how deals worked between the two entities, it would make them easy to get signed up.
When you’re explaining a potential opportunity to other people, you want to do your best to keep it simple.
“The more detail you do, then the entrepreneur is more scared to get into it,” Chen says. “After your detailed analysis, you’d probably shy away, so don’t do it.”
One of the best ways to hone your message and to make sure you have all the facts you need to support your plan is to seek out the assistance of a college or a university.
“People in the academic field, they are very interested in helping you out,” Chen says. “There are so many students, MBA students, graduate students that are anxious to collect information. It’s that link to the professor who is also looking for future funding from you, so they are more willing to share their opinion with you.”
So how does one initiate a dialogue with a professor in higher education? Just pick up the phone.
“It would be just like a salesman,” Chen says. “Sometimes, you just have to cold call and say, ‘I’m doing this project, can I have 10 or 15 minutes of your time to share with you what I’m doing?’”
Chen says there are almost no instances where he’s been turned down for help.
“You say, ‘OK, I’m doing this kind of business, and I know you are an expert in this area. Can I get some feedback from you?’” Chen says. “I haven’t really had people say, ‘No, I don’t want to share with you.’”
You’re trying to build momentum for your idea and the more backing you can collect, the better off you’ll be in trying to make your plan work.
Once you’ve collected all of the information, the ultimate decision on whether to go forward has to be made by you. You shouldn’t feel the need to poll every last person to get their opinion.
“A CEO has to be willing to take a risk and be responsible for this,” Chen says. “It’s my personal responsibility to find the other intelligence. You may go to specific employees and find feedback and you are collecting that to gather information to
m
ake a decision. I don’t want to go to every employee and say, ‘OK, I want to start this business. What do you think?’”
