I often find that in many of my discussions with clients there is an unspoken question, lurking in the shadows of the conversation. “Will my business be a success?”

As a mentor, it is not my job to predict or to guess. However, I can prod around two pertinent themes, which pop up continuously.

Belief in yourself and in your product

For all the problems of cash shortage, lack of trained staff or whatever, you have to believe in yourself. It is one of those secrets that they do not teach you at Harvard Business School. This belief contains a massive passion and drive that often helps people overcome enormous hurdles.

Paul Green, an IIB colleague, directed me towards a fascinating utube clip. It is 15 minutes of inspiring viewing, where Caroline Casey’s personal determination allowed her to “look past conventional limits”.

I recalled this to some people this week. Late last year, they had established a service business in Jerusalem and they admitted that it was not easy to wake up every day and “go to war”. The are times when they have to dig deep in order to carry on, and yes the first clients are now coming in the door.

Another client told me how he is no good at selling. So I challenged him and asked: “How come that when you talk about what you want to do, everybody becomes interested in the subject and wants more info.” By the time we meet again, he should have a drawn up an initial marketing campaign.

The importance of the client

A recent posting of mine referred to “putting your audience first”. Remember that it is your customers who keep you in business.

Siu Ling’s latest feature in Ruminations echoes the same point. Servicing customers is all about providing them with value.

Here is a simple example of what I mean. Israel currently has 3 providers of mobile telephones. Annual profits repeatedly hit mega numbers. And yet, those figures seem to be matched by a similar amount of customer complaints. I personally simply do no trust my provider, Orange, and cannot wait to change.

Yesterday, the government of Israel announced that within 12 months there will be two additional companies on the market. Prices will drop, while services should improve all round. 

In the past, I heard one senior sales macho argue that his mobile company invests millions in training. I believe him. The question is not the amount, but where it went.  They probably have not invested enough time and resources into helping the customer and ensuring that they were happy.

Two simple rules of thumb to drive the success of many a business.