As my business is to conduct training programmes, there is a huge lacuna in this area. However, the existence of a gap does not imply that anyone can fill it up successfully. Buyers look at extracting maximum "value for money". Indian buyers, in particular, are known to be frugal. Selling products is different from selling services. The former can be seen and felt while the latter is a value-add that will give results over time.
So, while it is possible to get the first assignment from someone in need, for the first time, building a business requires delivering quality training programmes. And given that quality is a subjective term - the requirement differs from person -to-person and from organisation-to-organisation.
This is when one has to do self-analysis, popularly known as SWOT (strength-weakness-opportunity-threat) analysis, in management parlance. Whether one has the requisite strengths to build a business in this area and awareness about the weaknesses - are two important things to consider.
For me, while I concluded that I had the required strengths. However, this was my view of my strengths and the needs of the buyers. The risk was my judgment could be wrong. The big question was what would happen if my judgment was wrong. Well, quite a few things.
While in some cases, it can be assumed that some buyers could differ in their judgement about the quality of service that I provide, but the danger lay in the fact if too many of them think the same. And the latter implies that I will not get business or even if I do it initially, I will not get it in the long run. The worst part, my judgement about the quality of service I am offering does not matter because public perception outweighs it.
Considering this, I created a contingency plan. Once again, the analysis of strengths and weaknesses came handy to help in planning for it. I wrote down at least two other options that I thought could be possible. Liquidity planning had to start first so as to start getting cash inflow fast.
I gave myself three months to get the first training assignment so that the cash would start coming in by the end of fourth month. However, I had to be quick to assess if the business was not taking-off. Also, it was important that I assess the time lost in considering the first and the realisation that my business model is not working.
The next task was to list down the names of people who could be interested in the service. In sales parlance, this is called drawing the list of prospects. Since I started planning for my business a while back before actually quitting, I had to make sure that I tracked all of them.
Interestingly, the first assignment came from someone whose name was not in my first prospect list. Life gives many surprises both on the negative as well as positive sides. However, one still needs to be prepared and one needs to plan.
The author is proprietor, Karmayog Knowledge Academy.
