Tag Archives: traction

Ep. 121 – The Business Power Pitch Deconstructed: Part 5 – Traction

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SIBP-Blog-NEW-2Serious investors all want to see the same thing when they look at your business. It isn’t a great idea, although can certainly help capture their attention. It isn’t a great business plan, or a brilliant marketing campaign. What investors want to see is traction.

What is traction, and why does it matter so much. In this episode, host and business coach Tom Ryan explains the basic forms of traction — from sales to user adoption — and why they matter when it comes to creating a killer pitch. As always, Tom is joined by producer and co-host Jason Pyles. Continue reading →

Growing A Business Through Capital and Traction, Part 2

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SIBP-1While securing financial, knowledge and relationship capital is the biggest and most immediate challenge most entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses face, it is by no means the only challenge. A close second is gaining traction.

What exactly is traction? It’s basically all the things that help you sell more of your products or services. The more traction you have, the more momentum your business has. The more momentum your business has, the more viable it is and attractive it becomes to outside investors.

For an early stage company, gaining traction is really about building your sales. There are other kinds of traction that will become important later on, but for a business that’s just starting out, traction and sales are effectively the same thing. And there’s a good reason that these two concepts are connected. Cash is king. Continue reading →

Growing A Business Through Capital and Traction, Part 1

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SIBP-3Every small business, startup and entrepreneur I’ve worked with has run into the same two challenges as they have grown. These factors come into play regardless of the market, the industry, the nature of the business, and the business model. What are they? The need for outside capital, and the need to gain more traction.

To put this in non-business terms: Every business eventually needs more resources to support their growth; and they need the ability to sell more of their stuff. Let’s break these concepts down a little.

Capital is the number one priority for growing your business. Too often, it’s thought of as a one-trick pony. Capital isn’t simply a financial investment. Capital can also be knowledge and key relationships, for instance. That kind of capital can be much more valuable than someone just writing you a check. Continue reading →

Sales As a Core Business Process

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IMG_2523When it comes to organically growing a company, you can’t beat the value of a strong sales process. Strong sales isn’t just important for your bottom line, it’s also a powerful indicator of traction, which is absolutely vital for attracting investors.

The big question for many entrepreneurs is “Where do I start?” It’s one thing to know that sales is important, and to know that you need to build a strong sales process, but another thing entirely to know the steps for building one. Continue reading →

The Importance Of Traction

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Traction is where the rubber meets the road. Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/

Traction is where the rubber meets the road. Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/

What happens when your car doesn’t have traction? If you lose traction before you get moving, your wheels may spin, but you won’t be going anywhere. Worse than that is losing traction while you have momentum. If you lose traction on an icy road, for instance, you could easily crash.

The same basic principles of traction apply in business. When a startup is young and most vulnerable, gaining traction in the market is hugely important to making progress. For more established businesses, losing traction can all too easily result in disaster. Continue reading →

Ep. 044 – Why Sales Is Vital For Building Traction

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350x350-6Do you know what the most important core process is when it comes to building traction for your business? The answer might surprise you. In this episode, host Tom Ryan explores the importance of building a strong sales process in attracting outside investment.

Joined by co-host Jason Pyles, Tom examines why sales is such a key element for creating traction, why investors place a strong sales process at a premium, and why so many startups struggle to develop this core part of their business. Continue reading →

Ep. 043 – The Importance of Traction

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350x350-5In this episode, host Tom Ryan discusses the importance of traction for startups seeking investment. But what is traction, exactly? And how can a young, vulnerable business gain traction to increase their business momentum?

Joined by co-host Jason Pyles, Tom takes listeners through a step-by-step examination of traction, from understanding its importance to investors to exploring some of the most common indicators that a business is gaining real momentum. Continue reading →

Ep. 002: How to Sell More of Your Stuff

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How do you sell more of your stuff? How do you get more traction? In Episode 002 of the Success in Business Podcast, your host Tom Ryan uses the metaphor of eating an elephant to talk about the approach for learning how to sell more of your product. So, join Tom and his producer, Jason, in Episode 002 to learn more about sales and the balance between the need for cash and where cash comes from. Continue reading →