*|MC:SUBJECT|*

Who killed Willie Loman?

Last week’s activities for the Founders Institute were centred on sales. I’ve never really thought of myself as a red blooded sales guy, although many people seem to think that I’m pretty ok at it. This 25 minute video on the sales process made a lot of things clearer for me especially the idea that you need to listen long enough to understand the need, and then propose a meaningful exchange of value…I feel a stigma disappearing...

The other big takeaway, which I hadn’t really thought through beforehand, was, when is the right time to hire your first sales person? The FI mentor Franck Lacombe made a wonderful point that it makes no sense to hire anyone whilst you’re still trying to work out what the right sales process is. Only when you, as the CEO, have worked it out, can you start to hire additional people to “execute” and scale the proven model. It all seems so simple after the fact….who knows, maybe things would have been different for Willie Loman if he’d just had Franck and YouTube...

So let’s see all of this actually works…

FFLOK needs to start thinking about getting our first lighthouse or charter customers. A number of you have already been a fantastic help in connecting me with restaurant owners around the world (thank you). If any of you have friends that own restaurants (or indeed you own restaurants yourself), and you think they would like

more good quality tipping customers
improved online ratings
information about what their competition are doing

Then could you please respond to this email and we can chat more? I’d love to see if we can make FFLOK work for them if they become early adopters…

A final thought… in addition to the learnings that I shared last week and the new people I’m meeting, the other really fun thing about doing this program is that it’s enabling me to reconnect with old friends I haven’t spoken to for years. Mark Goodyear is one obvious example, but I also had a thoroughly enjoyable breakfast in Paris with my old friend Thierry Grima this morning following a “FI inspired connection"… please keep the positive comments and vibes coming!

Aidan