Business Strategies
Six Skills Dating Could Teach You about Running a Business
Written by Ashwin Satyanarayana for Gaebler Ventures
Businesses fail every day. Can you learn anything from your dating experiences to help you be successful in business? Check our the six things you can learn from a pick-up artist that will help your business survive.
According to the SCORE website, about 627,200 new businesses were started while 595,600 businesses shut shop.
Meanwhile, about 43,546 bankruptcies have been filed during the same period. The failing rates for business all over the world are staggering. Although there might be many reasons if each case is explored, most of these problems could have been ironed out easily if only the entrepreneurs in question had certain skills. These skills are in abundance with pick-up artists - men or women who specialize in the special art of wooing people and dating them afterwards. Here's what entrepreneurs can learn from pick-up artists:.
Nothing Is Predictable
People can be incredibly, astonishingly unpredictable and the pick-up artists know that very well. They take this fact into account when pursuing someone and dealing with them each time they get an opportunity. They almost act as if it doesn't matter. Business, given its unpredictable environs based on economy and industry, is just as unpredictable. Entrepreneurs must learn to understand, analyze patterns, accept that ups and downs are a part of life and pretend as if it doesn't affect them. Bash on regardless, they say.
Push Buttons and Things Happen
When it comes to dating, even though people are largely unpredictable and no two people are alike, a few things stand out in common. For instance, almost all women fall for successful, confident, stoic, alpha-type men. Business is just like that - push some buttons and it should work. Focus on branding, develop systems, give emphasis to sales, keep on top of cash-flow, etc. Are you pushing those buttons?
Take Time to Understand
No one said dating is easy. You will have to take time to understand how your date reacts and responds to various situations, how she feels about some things, his likes and dislikes, things she follows strongly, etc. Business may seem less complicated than a date, but taking time to understand your business environment will pay in spades. Managing in tough economic times, bleeding cash flow, non-existent sales numbers, attrition and rising expenses, will be easier if you thoroughly understand your industry.
It's a Number Game
Every woman a man hits on is not going to join them for their club outing the following weekend. Successful pick-up artists believe in numbers; they believe in meeting, opening and talking to as many people as possible. Following this, a few women gradually open up leading to a date. Isn't sales just like that? Open up and talk to as many customers as possible per day and slowly your sales numbers will begin to climb. Customers are all like women, you need to open, talk and close. The more you do it, the better success you have.
Persistence is the Name of the Game
Rejection is one thing the pick-up artist masters in overcoming each day. Every time he gets ready to meet women, he is prepared for a rebuttal, attack, or even a coy act of rejection - perhaps just a hint through body language or a wave of the hand. They don't mind; he/she is willing to take the risk and he just persists. As an entrepreneur, you will come across situations when gate-keepers (receptionists) cut access to decision-makers, customers raise objections, creditors or venture capitalists don't grant funds, employees don't work, etc. Are you bullish enough? Will you persist?
However, there is a thin line between persistence and stupidity - sometimes, it makes better sense to give up. When running a business, you must know when to walk out of a deal, stop persisting for funds when there seems to be no way to convince your creditor, and know when to say "no" to a bad customer or client.
Ash has an undergraduate degree in engineering and an MBA from Ohio University. Today he is a corporate trainer, business coach and a freelance writer.
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