50-ways-to-make-your-first-sale

Chapter 50
Be Persistent
Step 1 – Test, Measure and Repeat
If you engage in any marketing or sales activity, measure your results
carefully. Running a business is very much like a science experiment. It’s
really easy to run around and test out different strategies and tactics and
assume you’ll remember how effective they were. But remember, recorded
numbers don’t lie and they can’t be forgotten.
Getting into the habit of recording and measure your business experiments
will really season you for growth. Often times, reviewing your business data
will give you insight on what else you should try for the iterations of the
same experiment. This is usually how breakthroughs are made.
Now you’re always going to feel too busy to do this tedious activity. But this
is actually what business is. It’s about making informed decisions that lead
to brand growth. Running around frantic all day, with a “business as usual”
attitude is not entrepreneurial and doesn’t lead to growth.
To help you gain a better understanding of this crucial topic, we highly
recommend that you read “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries. In the book,
he not only shares his own experience building IMVU, but a tried and true
methodology for building businesses that grow.
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