
TEDD Talks by Ted Dacko
The Critical Client Services Function
Scaling your business requires having strong cross-organizational functions including, sales, marketing, finance, product development and client services. The client service function is often over-looked by [...]
Using the Blue Ocean Buyer Utility Map
Many entrepreneurs believe that they have Blue Ocean companies and opportunities. Yet, most have actually never read either of the books “Blue Ocean Strategy” or [...]
Buyer Fear of Change and Risk
Many entrepreneurs believe that selling the features, benefits and ROI of their product will be sufficient for their success. While this is often true, it [...]
Crossing the CEO Chasm
Most of us are familiar with the classic book “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore. The book discusses how a company has to cross a [...]
21 Things That Stunt Your Ability to Scale Your Business
Anyone who really knows me knows two things about me. I am all about start-up growth and scale and I understand that there are no [...]
Creating A Blue Ocean Sales Approach
Many startup companies invent new markets or approaches to solving existing problems. In doing so, they need to convince their markets to think differently about [...]
Implementing Blue Ocean Strategy
So, you are a Blue Ocean Strategy company, huh? Where is your ERRC grid? Where is your Four Action Framework? Where is your Strategy Canvas? [...]
Using OKRs to Drive Results
What do Andy Grove, John Doer and Eric Schmitt (among others) know that you don’t know? Probably a great deal. But one of the most [...]
When Only the Founder/CEO Can Sell the Product
"Only I can sell my product" Early-stage company growth stalls for many reasons. Many companies falter at the scale stage of development (going [...]
10 New Year’s Resolutions to Improve Performance in 2019
The New Year is approaching. It’s time for New Year’s resolutions. This applies to personal as well as company resolutions. Here are 10 New Year’s [...]
Conducting a Sales Audit To Improve Sales Performance
Entrepreneurs who lack a sales background (most entrepreneurs) often do not fully appreciate all of the things that need to be in place before a [...]
The Importance of Simplifying Complexity
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well - Albert Einstein As an entrepreneur, you are always selling…prospects, customers, employees, [...]
12 Critical Questions Your Distribution Partner’s Sales People Have
Not everyone automatically “gets” your product. That’s a pipe dream. When selling through a distribution partner, you need to make sure that you address the [...]
Defending Your Price
Defend Your Price We all know that one of the main objections that prospects have in sales situations is the price of your [...]
Financial Reporting in Early Stage Companies
Financial Reporting in Early-Stage Companies If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else (Yogi Berra). If you don’t [...]
Why Your Website May Have a High Bounce Rate
Website Bounce Rates We all understand that the very first place a person or organization goes to learn about your business is to [...]
Trying to Use Engineering Thinking to Solve Marketing Challenges
Most founders come from either an engineering or some domain expert background. They are exceptionally knowledgeable about a topic (experts) and come up with an [...]
The Importance of Creative Problem-Solving in Entrepreneurship
I was a math major in college and graduate school, but certainly not a math genius. I struggled to get my graduate degree. But I [...]
25 Reasons Your Startup is Not Getting Customer Traction
Most companies spend time in the “Trough of Sorrow”. This is where your company is not doing as well as you would like. You have [...]
15 Keys To Building a Killer Startup Team
Building a successful tech company without a great team is next to impossible. A great team is made up of a diverse set of individuals, [...]
Moving To Blue Ocean Strategy: A Five-Step Process To Make The Shift
By Steve Denning – Forbes Edited by Ted Dacko In 2005, Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the [...]
Building a Culture of Innovation
Every entrepreneur wants to be innovative. But most entrepreneurs try to be innovative in their thinking about their product, but not innovative about their business. [...]
Tying the Lead Generation Plan to the Financial Forecast
(This is Part 2 or a 2-Part post) The last time we talked about tying the sales forecast to the financial plan and the [...]
Tying the Sales Forecast to the Financial Plan
(This is Part 1 or a 2-Part post) Almost all organizations of any size produce a sales forecast and also a financial forecast. These are [...]
Buyers Fear Change and They Hate Risk
Many entrepreneurs want to disrupt their markets. They want to revolutionize their industries. They want to provide a radical change in the way a problem [...]
Everyone Loves Your Product Until They Have to Pay For It
One of my favorite phrases is "Everyone loves your product until they have to pay for it." This is a simple but true sentence that [...]
Effective Product Launch
Launching your product is, arguably, the most important function you will undertake with your company. It can mean the difference between success and failure, or, [...]
Organizational Development
One of the most critical aspects of the CEO role is to focus on organizational development. That means understanding where the company is headed, what [...]
Things That Frustrate CEOs About Sales (and Marketing)
Many entrepreneurial CEOs are frustrated by sales (or the lack thereof). And, once they hire a sales resource are often frustrated even more by sales, [...]
The Product Demonstration
Most organizations rely heavily on the product demonstration to make their case in sales situations. But many organizations treat a product demonstration like a training [...]
Is Your Sales Forecast Credible?
The sales forecast is the most important document you can produce on a regular basis. And, for most companies, is the lifeblood of the organization. [...]
The Value Proposition
It sounds simple, right? What is your value proposition? Yet most companies struggle with this simple concept and can’t properly and easily articulate the value that [...]
Metrics That Drive Your Business
SaaS organizations should strive to be metrics driven. They should want to understand these metrics and manage their businesses to them. But there are many [...]
Evaluating CEO Performance
Being the CEO of an organization of any size is a complex and difficult job. It is often more difficult to be the CEO of [...]
The Statement of Work
A key document (and also step in the sales process) for B2B organizations is the Statement of Work or SOW. This is a document that specifically [...]
The Sales Forecast
One of the most critical documents and processes in a company of any stage is the sales forecast. This is a document that highlights the [...]
Questions That Drive Strategy – How Will You Win in Your Market?
Having a strategy (how you are going to win in your market) is critical to business success. Many people struggle with their strategy and often [...]
The Partner Portal
Many organizations wish to have other organizations (partners) sell their product for them. When trying to establish sales or distribution partnerships, it is important to [...]
The Investor Mindset
Let’s suppose that you were an investor with a small $5.0M to invest instead of an entrepreneur looking for money. And then let’s suppose some [...]
CEO Resilience
People often ask me why I write and talk about CEO errors, mistakes and things that go wrong. It is because we all make mistakes, [...]
Lead Generation – Putting The Cart Before The Horse
Putting the cart before the horse. It is an old idiom and means doing things in the wrong order or sequence. Many entrepreneurial CEOs do [...]
Documents All Startups Need
The CEO job requires (again, requires) some essential administration and the discipline to develop (or have developed) certain base level information to help you run [...]
For more information contact:
Ted Dacko
Arbor Dakota
arbordakota@me.com
734.604.5417