2088 Coaching courses delivered On Demand

When sizing your potential market, it's tempting to say the sky's the limit – but if your goal is an accurate projection, tighten the focus until you have a clear and specific picture. This course introduces the market funnel framework, a three-step process for defining your target audience and sizing segments in terms investors can use and you can apply to your financial plan.

You've staked out a vision, studied the competition, and run the numbers – now, how to get from point A to point B? Use an execution strategy as your go-to-launch playbook. Your execution strategy contains all the nuts-and-bolts plans you need to start the business and gives potential investors confidence that you know what it takes to get to launch. With this course, you will have everything you need to develop an execution strategy that sets out the steps along your path to success.

Who are you selling to? While entrepreneurial optimism might lead you to believe the entire world is your market, success depends on a focused definition of your core audience that aligns with the rest of your go-to-market strategy. This course outlines commonly used demographic and psychographic attributes for profiling your target market, in addition to tips for developing your own business-specific market characteristics.

Gain an understanding of how margins work so that you can choose the right price for your product or service. Having a justified pricing strategy will help you avoid common mistakes such as guessing at price-setting, skipping competitive pricing research, leaving money on the table with a too-low price, or misunderstanding the whole value of what you're offering. Learn how supply and demand for your product or service impact price, how to quantify the level of value you're delivering (don't under-value it!), and how market forces impact your pricing. 

What problem does your company solve for customers? Your answer is the reason your business exists. The story of how your company addresses a specific customer need is an essential component of your business plan; not only does it validate your business strategy, but it convinces investors that your company solves a meaningful problem. This learning stream covers strategies for identifying and developing a compelling problem and solution statement, including how to identify customer pain points and highlight the tangible remedies your offering provides.

How are you going to create demand for your products and services? This two-part Learning Stream examines eleven marketing programs in depth, including email marketing, SEO, content marketing, and advertising, with examples of how you can apply the right ones to your business. Explored in this Learning Stream are tactics for deploying the marketing programs you choose, examples of their use, and their impact on your overall marketing budget.

A nascent trend can be wind in the sails of your company. Identifying trends that are relevant to your business, while steering clear of fads, convinces investors that you’ve done your research. And for your business, catching a trend on its upward swing can speed time to profitability. This learning stream not only identifies specific trends to watch, but points you to definitive sources for uncovering the up-cand-coming trends that are most relevant to your business.

Time to put pen to paper—or fingers to keyboard. Take a look inside the Prep Worksheet that prepares you to write the pricing strategy section of your business plan. The key to success is taking the time necessary to deeply understand your business and be prepared to run it—use this workshop and Prep Worksheet to do just that.

Your business was likely born out of an audacious dream; vision and mission statements invite others to share that dream. Tools form this course will empower you to create vision and mission statements that inspire excitement. We provide strategies for articulating the lofty aims of the vision statement, the concrete components of the mission statement, and the philanthropic pledges of the social mission.

To communicate value to customers, you need more than a list of features; you must communicate both the practical and emotional benefits customers will derive and create a story that calls out the most unique and compelling attributes you offer. This learning stream will guide you through the process of identifying which business elements to highlight in your unique value proposition. You’ll access tools for brainstorming how your offering satisfies emotional desires, alleviates fears or stresses, and addresses immediate practical needs, including prompts specifically for B2B companies. You’ll learn why your unique value proposition is different than your unique competitive advantage, while also surveying your competitors’ unique value propositions to better understand what sets them apart from each other – and what distinct elements your own business should highlight. Workshop exercises will apply the tactics in real life, so that you can better articulate your businesses most compelling and unique benefits and set the stage for success.