By: Pamela Ramsey
Larry McHugh, the mentor at ATDC and also a board mentor with Atlanta Tech Angels was the GSU Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) guest speaker on March 13th. Larry presented the students with two memorable quotes. During his conversation he said, “Sell the solution, not the technology”. He recommends asking yourself “How is this software or technology going to make your customer’s problem go away?” and don’t solely focus on the technology. Another way Larry puts it is “Sell the sizzle, not the steak”. He urges sales people to focus on the experiences and find the solution around a product or technology rather than simply on the object itself.
On the subject of setting goals, he believes that generating revenue is about hitting your goals consistently and not necessarily about achieving stretch goals. A stretch goal is an additional goal you set in case you exceed your 1st goal. Larry also discussed his experience working as a Sales Manager at The Weather Channel, where he managed his team’s sales goals by setting realistic goals versus unachievable ones. He attains setting realistic goals helped people exceed their goals and become successful. Larry explained that setting unachievable goals, or stretch goals, can serve no purpose and do not make people feel like winners.
Larry’s insights to startups and generating revenue is superb and useful to all ENI student entrepreneurs and innovator. We thank him dearly for volunteering his time at GSU.
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The Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization
CEO’s mission is to inform, support and inspire college students to be entrepreneurial and seek opportunity through enterprise creation.