Accidental Entrepreneur: Help Me Help You

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my 13th weekly article as this week is about “Help Me Help You”.

This approach helps create strong relationships with your prospects based on trust in life and business.

I’ve used this concept in 3️⃣ important phases of my life, Corporate, Management & Sales which have helped me realized the power of using this in my life.

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My goal is to be able empower folks to go after their goals and reach their full potential!

“காலத்தி னாற்செய்த நன்றி சிறிதெனினும்

ஞாலத்தின் மாணப் பெரிது” — திருக்குறள் (102)

“A favor conferred in the time of need, though it be small (in itself), is (in value) much larger than the world.” — Thirukkural (102)

“Show me the money”! Rod (Cuba Gooding Jr.) tells his sports agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) in the critically acclaimed movie Jerry Maguire (1996). Do you remember Jerry’s comeback to Rod? “Help me Help you.” Although I didn’t understand it’s meaning at the start of my career, I soon realized that it had a deep meaning in various areas of my life and business.

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Corporate Angle: Big corporations have access to many customers and the capability to scale products to high level manufacturing capabilities. They are good at building products which are normally incremental follow-on products. Normally they lack the vision and expertise to create products for new markets. This provides great opportunities for startups with visionaries and risk takers to partner with such companies to build new products.

During one of my startups, our partner company was doing okay with their current product but the margins were lower and the market valuation was not good. The internal team was NOT able to come up with growth products due to the company’s bureaucratic management and engineering.

Our startup had very smart and creative people who could dream as well build new products in a short time and with a lot less money. Our then CEO met with the CEO of the larger company and proposed a new product idea, convincing him to invest in our cash strapped company. The agreement was that they would fund our company (help me), and then we would build a product quickly for the partner company to go to market with less money, which gave them a higher margin + growth (help you).

Management Angle: When managing and building good products in the semiconductor market, it requires a lot of capital to design and build the products. Every dollar we spent on purchasing tools reduced the money we have to hire engineers or extend the runway of the company. It is important to figure out creative ways to manage the finances while still continuing to build great products.

As my career spanned from Engineering, to Marketing, and finally to Sales, I tried to use the “help me help you” concept many times. For example, during my engineering management days, I needed CAD tools, which can be very expensive, for a fraction of cost. In two scenarios, I agreed to write articles or references for using their products (help you) for significantly discounted prices (help me). This helped both companies and I still continue to have great relationships with those partners.

Business/Sales Angle: Lately in my career in sales and business development, I tend to use this principle a lot. I build my relationship by discussing key customer contacts, personal interests or professional challenges. People tend to ask questions or request for assistance without any preparation. I have learned from great sales VPs (Vice Presidents) that trust and personal connection have a major impact on closing deals than price or product capabilities. I use my worldwide experiences and networking capabilities to build trust by genuinely connecting people with others with the same interest or need. For this I use the “Help me Help You” concept and these are normally not directly related to the business deal we are working on.

In one such situation, I shared a website my son used for developing and publishing fun games. My customer appreciated it and our relationship became stronger. In another scenario, I was working with a non-technical customer contact. By understanding his internal challenges (help me), I was able to coach him on technology and how to evaluate it (without trying to push my product). He was able to articulate that to his internal engineering teams and received kudos for technical knowledge (help you). His trust in me increased and our partnership grew stronger.

In life, it is easier to ask for a favor. After a while people will feel that you are using them for your own advantages. If you phrase and follow through with a “Help me, Help you” mindset, the results will be rewarding for both parties happy and very productive endings.

As Tom Cruise said to “Show Me the Money” man Rod in ``Jerry Maguire’’ with passion “Help Me Help You”. This concept is dear to my heart as I expect others to exercise this tactic to build a better business and better world. Have you used this concept in your life? Please comment or send me a message describing your experiences with the “Help Me, Help You” concept.