Here are the key points (sharing in case it helps other entrepreneurs out there):

• Your email signature can be your best employee. Make sure it works for you. Each email should be a potential business lead generation (I use wisestamp but there are many alternatives). Don’t just include your contact details, rather include what business problem you are solving for your clients (I.e. don’t say what you do, but rather what you are solving). Each email recipient could be a customer or know someone who could be a customer — make it EASY for the recipients to understand what problem you are solving (hint: plain English works best — steer clear of fancy words — they usually are an indicator that you are a bullshitter).

• Know EXACTLY who your client is. You are not pizza. A generic description is crap. Be as specific as possible (e.g. your clients might be the procurement head of a logistic company that has a fleet of between 10 and 50 cars). Not that users are not always the customers (e.g. a workshop is attended by users but paid by a corporate customers).

• Communicate what you need. Be specific. For example, you need more warehouse space to store your stock, but don’t have the cashflow yet to rent it permanently — then you would go to www.JoinTheEquation.com, sign in, click POST NEW OPPORTUNITY and ask the world if any corporate out there has some spare space that they could give you while you are building your business.

• Your various social media profiles should all be about convincing people that you are the expert for the sector in which you offer the solutions: yes, even your personal facebook profile. Stop sharing Trump/Gupta nonsense and start sharing content, tips, guides etc that help others but in the process cement your reputation as the go-to-person. Think of social media as a fishing net for business leads (hint: use the right type of net for the right type of fish).

• Communicate, communicate, communicate! Share what you are working on or are looking for. Anke and I created a portal to help entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates and governments to connect with each other (it is used in over 57 countries by some of the largest companies in Africa and the world). Use it! It is free. Go to www.JoinTheEquation.com and — once in — click POST NEW OPPORTUNITY. Here are some examples of things people are posting:

• I am looking for a small logistic company to help us transport our staff from Soweto to Sandton. 6 people. Pick up 5.30am and return 16.30.

• We are an German company in the FMCG sector who specialises in packaging for small quantities and are looking for a partner in South Africa to work with and expand our presence.

• I specialise in tax advisory services to SMEs with a heavy focus on innovation and bringing R&D to market and am looking for complementary services to package our solution with.

• We are a township-based business with over 42 centres across South Africa (Eastern Cape and KZN) and are about to open 6 new centres in Gauteng townships. Looking for young enthusiastic aspiring entrepreneurs to help us build our presence locally.

• A big shopping mall is looking for IT/engineering “gigs” to assist them with a fault reporting system that will send signals if any of the equipment at the mall is not working. For example, they would like a way of being alerted of leakages / faulty lights, elevators, lifts, booms, etc. They want to have 1 week with these students/graduates to take them through the mall and explain what the expectations are.

• A client of a big bank wants to know if there are any organisations that they can partner with to create a Youth Development Programme where the youth can use empty fields and turn them into football fields and thus be used in a more positive way than their current use (currently, the youth are using these fields to “hang out/drink/smoke”)

There’s a world of business opportunities out there. The trick is finding them. Go and start sharing yours — you’ll be amazed at how many people probably are keen to collaborate with you once you share your opportunities.

Originally published on https://www.acumenmagazine.co.za/articles/solving-the-sme-disconnect-8253.html