Retail Marketing

Small Business Owners - The Essential 'To-Do' List For Tough Times

By K A Pearson

As the market becomes tougher so must small business owners. With thousands of small businesses closing every week only the very leanest and fittest will survive. Check through my ten-point survival plan and see how your small business measures up. I promise you will discover something to put your business attitude into a different perspective.

I've had six small businesses in my time and started them all with next to no finance yet sold them all for a substantial amount of money. I've made a lot of mistakes and errors of judgment yet still managed to pull through, even when the odds were against me. Some of the mistakes I made were due to bad advice, normally given to me by some supposed 'Expert'. These 'Experts' have rarely been involved in small business and believe that a Degree in Marketing gave them the right answers. They couldn't have be more wrong.

Whilst I could probably write a book on small business advice, I thought it would be easier for readers to take small bite-size piece of advice; rules of small business if you like. Whether you run a lawn-mowing business, a clothes store or a computer repairs business, these rules are applicable and essential for your success. So without further ado, here is my top-10 fundamental rules for running a recession-proof small business.

1. Network, network and then network some more.

There is no better way of selling your product or service than face-to-face. Most networking events are organised locally and free to attend so it's an incredibly cost-effective way of meeting potential new customers. Think about it logically, would you more likely to buy a product or service from somebody you've met locally or from a company the other side of the country who just sent you an email?

2. Trust absolutely NOBODY.

This advice is always highly controversial but believe me, you cannot afford sentiment in business. Customers who say they'll pay you next week, suppliers who promise a delivery by tomorrow, treat them all as liars. If you take that attitude, you will already have a back-up plan for the times where you were proved right. To avoid confrontation over this policy, ensure you have strict terms of business that your suppliers and customers are aware of before you agree to do business.

3. Your competition are your greatest opportunity.

You simply cannot know enough about your competition. Scour their website, their brochures, their adverts, every piece of marketing material they utilise. Make a list of everything you like about what they do and everything you don't then canvas the opinion of your friends and family to gauge their opinions. It may seem obvious but the reality is all you need to do is ensure you combine the best of all your competitors strengths whilst avoiding all their perceived weaknesses.

4. Don't borrow money unless you absolutely have to.

Debt is like a disease, it will consume your business and eventually kill it. Whilst I've had six very successful businesses, I've also had one business which I just couldn't get to work. Thankfully because it was debt-free I managed to just close it down and start again. If you need equipment, hire or borrow it wherever you can. If you need premises, sub-let or work from your garage. Do whatever you can practically do to avoid owing money to anyone. Whenever you consider borrowing money, always think to yourself, 'What would happen if my business closed down next month, how would I repay this debt?'

5. Staff - The strain and the drain.

Don't think for one moment that anyone you employ will care one iota about your business; they won't. Staff expect prompt and regular payment, they expect to be paid when sick, they expect to be paid whilst on holiday, they expect training, they expect to be praised and motivated all the time, that is all they care about. In short, your staff are your biggest liability and can suck the life out of you and your business. Don't employ staff unless you really are doing too much yourself and if you do require additional labour, use temporary Agency Staff for menial tasks or sub-contract more demanding tasks to another company.

6. Don't need a website?

Yes you do. I don't care if your business only relies on local customers, you still need a presence on the Internet. Hundreds of books have been written on Internet marketing so go read one but for now you need to know a couple of basic facts. Firstly, localised businesses need a website even more than national ones because they don't have the same marketing budget and a website is a cheap way of reaching your customers. Secondly, a short, descriptive domain name is much easier to remember than a telephone number. When you close this article down, try to remember 'Call - 72618974990' and 'KatesPetStore.com' and see which one is easier to recall. Put your website address on vehicles, signs, windows....just about anywhere you can put it and it will bring you more customers.

7. Sack your Accountant

Why pay a small fortune every month/year for something you can almost certainly do yourself? There is so much cheap accountancy software available online that month-to-month bookkeeping is something you must do yourself. I don't care if you're computer illiterate or not. The fact that you're reading this article is proof enough that you are capable of looking after your monthly accounts. You will probably still need an Accountant for your end of year submissions and for tax issues but don't pay somebody for something that can be done so quickly and easily with a $50 accounts program. Don't have time to do your own bookkeeping? Get your partner, sister, uncle or next door neighbour to do it. I guarantee that even if you pay them a small monthly fee, it will be considerable cheaper than your Accountant.

8. Advertise-Wise

Whatever your product or service, you need to advertise. It may just be putting flyers through the neighbours door but it still costs time and money and you need to know if it works? I have seen so much advertising money wasted in my career it makes me weep. You MUST establish how every one of your customers came to find your business. This data is absolutely crucial in determining where you spend your valuable advertising budget. Monitor it closely and if something isn't paying it's way, get rid of it. Don't be concerned that other companies still use the medium, that's their look-out. Have you ever considered that some companies advertise in certain media just because their competition do? Madness!

9. It's always cheaper somewhere else.

You MUST conduct a thorough appraisal of your existing supplier costs. It doesn't matter if it's electricity, water, products, gas....there is a good chance you can get it cheaper elsewhere. Not worth the hassle to save 2-3%?How many suppliers do you have, 5, 10, 15? If you can save an average of only 2% with every supplier simply by re-negotiating their prices or going elsewhere, you can save up to 25%-30% from your operating costs. That's real money in your bank account and not theirs. I still find it incredible that small business owners spend so much effort on bringing in money that they never consider how much they're giving away to suppliers.

10. Sorry, the office is closed.

Every time a potential customer tries to contact you and can't, you've wasted advertising money. Work out how many customers you have in one month then divide that by your profit and you'll quickly discover how much you've paid to attract each individual customer. Every time you don't answer the phone, that's how much cash you've wasted. Sinking in now? If you only want to take customer enquiries 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday then go and get a job, running a small business is not for you. Whenever you leave the office, have your office phone re-directed to your mobile phone, it's cheap, easy and means you will be able to take customer enquiries when your competition are closed.

I sincerely hope you found the above advice useful and if some of it seems a little harsh, it's because running a small business requires harsh decision making. You do not have the luxury of being able to make continuous mistakes as nobody will be there to cover your back.

Best of luck.

 
K A Pearson - Freelance Writer, Small Business Advisor & Internet Marketing Consultant

http://www.coursesdistancelearning.com

The three biggest barriers to small business success, and what you can do to break through.

By Donna Williams

Have you ever wondered why some people achieve small business success while others find themselves sitting on the sidewalk watching the parade go by?  Well, here are the three biggest barriers to small business success.

Unfortunately, there are many external reasons why people fail.  But the good news is that most can be simply remedied through external solutions.  For instance, if your business lacks cash then you may need to seek creative financing methods. 

Or if lack of time is holding you back, then perhaps a few time-management courses are in order, or maybe it will take hiring an assistant.  The first step in breaking down external barriers is identifying them.  Then you can craft solutions that work best for you.  Once you remove those external barriers, success is simply a matter of time and perseverance.

On the other hand, internal barriers are a little more difficult to identify and to overcome – which is why it’s the topic of our discussion today. 

I have found that the biggest barriers to success are the internal ones we place on ourselves  that we dredge up from the deep, shadowy recesses of our minds.  In particular, these three are especially nasty:

Barrier #1:  Fear

Hands-down, fear is the biggest barrier to small business success.  Fear has kept countless millions of people from achieving their dreams - cowering in the corner afraid to venture outside the safe.  Some of these people fear failure; others fear success.  Some fear change, some fear sameness.  There are as many fears as there are people.  But one thing is for certain, all fears can be paralyzing if we allow hem to get a foothold in our thoughts and actions.

The best way to overcome fear is through cultivating courage. 

-    Start being deliberately courageous in the decisions you make regarding growth, risk, and day-to-day operations.  The more you practice courage the more courageous you will become.
-    Resolve to never again “take the easy road.”  Have a clear understanding of your beliefs and core values, so when situations come up, you know where you stand. 
-    Accept personal responsibility for the decisions you make, and encourage those around you to do the same.
-    Make sure the people you hire and promote are also courageous people.  Surround yourself with fearless people you’ll discover what a powerhouse organization you can become.

Courage can conquer fear and help speed us on our way to small business success.

Barrier #2:  Lack of Vision

Unfortunately, many small businesses are so focused on the day-to-day business of keeping the doors open  that they neglect this incredibly important  aspect.

Vision.

Vision is what defines who you are as a company, your core values, and your future aspirations.  It truly is your “reason for being.” 

Additionally, having a clear, strong vision motivates, inspires, and empowers your employees.  A vision that starts at the top and threads through the organization is an excellent loyalty and retention tool because employees like being part of a company that knows where it’s going and how to get there.  Remember, too, that your employees – more than anyone else – will be the driving forces behind your vision.  They will be the ones to bring your vision to fruition. 

If you don’t have a vision for your company, it’s time to develop one.  After all, if you don’t know where you want to go, how can you expect to get there?

Barrier #3:  Lack of Faith

I’ve heard it said by many wise people that you can only achieve that which you believe. 

Do you believe you can achieve your dreams of success?  Do you really believe it?  If not…why not!

If we don’t believe in ourselves and our ability to achieve, then success will always be just beyond our reach.  If you don’t have faith in yourself and your dreams, how can you expect anyone else to believe in you?

Truth is, some people lack faith because they are afraid to hope too much, fearing that they will be disappointed.  I say don’t just hope…expect!  Expect good things to happen! Have faith that you success is imminent! 

Let me tell you something:  wide-eyed optimism will take you and your company a heck of a lot further than always viewing life through the eyes of Eeyore. 

Believe in yourself.  Believe you can achieve…and you will.

On your road to success, don’t let barriers – either external or internal - detour you or stand in your way to realizing your dreams and  goals.  Face them down and get on with it.

 

Donna Williams is the founder and creator of BusinessBurrito.com - a website dedicated to helping small businesses grow to their maximum potential.  She is also a 25-year advertising / marketing executive, creative director, writer, and producer.  Together, Donna and her husband currently own and co-own five small businesses.  To read more of her articles, or to sign up for her free e-newsletter, visit her website at http://www.businessburrito.com

Creating Your Destination Statement: How to Get From Here to Where You Want to Go

By Holly G. Green

When Roger Bannister was attempting to become the first athlete to break the four-minute mile, all the “experts” told him it was impossible.  Some even suggested he risked death by pushing his body beyond human limits.  Of course, we now know that not only did Bannister not die, but the week after he broke the barrier, another runner followed in his footsteps, followed shortly thereafter by several more. 

Clearly, the sub-four minute mile wasn’t impossible; someone just had to envision doing it.  When asked how he accomplished the feat, Bannister replied, “Physiologically impossible or not, I just saw myself doing it.”  To this day, many Olympic athletes use this type of success visioning to achieve their goals.  The difference in skill levels at premier levels is often not discernible.  What differs is the mindset, the clarity of vision on what winning looks like.

Leaders and managers don’t often employ this approach in strategic planning, or even in simple delegation today.  Most of us are running so fast, we don’t take the time to get clear on winning; we just run and hope we are on the right track, running the right race.   But organizations are now beginning to understand what world-class athletes have long known - if you can picture the destination and get clear on what winning looks like, your chances of getting there dramatically increase.

Painting the Picture: One tool for painting a vivid picture of where your organization needs to go is destination modeling.  Designed to create powerful visions in the mind of each and every employee, destination statements provide cohesion, direction and behavioral guidance.  They tell people what you are doing, what you are not doing, and what you will be doing when you get to where you want to go. 

Some companies develop one over-arching destination statement for the entire company.  I find it more useful to develop a number of statements, or destination points, for each critical area of the organization.  In fact, I often use these statements as a starting point when working with clients.

Examples of destination statement categories include:

•Key operating achievements (the big three or four).

•How the workplace culture will be, including attitudes, beliefs, values and operating principles.

•What skills, knowledge and abilities will exist in the organization?  In each business unit?

•What organizational structures will be in place, company-wide and at each business unit?

•What work processes and metrics will be used?

•What tools, systems and technologies will be necessary, both internally and externally?

•What products will be in the market?  What products will be in development?

•Who will our customers be?  How many will we have?

•Who will our competitors be?  What type of companies will we compete against?

•What will be our greatest competitive advantage?  Our biggest threat?

•How will we be known?

•What will our brand represent?

Remember, your goal as a leader or manager is to paint as vivid and rich a ‘picture’ of success or winning as you possibly can.  To create your company’s destination points, draw a vertical line down the middle of a sheet of paper.  On the left side, put all the categories listed above and any others you come up with.  On the right side, describe for each category what it will look like when you get to where you want to go.

A few short years or even months ago, companies frequently looked out five and even 10 years into the future.  In today’s fast-paced world, three years makes more sense.  Recently, all of my clients are doing one-year destination modeling and plans.  The rate of change today is so great that anything beyond that and you are likely just wildly guessing as to what is possible. 

Validating Your Destination: Once you have identified your destination points, measure each one against the following criteria:

•Consistency.  Is it consistent with the mission statement (the why you exist)?

•Clarity.  Is it easy to understand?  Is it easy to tell what is in and what is out?  Does it tell you what you need to do (directionally)?

•Specific.  Does it provide enough details to initiate a level of measurement?  Does it paint a picture employees can relate to and a place they can envision?

•Flexible.  Is it flexible enough to include evolving business needs?

•Pride.  Does it make you feel proud to be part of the effort?

•Inspiration.  Does it compel you to want to go there?

Once you have clarity on your destination points, repeat the process (using the same categories) to define your current state.  This will identify any gaps that need to be addressed and enable you to plan appropriate action steps and time frames.  Always start with the end state and then compare to current reality.  When you work from the end state backwards, the likelihood of you getting there increases exponentially.

Getting Clear on the Language: As you go through the process of creating your destination points, keep in mind that clarity of language is essential for ensuring that people are looking at the same picture.  People often use the same words to describe very different things, and if you’re not careful you can end up with many different pictures rather then one unifying vision.

For example, I once worked in a company that proudly described itself as “best in class.”  When employees were surveyed, however, more than half said they had no idea what that meant or how to work toward it.  And the employees who thought they knew had very diverse opinions on what the phrase meant.  As a result, “best in class” looked good on the boardroom wall, but it meant nothing to most employees and did not serve to guide behavior or lead people toward the ultimate destination.  This doesn’t mean you can’t use phrases like “best in class.”  Just be sure to define them in ways that are clear, objective and measurable so that everyone knows exactly what they mean.

To get the best of what your employees have to offer, your organization’s future needs to be more compelling than the past.  Picturing your destination and describing it in vivid language will make it easier and much more likely your organization will achieve its goals and break its own four-minute mile.  Especially as businesses begin to recover and reset for a different (and hopefully better) economy, it is critical you are clear on where you are now going, why you will still win and what it looks like when you get there!

Holly’s top selling book, More Than a Minute: How to be an Effective Leader & Manager in Today’s Changing World goes beyond the theory of leading and managing by providing practical, action-oriented information. She writes a column for the Worldwide Association of Business Coaching, and is a highlighted expert on Bizmore.  Holly has contributed to two other best-selling books, Shift Happens, and A Cup of Cappuccino, Vol. II.  For more information, please visit www.TheHumanFactor.biz and morethanaminute.com.

 

Effective Questioning Skills

By Nancy Friedman, Telephone Doctor

How important is it to ask good questions?  It’s very important.  It’s important you use questioning skills to help you completely understand the caller’s situation.  Otherwise, you could be responding to what you guess the caller means, which may or may not be correct.  Questioning goes beyond listening. 

Effective questioning is a real compliment to your skills.  It shows that you have the ability to understand the caller's real needs.  It shows that you are looking for meaning that’s deeper than the spoken message.  Effective questioning is a powerful, learned skill.  It says to the caller, “I’m interested in determining your needs.”

Questioning can be put into two divisions: Open-Ended Questions and Closed-Ended Questions. 

Open-Ended Questions:  Open-ended questions are questions without a fixed limit.  They encourage continued conversation, and help you get more information.  Plus, they often provide opportunities to gain insight into the other person’s feelings.  Open-ended questions draw out more information.  If you want the caller to open up, use open-ended questions that start with who, what, where, why, when, and how.  A few examples are:

“What are some of the things you look for in a hotel?”

“How do you feel government could be more responsive to your needs?”

“What are your concerns about this new program?”

Closed-Ended Questions:  Closed-ended questions have a fixed limit.  They’re often answered with a yes or no, or with a simple statement of fact.  Closed-ended questions are used to direct the conversation.  They usually get specific information or confirm facts.  Here are some examples. 

“Do you have health insurance?”

“Do you want the new brochure?”

“Would you be interested in that?”

We use the open-ended questions to get more information and the closed-ended questions to focus in on one area. 

Additionally, there are several other type of questioning techniques.  A few are:

Probing Questions: Sometimes you ask an open-ended question to get more information and you only get part of what you need.  Now it’s time for a probing question.  A probing question is another open-ended question, but it’s a follow-up.  It’s narrower.  It asks about one area.  Here’s an example:

“What topic areas are you interested in?”  This question would be better than reading off 50 topics to the caller.  It’s a probing question. 

A few other examples are:

“Are you able to tell me more about the form you received?”

“What did you like best about Paris?”

Probing questions are valuable in getting to the heart of the matter. 

The Echo Question:  Here’s a good technique for getting more information.  You can use this like a probing question.  The idea is to use the last part of a phrase the caller said.  Slightly raise the tone of your voice at the end of the phrase to convert it to a question.  Then pause and use silence – like this:

“…The bill you received?”

An echo question repeats part of the phrase that the caller used, using voice inflection to convert it to a question.  Some people call it mirroring or reflecting.  Others call it parroting.  We call it echoing.  Whatever you call it, it’s a valuable technique to use.   

Leading Questions: Many things can be good or bad.  Take fire for example.  Fire warms our home, cooks our food, and does many other useful things.  Uncontrolled, it can burn down our houses. 

The reason we use that example is because leading questions can also be good or bad.  Leading questions, if used improperly, can be manipulative because you’re leading the person to give the answer you want.  When they are used properly, you’re helping that person.  Some examples of proper leading questions are:

“You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”

“You’ll want to know about our same day delivery service, right?”

“You’ll want to go ahead with this, won't you?”

Leading questions often end with suggestive nudges toward the desired answer.  Some ending phrases would be, “Don’t you?”, “Shouldn’t you?”, “Won’t you?”, “Haven’t you?”, and “Right?”

So where are leading questions useful?  Well, they’re useful in helping someone who’s undecided make the right decision, a decision that will benefit them.  You use a leading question ethically when you help someone do the right thing.  Some folks call this technique the “tie down” technique because you’re actually trying to tie down the caller's needs. 

The bottom line is to practice using a variety of questioning techniques.  It will help you help your callers more effectively.  After all, you want to provide the very best customer service, don’t you? 

Nancy Friedman is president of Telephone Doctor, an international customer service training company, based in St. Louis, MO.  Nancy is the author of four best selling books.  Contact Nancy at 314-291-1012 or nancy@telephonedoctor.com.

 

 

Recession-Proof Your Business: Publicity is the Key

By Pam Lontos

If you’re thinking of cutting your business’ publicity during these tough economic times, think again. It’s times like this that you have to get your company’s name out there more than ever.

Consider the ingenious marketing move made by the Wrigley Company in the 1940s. During World War II, the company couldn’t get the necessary ingredients to continue making their chewing gum. So they stopped production of all their product lines. However, even though they had no product to sell, they continued their advertising, with the “Remember this Wrapper” campaign. After the war ended and ingredients were plentiful again, they resumed production of their chewing gums and quickly regained and even exceeded their pre-war popularity, while much of their competition went out of business.

To put it in perspective, the Wrigley Company maintained top of mind awareness with their customers, even during a difficult time. That’s exactly what your business must do to succeed in today’s economy.

“But I can’t afford a big advertising campaign,” you may be thinking. Even if you’re working with a small budget these days and advertising isn’t possible, you can get great results with some carefully planned publicity. Remember that during a recession, the competition between businesses is greater than ever. Publicity helps you get that extra celebrity and credibility so you can stand out.

Additionally, you want to keep up the momentum from your current publicity efforts. If you stop marketing your business and try to resume once the recession is over, you’ll be essentially starting from scratch. That’s a tough place for any company to be. You’ll be forgotten.

Here are a few suggestions to keep your publicity efforts going strong, even during difficult economic times.

•Inform the media that you have something to offer by sending out press releases. Press releases are also a good method for getting your product or service reviewed in publications. Watch the breaking news, and if something ties to your business, send a press release to the newspapers, radio and television shows, and magazines offering your take as an expert to interview about the situation.

•When you see something in the news that you have a strong opinion about, write a short op-ed piece and send it to the newspapers. Op-ed stands for “opposite editorial,” referring to the page facing the editorial page – the page on which the newspaper publishes its own institutional statement of opinion. Even if your view is controversial, don’t be afraid to put it out there. Controversy often sells.

•Write articles. Smart company presidents and business owners know they must constantly stay in the public’s eye. Getting published in a magazine, trade journal, or local newspaper is an excellent way to keep the company’s name circulating throughout the general public and to enable the company leader or business owner to become perceived as an expert. When prospects and current customers see that your company leaders have an impressive list of published pieces, they’ll consider you an industry leader and will want to do business with you.

•Become an expert source for newspaper and magazine writers in your area. E-mail or call the editors to find out what stories they’re working on. If you can provide information or insight on any of the topics, offer it freely so you can get quoted. Whenever you have an article or show idea, call the appropriate media personnel and present your topic. Ask questions such as, “What are your readers (or viewers or listeners) looking for?” “What are you looking for?” and “What angle do you want the story to take?”

•Use social media marketing (SMM) to promote your business online. These days, SMM is a vital and inexpensive part of any marketing campaign. SMM helps you get your business’ name out to the masses quicker and easier than ever before. Create profiles for your business on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Plaxo and interact with potential clients.

The bottom line is your business needs to be out there all the time to maintain top-of-mind awareness. Granted, you may need to trim your advertising expenses, but publicity is an inexpensive way to keep yourself in front of your clients. And since many of your competitors will cut back on marketing now, by staying strong and true to your course, you will stand out, especially as the competition thins out.

With more competition between businesses today, you need to show why you are the best in your field. Credibility does that for you, and promoting your business with public relations builds that credibility. You never want people to think, “What ever happened to (your business)….” Maintaining your publicity efforts prevents that from happening and helps you get business – even in tough times!

Pam Lontos is owner of PR/PR, a public relations firm based in Orlando, FL.  A past vice president of Disney-owned Shamrock Broadcasting, she knows the media and how to get good publicity and how to use it to really boost your profits. Visit www.prpr.net to read other articles and learn more about Pam Lontos.

 

Five Reasons Why You Should Embrace Your Competition

By Marsha Lindquist

Business leaders are often trained never to trust their competition. They see business as a win-lose game, where if they associate with their competitors they’ll get beat. But this isn’t always the best approach to dealing with the other team.

No two companies are created exactly the same, even if they are perceived as competitors. While any two competitors may share some similarities, the majority of their functions are completely different. And even if you do all the exact same things as another company, you have different people and systems in your organization that make you unique. This concept is important to realize because once you get past the fear of your competition, you can actually build mutually beneficial relationships and grow your business.

Forging relationships with companies within your industry can allow you both to achieve greater levels of success. For example, say you own a carpet cleaning company. You clean carpets, but you specialize in flood damage. From time to time, people approach you to clean up fire damage. While this isn’t your specialty, you could still clean their carpets and chance mediocre results. Or, if you have established a relationship with a carpet cleaning company that specializes in fire damage, you can refer the customer to them. And likewise, they could send clients your way. While on the surface you appear to be competitors, you can actually help each other grow.

The Benefits of Embracing Your Competition: Still not convinced? Consider the following five reasons why you should embrace your competition.

1. You Make a Bigger Pie: When you get your market to recognize that the type of products or services you offer are in big demand, you help people understand what need you fulfill. This also makes the market aware of other companies that can fulfill the same need. As a result, the pie gets bigger for everyone, even companies you perceive as your competition. And when you embrace your competition, you’ll be able to reach corners of the market that you could never reach before.

For example, if two companies do similar things and both make their pies bigger, the pies will begin to merge. Some commonalities will inevitably exist. But at the same time, you’ll be able to get pieces of the competitor’s pie that you couldn’t get before. You wouldn’t be able to reach that corner of the market without your competitor.

2. You Complement Your Talent with Someone Else’s: Imagine your market as a glove. Perhaps when you put your hand in that glove, you can’t fill the whole thing. But your competitor can fill in the gaps. You fit together within the market because you complement each other’s talents.

But you have to approach the relationship without the fear of having your business stolen. At times, you may get into a competition for the same piece of the pie. In those cases, when you have established a relationship, you can work it out. You may say, “You should do the project because you’re the best person for the job.” Even though you didn’t take the work, you’ll still look great in the client’s eyes because you provided an outstanding solution to their needs. The next time, you may be the best person for the job that comes along. However, this mutual respect only comes after trust is developed.

3. You Look Good and They Look Good; the Win-Win Mentality: When you refer a prospect to your competitor, if they do a bad job then their performance reflects poorly on you too. In a relationship like this, people begin to associate the two of you together. So make sure you rub up against people who smell good.

Also in this type of relationship, you create respect and trust within your industry and especially among your clients. You’re doing a better job, because someone else is looking over your shoulder. So you not only answer to your own organization, in some ways, you also answer to your competitors.

4. You End Up with More Business: When you generate more energy and your competitors generate more energy, business picks up. That’s just the way the world works. When you contact people and meet people, then you get more business. This build up of energy results in a better market advantage because you’re not only seen with that one relationship, you’re also seen with other relationships that are tangential to you.

For example, you’re in a department store looking for a particular item and you ask the clerk where you can find it. The clerk explains that they don’t have what you’re looking for, but tells you where you can go to get it. Even though the clerk sent you to another company, that department store gets the market advantage because you see them as a solutions provider. And you’ll go back to the first department store next time you need something, whether you think they have what you’re looking for or not. When you create relationships with your competitors, you have all the answers, even if you can’t give the prospect exactly what they need.

5. You Learn New Skills: When you work with other people, you learn from them even if you aren’t necessarily trying. And they learn new things from you too. This learning is important, because you must fully understand how your skills complement each other, and how they are different. As a result, you enhance not only what you do, but you also enhance your brand because you know better what sets you apart. This gives you the opportunity to make yourself unique, which only has a positive impact on your business.

Relationships with businesses similar to yours can also be helpful when you’re stuck on something or need advice. You can call in other people who know your business and can give you advice. Even Donald Trump calls on other CEOs to help him with things he’s doing. It can get lonely at the top, so you need to develop relationships that have respect and trust from other organizations. Otherwise you won’t survive in the long term.

How Can You Approach Your Competitors? The first step in building relationships with your competitors is knowing who they are and what they do. Then you need to find an entrance that won’t be perceived as a threat. In other words, don’t approach them on something that is the exact same thing that you do. Then start a conversation by saying, “I would like to talk to you about this one corner of my business that I would like to share with you. So that I can know how this could be advantageous to your clients, I’d like to talk to you about your business.” Keep in mind, if you’re trying to find a marriage with a competitor, you need to be very non-threatening.

If they aren’t receptive, then move on to another competitor. This relationship has to be reciprocal. If you keep sending a company business and you never get anything from them, then ask yourself if pursuing the relationship is advantageous to you. If it isn’t working in both directions, then you need to let it go.

Embracing Your Competition for a More Successful Future: Companies are often afraid of forming relationships because they think that if they share too much with their competitors, then they might steal their business. But just talking about your business doesn’t automatically allow your competitors to see everything in your brain.

The market today is filled with people who need things, and many companies can fulfill those needs. The bigger range of products or services you can offer, then the bigger your business will grow. You can’t look building relationships with your competitors as something that shrinks your business. You must look at it as helping define a greater demand for everyone. You’ll get more business anyway, just by showing up and being there.

By building relationships with your competition, you’ll expand the market, create a greater demand, and grow your business to otherwise unreachable levels of success.

Learn more about Marsha Lindquist at http://www.themanagementlink.com/marsha_lindquist.html

 

Advertising and Color

By Karen Saunders

What’s the quickest way to create mood without saying a word?  Color!  Before they read your marketing piece, they see it – and their feeling about your business begins.  So it’s a good idea to take some time to find out what colors mean – and how they can help sell for you.  When you learn the psychology of colors you will be able to add a whole new layer to your marketing materials.  Here’s how using certain colors will help you attract a specific target market and evoke the desired response:

• The color scheme you choose for your flyer or business cards can help or hurt the overall tone of the piece.  For instance, if you own a gift shop, you would want to work with a lot of yellows, including coral, orange, amber and gold.  Why?  Because yellow symbolizes joy.  It exudes energy and happiness, and is associated with being welcoming and homey.

• Red, which includes mauve, magenta, crimson, and scarlet, is the color of power, romance, and vitality.  It’s an eye catcher, and makes us sit up and take notice.  That’s why it’s so often used in the financial arena when the numbers are going in the wrong direction.  Red can also have a physical effect, even raising blood pressure!  Use red in your ad when you want people to take action.

• If, on the other hand, you need a very friendly, non-threatening campaign, green is your color.  Green and its shades, including lime, leaf green, sea green, emerald, teal and sage, symbolize life and nature.  It’s good for us, and your reader will receive that impression about what you are selling as well.  In contrast to red, in the business world, green symbolizes growth and prosperity. 

• When you need a more serious, classic look that conveys law and order, dependability, and trustworthiness, go for the blue and purple palette.  This includes sky blue, ultramarine, violet, purple and azure.  These colors work great in certain markets, specifically for older, more mature audiences.  It’s common in financial institutions, hospitals, and the legal and medical professions.

So what kind of business do you have?  Do you sell a product or a service?  Think about your target market, and try to determine what emotion will appeal to them the most.  Now try to match that with one of the above color palettes when you are designing your ad.  With the right colors, your marketing piece is sure to be read. Read other articles and learn more about Karen Saunders at http://www.macgraphics.net/index.php 

Improve Performance and Customer Relationship: Action and Inaction of Taoism

By Joanna Tong

You had a summer break and now come back to your normal life. Perhaps life is not ‘normal’ as before. Away from the routine and mundane, you recharged your battery and managed to look at your life differently with newfound inspirations. You decided to re-arrange your priorities for a new term, another quarter or the rest of 2010. Or does life remain same old same old? You went straight back to the usual routine and mundane. You pick up where you left or maybe you took where you left to holidays. It is amazing how many people keep their work mobile phones switched on so that they could reply emails and read attached documents while they are supposedly taking a break. This is not a ‘break’; rather, it is a new form of remote working. Mobile devices are designed to improve NOT diminish the quality of our lives. However they seem to generate the opposite effects as far as our taking time out is concerned.

Lao Tzu (600 BC), the founder of Taoism taught his students the importance of Action and Inaction balance. In our busy modern lives, we are on the go taking actions all the time - whether the actions are necessary, relevant and effective is a different matter. We find ourselves quite uncomfortable with and to some extent, alien to the notion of Inaction. How would Inaction benefit busy managers, CEO and business owners?

Here are some tips for you:

Take stock: when I visit a small local café reading a book or newspaper late in the afternoon, I can normally tell when it is time to go. It is when I heard the owner open the till, counting the notes and change she got for the day. The ‘clink’ sound from coins is as effective as the recess bell at school. ‘Ah, she is doing stock-taking. Must go,’ I told myself. I am sure she and many business proprietors do that as an everyday routine. While we would stop to count the till, we don’t always stop to count the bigger taking. A complete break will give you the much-needed time and space to put work and business in perspective. It will help you realise how far you have come and how much you have achieved. Do you remember that difficult project you led from start to completion? Do you remember negotiating with a demanding client successfully? Do you remember the skills and resilience you acquired over the last few months? You don’t need to wait for others to pat on your shoulders; you owe that to yourself. Encouragement motivates you to do more.

Get inspirations:  the work and business environment is changing fast so is competition. You don’t have to compete on price (there are limits to the discounts you can offer) but you need to continuously add value to customers in your products and services. This means we (team leaders, executives, entrepreneurs and business owners) need to evolve all the time in a changing, competitive environment. Whether your intention is to improve or innovate, new ideas occur only when our mind is cleared of fixed views and chatters. We don’t sit on people’s laps on a crowded bus or underground tube, do we? We sit where there is an empty space. Similarly, when our minds are clogged up with problems and worries and rigid views and thoughts, there is hardly any space to let new ideas and inspirations in. There is no coincidence that great scientists and inventors like Einstein and Edison got inspirations while relaxing in a bath and taking a cat-nap.

Become positive: positive thinking generates positive actions. It has been proved by scientific research that Amygdale, an area of our brain is responsible for connecting emotions and actions. Its primary role is to formulate and store memories associated with emotional events and generate the responses accordingly. Memories of events caused by fear stimuli will lead to fear behaviour. Memories of events caused by positive stimuli will lead to positive behaviour. Experiments showed that putting rats in a positive condition made them learn new skills faster. So ‘Positive thinking positive action’ is not just wishful thinking. It is how our brain is wired up to function. When we feel refreshed and energised we become more positive that in turn helps us take positive, effective actions.

Improve business: in the workplaces and group situations, how we feel about ourselves, our work and our business will have direct influences on others around us. When interacting with customers, colleagues and employees you would pass your mood on to them even though you tried to contain yourself when feeling pretty low. You would attract more customers when they found your business offer pleasing. You would surround yourself with good employees when they found you charismatic. Being in negative moods is unlikely to make you pleasing and charismatic. Taking time out will give you the above-mentioned benefits resulting in helping you improve performance and business.

Value the important: work and business are part of life not the other way round. Money can't buy health and relationships. You may be running a small and medium-sized business, a large team or an international company. Indeed you bear important responsibilities for what you do at work and in your business. However the most fundamental and important responsibility each one of us has to take is to look after our very own wellbeing and nurture the important friendships and relationships in our lives. Without health we can’t function. Without close friends and loved ones life is pretty lonely and dry.

The Chinese tradition is known for its holistic approaches to life: work, business and personal. Not only do we need work-life balance, but also Action and Inaction as emphasised by Lao Tzu. Next time when you go away for a break, think: laptops or holidays?

Motivational speaker and leadership specialist with 20-year senior management experience, Joanna Tong, author of the article introduces the holistic Dragon Leadership approach to business owners, entrepreneurs, CEO and managers. Differed from the Western models that focus on systems and procedures, Dragon Leadership is a holistic approach to improve performance and customer relationship based on the Chinese principles that have stood the test of time for 3000 years.

Tested and refined in her various executive roles, Joanna Tong applied the holistic Dragon Leadership to manage multiple teams at senior levels for £35 million economic projects. She re-organized and doubled ticket sales for a world-class performance venue and made a 30% increase of  the visitor numbers for tourist attractions. http://www.dragon-strategies.com/home.html

Creative Ideas for Filling the Revenue Gap

By Don Farrell and Joe Creegan

B to B or B to C … whatever business you are in, you have lulls and voids, or gaps during times of the day, week, month or year when your product or service does not sell because of various factors.  What are these factors? 

• Wrong time of the day for your consumer to buy from you (they are working, they are home etc).

• Not the right season to buy.  Not thinking about winter in August just yet. 

• The weather, tar balls or the devaluation of their 401K has scared them away.

Whatever the reason, you have times when you have a void or gap where selling hasn’t been an option before because customers just didn’t have a good reason to buy.     It’s time you were dedicated to re-thinking how to sell in those time periods.  Accepting the current paradigm is passé.  Now is a good time to explore ideas to sell stuff that hasn’t moved in the past.

Thinking tactically.  When is your business slowest?  What days of the week; hours of the day; times of the year? Most businesses, when analyzed closely, have dead times that can be turned into strategic opportunities.  Stores once operated only 9am to 6 pm.  Then came 24/7 store hours; double coupons on Thursday’s; sampling products; product usage seminars, etc.  The idea of subterfuge selling is old hat, now. 

  It was rumored the guy who invented the idea of subterfuge selling was an ex-auto maker employee.  As the story goes, he would leave his factory job pushing a wheelbarrow full of sawdust past the guard gate every night.  Each time the guard would sift through the sawdust feeling certain items were being stolen from the factory; but never found anything.  After months of trying to catch the man he finally conceded and asked, “Charlie, I know you’re stealing something.  What is it?”  To which the man replied “wheelbarrows.” 

Customers are people who enjoy a joke, an education, and something new.  Engaging your customer in an experience goes a long way to building long term relationships.  The suggestion here is:  make your customers “want” to frequent your business.  Give them experience verses a chore. Think of ways to create more value for your customers and to be thought less of as a commodity.

Free seminars, for example, can create interest … provided customers aren’t suspect of a “hook” attached.  Offered monthly or quarterly, they can build a following.   You can broaden your subject matter to include handouts/speakers who can talk about “Life Savers” … things consumers can do to add value to their day:

•  How to make a nutritious meal in 15 minutes

• How to not “over-coach” your kid’s sports activities

• How to get your children into college

• Health and exercise tips

• Best ways to use coupons

• Stress buster activities

Rules For Selling During Gap Periods: Some things to consider when planning events to drive business during slow periods:

Get creative:  What would motivate prospective buyers to move out of the norm or habit and change for you?  It has to be a compelling reason and a strong message.  Sometimes the most obvious is the seed of the most creative.  What do you take for granted in your business?  What does your customer take for granted?  What can you do to make the buying of your product or service an experience:

• Smell good

• Taste good

• Feel good

• Sound good

Make your void period offers more of an experience and less of a transaction: In doing so you will be making it harder for your competition to copy you.  That’s why price cutting alone won’t get it done in the long term for you.  What do you want your customer to experience in using or buying your product or service?  When your car is in repair, you want it fixed right?  What if, while you were waiting, videos were playing that gave credibility to the dealership or mechanic working on your car?  What if a person was attending to your comfort in the waiting area?  What if?

Help the consumer to make it a habit by joining your club, or receiving loyalty rewards if they buy during void periods, etc.  Why should your customer come back? 

The world has evolved to become fragmented and, consequently, a fragmented marketplace.  But the good news is, it sets businesses up for opportunities to “re-join” humanity.  “Clubs” have become the venue to drive loyalty, such as:  Sam’s Club, Costco, major hotel chains and airlines.  But it’s going to take more than just frequent flyer/buyer programs to earn loyalty now.  Companies have to engage customers:  (And, by the way, employees, too.)  In the spirit of what made this country great, business needs to understand what customers want and give it to them. 

Read other articles and learn more about Don Farrell and Joe Creegan.

Five Myths Every Business Must Avoid

By Vivian Hairston Blade

At a recent stockholders meeting, the Vice President of Sales for a global manufacturer, reported:  “The economy has been tough on our industry.  Sales volumes significantly declined and have not nearly returned to pre-recession levels.  The company has laid off employees, cut expenses, and, unfortunately, has had to cut price to remain competitive.  Competitors have cut price as much as 40% on some products.  We’re ‘under-water’ on critical components our customers need.  But, we have no choice.“  

Sound familiar?  Could this be your company?  Like so many businesses during the recent recession, this company is having a tough time bouncing back.  Consumers’ wallets and businesses’ checkbooks continue to be tight.  In fact, the Price Index for personal-consumption expenditures, excluding food and energy, had bottomed out in late 2009, but is showing signs of being unstable again.

While sales and profits continue to struggle, employment will remain stagnant and the economy will be slow to recover.  It’s a vicious cycle.  Every company feels the trickle down effect.   Customers have reset their expectations.  And, companies attempt to cut price to retain customers, grow share and increase top-line revenue. 

But is this really a viable business strategy?  Focus on short-term revenue hinders investment in substantially improving the quality of your business for the future.   Though not sustainable, many companies still operate on this short-term view.

5-Myths Every Business Must Avoid: It’s time for you to take a look at 5 Common Myths that keep companies ‘sprinting’ to the finish line.  If you want to survive the recovery, avoid these failed strategies to stay ahead in the ‘marathon’.  

Myth 1:  Customers demand lower prices during a recession: When customers stop buying, the first reaction is to drop prices to jump start spending.  When price is the carrot, buying behavior changes and customers wait for even deeper cuts.

Myth 2:  You have to follow competitor price moves during a recession to stay competitive: Competitors use price wars to protect share.  You soon find that suffering profits can’t sustain the business for long.  Rarely does volume make up for the loss in revenue!

Myth 3:  We’re good at what we do.  Customers are privileged to do business with us: Sorry to disappoint you.  But, it’s not about you!  Companies with this attitude find that customers don’t stick around long. 

Myth 4:  Customer retention initiatives are a cost that won’t pay back: Companies that treat customer retention as a cost will allocate only a few resources to protect their greatest asset.  Their efforts fail to improve retention or increase sales and, therefore, support dwindles.

Myth 5:  Customer retention is the responsibility of the Sales and Customer Service departments: Service Recovery is not a customer retention program.  Only 1 out of every 19 unhappy customers complains.  That’s just 5%.  And of the 95% of unhappy customers who don’t even complain, more than two-thirds decide to buy elsewhere. Recovery as a retention strategy just doesn’t work!

A Look in the Mirror: Do any of these myths plague your company?  Where do you feel the effects?

• Does the number of customer defections surprise you?  What are these defections worth in Revenue?  Margin?

• Are you spending more on new customer acquisition?  How much more does it cost to win a new customer vs. retaining current ones?

• Are your customers really “price conscious” or are they really “value deprived”?

Studies show that when customers believe they get more “value” for their money, they are much more loyal and spend more with those brands.

Why Invest in “Value-Based” Customer Relationships? Companies that take a long-term view of investing in “value-based” customer relationships are rewarded with double-digit growth and profitability that compounds over time.  Does this mean higher costs? More often, investing in “value-based” customer relationships means reducing your costs or being able to charge more for highly valued products and services.

“We’re not fighting for the highest volume but for the best reputation, customer satisfaction, and the best profit,” says Dieter Zetsche, CEO, Diamler, on the prospects of surpassing Toyota’s Lexus as the No. 1 luxury U.S. brand, Business Week, August 2, 2010.

“Most marketers & corporations are now looking to reduce costs in order to improve the bottom line.  While they do, it will be important to remember the favorable economics of keeping and growing customers vs. finding new ones.”  Donovan Neal-May, Executive Director, CMO Council, Forbes.com.

VALUE is about how you make your customers successful.  Don’t forget that customers define VALUE and expect you to deliver VALUE, at a minimum, to meet their fundamental expectations if the relationship is to continue. 

Keep in mind that a change in the economic climate causes the needs of your customers to change, which requires a change in how you respond to their needs.

Your tools – 5-VALUE Creating Imperatives^TM  How do you effectively deliver greater VALUE in this tougher environment and remain profitable to survive the recovery?  Integrate these 5-VALUE Creating Imperatives into your business operations.  Take a closer look at each imperative.  As you review these brief descriptions, challenge your current thinking, culture and processes!

V - Voice: Give your customers one!  Be disciplined about listening to their challenges and needs.

A - Accountability: Hold leaders accountable for customer voice and for action that responds to customer voice.

L - Levers: What is most important to your customers in how you help them succeed?  How do they depend on you?

U - Unbelievable Experiences: Create experiences that surprise & elate your customers!  Focus on those levers that drive your customers’ success and relationships.

E - Engage & Empower: Customers & Employees are your two most important assets.  Engage them. Empower and trust employees to take good care of customers and build collaborative relationships.

How well do you execute in each of these areas?  How much VALUE do your customers really feel? Each of these VALUE Creating Imperatives requires a discipline to become part of your organization’s DNA.  These are critical to your success for improving your customer retention and making your business more profitable, no matter what the economic environment. 

Be unequivocal about creating promoters who sing your praises…customers who know you are committed to their success and who are committed to your success!

Read other articles and learn more about Vivian Hairston Blade.