Episode 21 – Finding Your Ideal Customer
With Matt Nettleton This blog has been very focused on business planning for the last two weeks. I think it is time to change it up just a little. Today I want to share an interview with sales professional Matt Nettleton. I am an active participant in a Sales Training Class with Matt Nettleton of Trustpointe. I love his direct, no nonsense appraoch to building my business. One of the things we have focused attention on lately is the difference between my average customer and my ideal customer. The average customer, are the clients I attract now. But the ideal, are the clients I want to do...
read moreBusiness Plan Mistake # 6 Inadequate Competitive Assessment
Many business owners make the mistake of viewing the world through their eyes, instead of those of their customers. This leads to the next common business mistake Business Mistake # 6 Inadequate Competitive Assessment People buy products which address their needs, and long before you started your business, you prospective customer found a way to meet those needs. To attract the attention of a prospective customer, you have to identify from whom you are taking attention. Even unique and innovative products must deal with competing products or services that may or may not solve the same...
read moreValentines Day – Bring Back the Love!
I get tired of staying on the same topic too long, so today we are going to take an intermission from the business plan series and celebrate the holiday with something I think I am going to make this a Valentines Day Tradition. I originally wrote this post a year ago. It features one of my favorite videos, poking fun at traditional advertising. As you enjoy this extremely funny video by Geert Desager ( Trade Marketing Manager South East Asia for Microsoft.) think about how much advertising and marketing has changed in fifty years. 50 years ago, advertising was easy, figure out your...
read moreBusiness Plan Mistake # 5 – Limited Market Research
Too often inventors fall in love with their idea. Just because it can be built, does not mean it should be. Today’s Business Plan Mistake focuses on asking the most important question of all. Does anyone really want your product? Business Plan Mistake # 4 Limited Market Research Too often, innovative entrepreneurs become enamored with their technology, product, or idea and fail to look at the larger community. How many individuals or businesses have a need for your product or service? And, more important, how many are likely to buy? If potential customers are not uncomfortable...
read moreBusiness Plan Mistake # 4
Today we look outside your business to your customer to find our next mistake. Business Plan Mistake #4 Poorly Defined Customer. Everyone is not your customer! Too often small-business owners, afraid to walk away from even one potential customer, try to define their market so broadly they include everyone. The danger? Without a focus, you end up spreading yourself so thin you do not effectively reach any particular customer. The chiropractor who defines his target as anyone with a spine may think he is indicating he has unlimited potential. In reality, he is showing a lack of understanding...
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