Resolution Strategies
It is January, so everyone is talking about resolutions. We talk about resolutions every year, and as a matter of fact, we often make the same ones year in and year out. Why? Because by February 1, we have slipped back into our old habits. So how do you create and stick to resolutions and goals?
About a year ago, I found a post by Ben Barden, and got a few ideas on how to think differently about the process. I wrote about it last year, and didnt’ follow the advice, but I think I am ready to do it this year. Among his suggesions:
Don’t make resolutions for the whole year.
If you only set objectives once a year, it’s quite likely that you’ll forget about them once the year is in full swing. You might give your resolutions a cursory look at points throughout the year, but you don’t feel much urgency because you have the whole year to do them. Then before you know it, it’s almost Christmas and you’ve achieved nothing. The New Year should not be the only time when you set resolutions.
One thing I learned in 2009, is that you have to be ready to adjust, and readust your strategy to meet the changes in the marketplace. I expect it will be the same this year requiring savvy small business owners to bob and weave along with the changes. Success will come from continually readdressing goals, resolutions and strategies to stay ahead of the curve.
While I have long term goals, I have broken the year into four parts, with resolutions and action plans for each quarter. What about you?
Seven Suggestions for the Last Seven Weeks
It is hard to believe, but we have just seven weeks before the end of the year. By now, most business owners (with the exception of retail stores) know how the year will end. And, while the numbers are lower than years past, owners seem to be looking forward with optimism.
With glimpses of the recovery taking hold, business owners seem to believe success in 2010 will be their reward for surviving 2009. I love the optimism, but I also know it needs to be supported with more than hope.
If you want a piece of the action in 2010, you need to start now. In the last seven weeks of 2009 you need to build a foundation for your success next year. Don’t wait for January. It will be too late! So what should you be doing in the last seven weeks of this year? Here are seven ideas, implement just one a week and you will be far ahead of your competitors by January 1.
- Dust off your business plan or write a new one.
- Design new marketing material. Even if you don’t print anything till early next year, you will be ready.
- Take a class, learn something new you can use next year.
- Expand your contact circle. Check out three new networking groups.
- Call five past customers just to check in.
- Make some news! Introduce new employees, host an event, launch a new product or service, and tell someone!
- Audit your website. Is it time for a change? Do you need an overhaul, or just a few tweaks?
These are my suggestions, do you have others?
Come back tomorrow as my guest author, Robby Slaughter shares some of his end of year strategies.
Price, Technology or Marketing – What is Your Competitive Advantagre
The dilema of where to focus resources and energy is not relegated to just small business owners. When I worked for a division of UTC around budget time the conversations were always about the trade offs.
The R&D Department would argue we needed to invest in new innovative products, to give us a competitive advantage.
The Sales Team wanted us to work on product revisions which would give us the lowest price in the marketplace.
And as part of the Marketing Group I was always negotiating for more money to improve the customer experience.
Who was right? Which investment would separate us from our competitors? And you can’t do all three, not really, because like the picture on the left the more you emphasize and move in one direction the more you move away from something else. Trying to do all three equally well leaves you standing in the center, not really great at anything.
So how do you decide? Back then the answer was simple, the Carrier Divion in which I worked was built on almost 100 years of innovation That is hard habit to break. And they wouldn’t, we were known for our technology. We were expensive, but we offered customers more in terms of products and services. It was difficuslt when low priced comptitors came into the market and stole share because they were cheaper. But when we tried low priced versions, we were not successful. Our customers still wanted the same level of support, and quality at the lower price.
To be successful, you have to be known for excelling in something. Innovation/Technology, Price, or Service. Which will you choose? Seth Godin had some interesting thoughts in a recent blog post, (Creating sustainable competitive advantage) where he advised against banking on technology which will be copied. He recommended:
- You can own something that’s hard to copy (like real estate).
- You can race down the pricing and scale curve, so it’s cheaper for you to do what you do because you have a head start.
- You can create switching costs, so that the hassle and cost of moving to a cheaper competitor is so great, it’s just not worth it.
- You can build a network (which can take many forms–natural monopolies are organizations where the market is better off when there’s only one of you).
- You can build a brand (shorthand for relationships, beliefs, trust, permission and word of mouth).
- You can create a constantly innovating organization where extraordinary employees thrive.
When we first started, I thought we needed to compete on price, offering a lower cost alternative to larger agencies. And just like when I was in my UTC days, it was hard to walk away from the position which built the company in the early days. But I finally understand, our real advanatge is not our price, but our expertise and service. For small business owners who want more personal service, we are fit. If they want a cheap website, there are plenty of other companies who will build one. When they want to learn what to do with it, they come to us.
You can’t be be great at all three. Where is you best position?
The Beginning of a Podcasting Journey
Written by Neil Chaggar
There are many ways to inform, educate, and communicate with people over the internet. However, there’s one medium that literally gets your voice across to your audience; it’s called Podcasting.
Podcasting works similar to blogging; however it can be far more effective if the presenter is an exceptional speaker rather than a writer or if the audience prefers listening to their media/feed rather than reading it.
Earlier this week, Lorraine expressed an interest in Podcasting to compliment her written blog.
I was excited to work on this project since I already knew how useful yet simple this medium is to get your message across. I’ve listened to Podcasts in the past but didn’t know exactly how to set it up on our website; so began the Podcasting research.
I soon learned many people choose iTunes to publish their Podcasts so they are easily available to anyone and everyone. In addition, there are many other things to consider before you can start Podcasting. To begin, you need to have a quality recording tool. While most computers can record sound into a WAV file, you need additional software to save your files as MP3s.
Turns out, there are many software options from which to choose from but finding a cheap yet efficient one was tricky. Finally, we settled on Audacity, which is free and has decent effects and features, along with capability to save and convert MP3 files.
Another issue Podcaster face is choosing a third-party server where you can upload all your files and material along with RSS codes so iTunes can publish your Podcasts. After looking at several website, some more expensive than others, we chose www.solidcasts.com, which allows users to have first 100MB of space for free and reasonable monthly prices for up to 20GB of space.
Now we have all the precise tools and software to create and publish Podcasts, you can soon listen to Lorraine Ball has to say, literally. Furthermore, if you already publish Podcasts on your own website, feel free to check out the websites and software mentioned above to see if it can improve your Podcasting activities.
Neil out!
Business Plan Lesson 2: History and Position to Date
This is week two of our Ten Week Business Plan course. If you would like to get reminders about all ten weeks, simply sign up for our eCourse and get a free business plan outline at the same time!
Introduction to Your Plan – The History and Position to Date
This section introduces the reader to you and your company; it outlines the competitive environment and states how your business fits into the market. Why did you start the business? How did you arrive at your business idea? Why will your business be successful? What have you done so far?
Vision, Mission, Value and Goals
Vision - This is a long-term view of your business. It is an optimistic description of what your company will look like in three to five years.
Mission - Why do you exist? What business are you really in, and whom do you serve?
Values - In this age of corporate and political scandals, it is hard to believe values matter anymore — but they do! What are the lines you will not cross?
Goals - What are the short-term and long-term goals of your company? Your answers to this question are some of the most important in the entire plan. Goals must be specific and measurable, and may include: sales volume in dollars or units, number of customers, size of company, and number of employees.
Business Structure and Management Team
The balance of this section is dedicated to the people who make up the company. The purpose is to give the reader confidence that the leadership has the talent, background, and necessary skills to lead the business to success.
Product/Service Description
Use simple, jargon-free language that will give the reader a strong picture of what you do. If you must use technical terms, be sure to explain them.
Find this interesting? Sign-up for the Business Plan in 10 Weeks newsletter or purchase “Business Map: A Practical Guide to Business Planning” by Lorraine Ball.
Your Assigment:
Start answering the questions in your outline. Share a piece of your company background, what you do or why you think your idea will work in the comment section below.
Can You Fake Local Feel?
It is hard to think about them this way, but coffee house giant Starbucks was once a neighborhood business. A quirky, local coffee shop, with a distinct product and atmosphere, which they replicated and replicated, and replicated. Today they are the McDonald’s of coffee. When you walk in the door you know what to expect, the smells, colors, the forced friendliness of the staff, the displays, food selection, and even the location of the bathrooms is predictable.
Calling them predictable is not a criticism, just a fact. They have a nice product, and the predictable consistency makes Starbucks a safe, easy and comfortable choice. But it is no longer a neighborhood coffee shop. It doesnt’ have the personality of The Bean Cup or Hubbard and Craven. That is ok, I don’t go to Starbucks for personality. But now, with the launch of their 15th Ave Coffee shop, they hope to return to the personal feel, and at least one writer thinks it is a bad idea. Peter Merholtz says:
But 15th Ave Coffee & Tea is an experiment doomed to failure, because there’s no way a corporate coffee chain can create an authentic neighborhood coffeehouse experience. Your favorite local coffeehouse is the product of someone’s passion, dedication, and probable borderline craziness. 15th Ave is the product of corporate product design and development.
Peter hits the nail on the head when he says the local shop is the product of someone’s passion. Passion is what drives successful small businesses, and it is hard to sustain the passion when you no longer touch the product every day. But does growth have to spell doom for passion? I don’t think so. One way to retain the passion is to give the local manager ownership stake in the store, and in the decisions about what products they carry and the overall experience, but I somehow doubt Starbucks will allow that type of autonomy.
As a result, when I am on the south side, you will find me at the Bean Cup, and on the North side, I will be at H & C, becuase I dont believe you can Fake a Local Feel!
Roundpeg Redesign, Part 2: Finding a Framework
Written by Jay Mattingly
In Part 1 of our ongoing Roundpeg redesign series, we examined how we went about doing research to gain inspiration with our website redesign. The second step was to find a WordPress template which we felt we could use to improve the site dramatically. We only design in WordPress, and wanted the site to showcase some of the best of what we can do. While we often build templates from scratch, there are some great existing templates, which can be modified easily.
Modifying the template is easy, but finding several we liked, wasn’t I’ve probably looked at several hundred of templates to try to find the right one. In most cases, we would like some elements from the template, but were totally put off by something else. Then there were the conversations about how easy it would be to change a certain feature.
We went through tons of different sites and it took a while to find templates we liked, but in the end I felt like the effort we put into our search was rewarded with a couple really good “finalists”.
We’re getting to the point where the choices are getting narrowed down. I’m excited to see the mockups of our “finalists” because I think that will be the first moment when our vision will start to become a reality.
Here are some of the sites on which I found a ton of great themes:
We should have some mockups with the new templates for your consideration. Keep checking back with the blog for updates on our redesign!
Say Less … Listen More
Have you ever been at a networking event and politely asked a small business owner what what he/she does, and their answer goes on, and on and on?
When ever that happens to me I am reminded of an old story about an impatient young man who went to visit an old scholar. He demanded the the old man tell him everything he needed to know about the bible standing on one foot.
The old man smiled, stood on one foot and said, “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you! All the rest is commentary”
What Would You Say?
If that same impatient young man came to your business, could you meet his challenge? Could you boil down the description of your business to a simple message, deliverable standing on one foot?
Say Less … Listen More When someone at a networking event asks “What do you do?” Treat the listener like an impatient young man. Avoid a long, detailed description of your products and services. Instead, give a brief, but compelling description that leaves the listener wanting more … and watch what happens!
Never Forget What REALLY Matters
Written by Jay Mattingly
Working with the Sertoma Club of Greenwood to redesign their website for WAMM Fest I learned a lesson about what is really important in web design and marketing in general. WAMMFEST, scheduled for Aug 22 is the first of what organizers hope will be an annual event celebrating Wine, Art, Music, and Microbreweries. It is a great opportunity for people to experience all that Indy’s vibrant cultural scene has to offer.
The Sertoma Club, a volunteer organization wanted a website which would allow them to communicate updates on a regular basis to their target audience throughout the central Indiana community. We went through several rounds of changes in the process and along the way I’ve been reminded of something very important.
The organizers of WAMM Fest weren’t willing to just settle for flashy graphics or innovative site navigation. To them, the most important aspect of the website was making sure it conveyed the exact message and core values of what the festival was really based on. Too often in marketing, we are distracted and forget to focus on emphasizing our core message and values. It’s easy to get caught up in what’s new, what’s next, or what’s on the cutting edge. It’s easy to just stick flashy graphics and unorthodox style on your website; but what separates your business is what you-and only you-can offer. Sertoma Club never forgot the core message was the most integral part of the WAMM Fest marketing campaign. They reminded me your core values are who you are; and those values are, and will always be, the most important part of your marketing message. And at the same time, we were able to transform their first attempt into a site they could be proud of! 
Marketing Metrics: Customer Acquisition and Retention!
Earlier this week I introduced the concept of holding your marketing accountable by establishing metrics to measure performance. Because much of marketing is focused on customer acquisition, at least some of your metrics should measure elements contributing to your effectiveness at attracting new customers.
Customer-acquisition metrics include:
- Awareness levels. Have prospective customers heard about you? Is your name the first that comes to mind in the product category?
- Rate of customer acquisition. How many new customers have you added this month?
- Market share. Of the total number of potential customers in your market, what percentage comes to you?
- ROI (return on investment). As you evaluate the performance of a marketing program divide the cost of the program by the total number of clients you gained as a result. Compare the cost to the average sale per customer. How much are you spending to add one more customer.
By turning loyal customers into advocates, your customer-acquisition costs will decrease as the value of each current customer increases. Therefore adding new customers is only half of the equation. The other important metric deals with customer retention.
- Retention rate. Improving customer retention remains one of the most effective ways to drive profits to the bottom line. What percent of your customers renew services or buy from you a second, third or fourth time?
These are just a few of the possible measurements. How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing?
