First of all, don’t tell any advertising sales people about this blog, or they’ll know that we’ve got ‘em figured out. We’ve figured out a simple way to separate the good ones from the not-so-good ones. When you talk to a publication’s sales person, the first question they should ask is, “What are your objectives?” Unfortunately, the first question many of them ask is, “What’s your budget?”

Assuming we’re talking to the right ad rep, we need to have a good answer to the ‘What are your objectives’ question. Have you thought this through? Most of us haven’t when confronted with this insightful question. So, what are your objectives when it comes to advertising/marketing/promotions?

Consider these possibilities:

1. X number of new customers (say, 100 or 100,000 or 5)
2. A sold out event (example: 100 tickets sold)
3. X units sold on your online store (10,000)
4. Entry into a new market (a new city, state, or age bracket)
5. Introduce a new product/service (Introducing!)
6. Create a brand or identity (not a typical small business objective)
7. Increase traffic on the website (increase traffic by 50%)
8. Return on Advertising (NOT to pay for itself, but to return 10:1 Sales:Ad expense)

When defining an objective, it is important that it be clear, measurable, and realistic.

I read a John Ruskin quote that got me thinking: “There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man’s lawful prey.”

I think the goal of any small business owner is to make their products a little BETTER and still a little CHEAPER to their customers.  We talk of customer service being the central strategy for small business owners, and we think of that in terms of interaction with our customers: problem resolution, building a relationship, personal attention.  However, when boiled down, customer service, serving the customers, can also be tied directly to the product: give them what they want at the best price.  That! is what will get them to buy from you.

As we get more efficient in producing and delivering our products; as we hammer our suppliers for better pricing; as we get more niche focused, we will have savings to pass along on products that are ever improving.  It’s a marketing evolution that will help a small business owner increase sales, market share, and happy customers.

As part of my consulting program and the Dashboard, I ask business owners, “What will it take for you to reach your Big Picture Goal?”  One of the key areas in answering this question is Finances, and invariably an answer is either ‘I need a loan’ or ‘I need a line of credit.’  I follow that one up with, do you know your banker?  One client answered, ‘My banker is whoever’s at the drive-through teller!’  That can’t be your answer.

Once, I was sitting in a meeting with a client when his phone rang.  He saw the Caller ID number and had to answer it.  “Okay…okay…yes…alright…thank you!”  It was his banker, calling to tell him he was about to bounce a big check.  He looked at me, apologized for having to run, and headed out to collect a receivable to cover the check.  Now, proper bookkeeping might have prevented this, but the point is this person knew his banker well enough for his banker to make that call and save him an overdraft charge, if not something more embarrassing.

There is a good article at sba.gov about this topic.  I’d recommend reading over it and then heading straight out to your bank and start building a relationship with your banker.

Every time I talk to a working musician, I tell them about Dick Dale’s video on YouTube. After a few more views, I realized that it’s a good lesson for any business owner, not just musicians. What are the lessons?

1. Start small and build your marketing budget/campaign as you grow. This way, you don’t spend away your much-needed cash.
2. Give away free samples. Let your market sample your work so they come back for more in the form of sales.
3. Create a great product. Marketing is asking people what they want and then offering it to them. Make sure they want what you’re selling!
4. Maintain control. I bet one of the reasons you started your business is that you have some ‘control freak’ in you. Well, that’s a good thing. Make sure you control your product, the rights to your product, and the messages around your product.

Check out the video:

As small business owners, we often are asked, “How’s business?”  It can be a tough question to answer because there are so many elements, some of which can be good and some not so good at the same time.  Sales might be up, but an employee is having problems.  Profits may be climbing, but a supplier is really dropping the ball on us.  So, while this question might be hard to answer when asked directly, I bet in your own mind, you are constantly answering the question based on one or two key observations of your business, or ‘metrics.’

I’ve gotten to know the owners of a certain local business over the past year or so.  Every time I get off the highway and drive home, I pass their shop.  And every time I do, I glance over to see how many cars are parked out front.  It’s an instant indicator of how business is doing.  I had a client a while back who measured her daily success by how often the phone rang.  To her, the ringing phone was orders calling in, business getting done.

While I try to get business owners to identify key metrics for their Dashboard (well-defined, measurable numbers), it is these less formal indicators that many of us look to to see how business is doing.  What are yours?  Here are a few more I’ve heard:

1. Cars in the parking lot
2. Phones ringing
3. Deliveries
4. Butts in seats
5. Presses running
6. Invoices printed
7. Email inquiries
8. Website visits

Take a moment to sit back and observe your business.  Look at the operations.  What stands out as an indicator of a busy day, a profitable day, a day that you would say, “Since you asked, business is doing quite well!”

Now that we’re positioned to take advantage of a slowing market, let’s get a few things ready to go for this wave that’s going to take away our competition.

1. Think about creating a ‘package’ of your product or service that moves from the ‘luxury’ end of the spectrum over towards the ‘needs’ end.  People are looking to cut back and reduce their budgets.  How can your business help them with that?
2. Customer Service.  Maybe now is time to offer that amazing “100% Money-back Guarantee!”  If your customers are going to hand over their hard-earned dough, they will be more likely to do so with such a performance guarantee.
3. Cash.  Now is time to get a line of credit.  Banks only give money to people who can prove they don’t need it, right?  Even though we’re getting prepared for this wave, there are likely going to be a few tough months or weeks ahead.  In order to get through them as best as possible, it would be great to have a little rainy-day fund available.
4. Marketing.  Keep it going.  Don’t cut back.  This would be a great time to analyze your past marketing efforts and see what’s working and what isn’t.  Start reallocating your money to those avenues that have the greatest payoff.
5. Expenses.  Look over your expenses and identify places that you can cut back.  I  challenge you to find three categories of expenses that you can reduce by at leat 25%.  I know you can do it.  Heck, just start refilling your printer/toner cartridges rather than buying new ones.  There, that’s one.

In football terms, it’s time to hunker down with a good power running game.  Protect the ball and run out the clock.  When all is said and done, you will be in a great position.

We’re hearing more and more bad news about the economy. Ed McCartney of the Arizona Minority Business Enterprise Center sent me an article from the Phoenix Business Gazette which summarizes survey results by the Small Business Research Board. Basically, small businesses say they are pessimistic about the economy, are slowing hiring, and project slower growth. In fact, less than half (48%) predict any growth at all (in sales)!

Great news! You are one of the lucky ones. You see it coming, and you are making adjustments. You have secured your line of credit for cash flows and have designed special products or packages just for a recession. You have also identified places in your business that you could be more efficient, saving you time and money. The better news is that your competitors have NOT made these moves. In the end, this economy is going to be a wave that washes away the weaker competition, leaving companies like yours around to reap the benefits.

It’s not going to be easy, and it might not be fun either; but, it’s going to benefit your business. When good times come back around, your business is going to see a much-deserved growth spurt from your increased market share.

So, cheers to the economy!

Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, has an easy formula for success:

“It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all.”

Double your rate of failure.  In other words, if at first you don’t succeed…you know the ending!…try, try again!  I know at least three times in your life that you failed miserably, but kept trying, and eventually succeeded.  In fact, you went on to become pretty good if not an expert in each one.

You:

1. Learned how to walk after countless head-knocks on walls, doors and furniture.  I mean, talk about bouncing back!
2. Learned how to speak a language.  Do you know how ridiculous the English language is? But you didn’t give up!
3. Learned how to ride a bike.  Are you kidding me?  How many skinned knees did it take?

This all just supports the previous post about Resolve.  We can’t fail.  That’s why I say just remove that word from your vocabulary.  In each step of the way, you are just getting that much better at your business.  Your sales strategy is improving.   Your marketing efforts are paying bigger dividends.  Your customers service is getting to be top-notch.

As long as you don’t take your eye off the Big Picture, you are on your way to success.

Sorry…I couldn’t resist that title!

When it comes to marketing, one of the most powerful concepts is the Niche Market. I’ve found that many small business owners are reluctant to focus on a smaller segment of their market, for two key reasons:

1. They have a hard time actually defining that segment/niche
2. They are afraid they’ll lose potential customers that are outside that niche

Defining the niche is a tricky task, but your niche might just be sitting there waiting for you to run with it. Take a look through all of your customers. Is there a group that are just a real pleasure to work with? You know, the ones who pay on time and truly appreciate the value of your product/service! Or…Or! You might look at one particular product or service that sells the best. In either case, your potential niche might just be right there in front off you.

The second problem is a little more difficult. I completely understand the hesitance at taking your current efforts and, in a sense, REDUCING the size of your target. The key is to make a smooth transition from a general marketing campaign to a niche marketing campaign. I hate to do this to you, but look at the law industry (lawyers). It’s very rare that you see a sign for a law firm that just says, ‘Lawyer’ or ‘Attorney’. They all dig out a niche: accident law, business law, sports law, divorce law, bankruptcy law, etc. In fact, they likely carve it a little deeper by sticking to a certain geography.

The other thing to consider here is the shear size of your market. If you did some research and counted the size of your current market, I’m positive you’d find enough of them to start getting more focused and still have plenty to sell to.

The point is that a marketing message designed to target a specific niche will be heard faster and louder by its intended audience. Isn’t that something we’d all want from our marketing campaign?

I did a seminar last week for a group of Realtors and was surprised that many questions related to technology and running a small business. So, I thought I’d throw together a list of the key pieces of technology that get me through the week.

1. YouMail : this is a great voicemail system. You can program an outgoing message for each caller (based on their Caller ID). This can really create an amazing impression when they get to your voicemail and hear, “Hi John! Sorry I missed your call…” Usually, a first-time caller begins their message with a little left-over laughter. Additionally, you can ‘ditch’ unwanted callers and retrieve your voicemails via email — which is easier to control and saves precious minutes on the cell plan!

2. The Voice Recorder. This is a must for my business. Seems that I have most of my brainstorms while driving. It can be difficult to remember these great ideas w/o a way to record them. I use a $40 Olympus voice recorder to take down these notes. Now, if they’d just make it water-proof for the shower!

3. Electronic Organizer. I know there are many out there that need to stick with the good old hand-written calendars. For the rest of us, I really recommend a Palm-based organizer (ironically, I’m on a BlackBerry…). This organizer easily syncs with Outlook. The part I like most is the drag-n-drop feature on the calendar. Need to reschedule an appointment? Just drag it to the new time and drop it. Done!

4. Other online tools.

a. Surveys. Create you own online survey with SurveyMonkey.com, ZapSurvey.com, or Zoomerang.com.

b. eNewsletters. I switched from ConstantContact.com to Aweber.com, but both work great and are easy to use.

c. Financial tools. I recommend QuickBooks online, PayPal, and Google Checkout.

How about you? What cool technology helps you run your business?