Exercise: Think You Know Your Business?
Think about your core business, your flagship product, or marquee service.
Now answer the following question:
=
When my customers refer me to others, what three things are they saying about what I do?
Have you got your answers?
Now ask your customers the same question…their answers may surprise you.
As a business owner I know that I’ve fell into the trap of marketing the service I think I provide, instead of marketing the service my customers think I provide.
There can be a big difference between the two. Only after you know what your customers value, why they use your service, and most importantly what they say about you to others can you begin to tailor your marketing message.
It’s okay if there is an initial disconnect between what you think of you, and what they think of you. Within the disconnect lies opportunity to more efficiently serve your current customers and attract new ones.
This exercise also provides opportunity to evaluate how well you are educating your customer base into the value of your services. If they are missing the big picture, the main “value add” of your business, you need to begin educating and crafting better messages to help them realize how you can help them.
Let me know how this exercise goes for you, I’d be interested in hearing your story.
Photo Credit: tantek’s photostream
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Turn Your Business into a National Champion!
If you’re not a sports fan the end of March and early April probably hold no special significance for you.
However in my household nearly all semblance of normalcy disappears as we hang on every second of action during March Madness, those few weeks before spring where college basketball teams battle it out to be the national champion!
Scores are checked incessantly, “smack” is talked amongst friends about who will win the title (I have the University of Connecticut winning it all this year), and the days between games seem like weeks and months. Yes, I’m a bit of a college basketball fan.
Becoming a Champion
One of the greatest coaches of all time in college basketball was John Wooden, his accolades are too long to list here, but he did win 10 national titles while coaching at UCLA.
But what does this have to do with business? On the surface it may look like not a lot. However, I got to thinking about the similarities between a successful basketball team, and a successful business, and saw quite a few parallels – teamwork, leadership, poise under pressure, just to name a few.
Coach Wooden’s teams were some of the most well coached, and best prepared to ever step on a basketball court. When it came to leadership, and fostering teamwork, nobody was better than Wooden.
Learn from the Best
So can we learn anything from Coach Wooden, keys that made him a successful coach, that we can take back to our own businesses and make them more successful? You bet.
Here’s coach Wooden’s 12 lessons in leadership, and I think you’ll see how these traits transcend basketball and can be used to make yourself a better leader and thus your business more successful.
12 Lessons in Leadership
- Good values attract good people.
- Love is the most powerful four letter word.
- Call yourself a teacher.
- Emotion is your enemy.
- It takes 10 hands to make a basket.
- Little things make big things happen.
- Make each day your masterpiece.
- The carrot is mightier than a stick.
- Make greatness attainable by all.
- Seek significant change.
- Don’t look at the scoreboard.
- Adversity is your asset.
Success Pyramid
Also Coach Wooden had what he called a success pyramid – which I love. It shows how success really builds onto itself. You can’t skip any step, or have a piece of the pyramid missing, without it falling down.
Success is like that, everything you do builds on itself. You can’t afford to be missing one piece of the pyramid and expect to continue building your business upwards.
Again, Coach Wooden was thinking of the success pyramid in the context of basketball, but the core values here are the same for any endeavor you want to succeed at.
You’ll notice the pyramid is built around “Faith and Patience”, with the pinnacle being “Competitive Greatness”, which Coach Wooden defines as “Performing your best when your best is required. Your best is required each day.”
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable
Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success – Free Legal Forms
In Closing
Take some time to think through Coach Wooden’s principals of leadership, and the success pyramid, and see how you can apply the concepts to your business. Anyone as successful as he is certainly worth listening too – who knows it could make your business a national champion!
What do you think is the most important aspect of leadership?
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
7 Signs You’re Not Ready For Business Ownership
Before you go into business for yourself you’ll need to critically assess if you have what it takes to succeed.
Here are 7 signs you are not quite ready – but don’t get discouraged, you can get there!
==
You’re not Quite Ready If…
1. You’re not comfortable being the decision maker
Are you the kind of person who is comfortable having the final, non negotiable say in something? You’ll need to be when you decide to start your own business. Countless times you will need to make “make or break” decisions about your business and those decisions will be yours alone. Other times you will need to draw a line in the sand and stick by your guns on a decision you know is right for your business – if you’re not currently comfortable with that, you’ll need to get there.
2. You lack long term focus
Some people live day to day, or have a hard time planning past next week. That’s fine in your personal life, but in business a short term outlook can be a killer. You’ll need to be comfortable planning for the next five years, and maintain focus on that plan in order to be successful. Remember – Short term outlooks lead to short term goals. And I’m sure you want to be in business long term.
3. You lack time or willingness to reprioritize your life
If you can’t picture a life where you won’t be able to watch every episode of Survivor, business owner ship may not be for you. Starting and run a profitable business takes an inordinate amount of time, and while we all have other commitments outside of our businesses, you need to sacrifice and reprioritize your personal time to make it work.
4. You don’t have the support of your significant other
Starting and running a business will affect your family, and especially your significant other more than you realize. They shoulder much of the burden of the startup, even if they aren’t actively involved in it’s management. Their support is imperative to your success. If they are not supportive, work to get them there before you launch.
5. The thought of 16 hour days make you cringe
As we said above, starting and running a business is an inordinate amount of work. The myth is that business owners have a lot more free time than the “wage slaves”, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. You will work longer, harder, and more intensely than you ever have working for someone else.
6. You have a hard time accepting full responsibility
Everything your business does, or does not do, is your responsibility. Sure a supplier may have dropped the ball, or an employee screwed up, but guess what? You are the person who will need to answer to that. More times than I can count I’ve had to step up and take responsibility for something that wasn’t necessarily my “fault”. It’s part of paying the cost to be the boss – be ready for it.
7. Your personal house is not in order
You will need to be in a strong position personally to make a business work. This means in a good place with your relationships, finances, and state of mind. When you are in the early stages of building a business you will be faced with numerous situations where throwing in the towel seems like a good idea. The stronger a personal foundation you have built the easier it will be for you to push on and make your venture a success.
Self Assess For Success
As you can see some of the above are personality based, and will be harder to change. While others are more lifestyle choice based. The idea here is to know where your strengths and weaknesses lie, and to critically assess yourself before you take a leap into running your own business.
If you find you exhibit some of the above traits, don’t get down, or throw in the towel. Just work at improving before you launch, you’ll put yourself in a much better position relative to the competition who didn’t do the same kind of self assessment.
What do you think? Would you add anything to my 7 traits?
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Photo Credit: Leo Reynolds
Four Lazy Business Mistakes
When I’m out and about I try to make notes of what other businesses are doing in order to help my own business.
Sometimes I see things that I want to emulate, and other times I learn what I don’t want my business to become.
What I’ve found in looking at these observations is that many of the areas of improvement fall under four general headings, and either the businesses feel their customers aren’t noticing them, or they’re just too lazy to fix them. So what are they?
Four Lazy Business Mistakes
1. Unorganized
People want to do business with a well oiled machine. It builds trust and loyalty when you see a business operating efficiently and effectively.
However many business are just plain unorganized. You’re fooling yourself if you think you can be unorganized in the back office and not have it effect the front office. Your customers know when your business is in disarray, and they consciously or subconsciously discount your services as such.
2. Going Cheap
If you cut corners to save a couple bucks – your customers see this and automatically think you provide a cheap product or service. I’m not saying you need to pave the showroom floor in gold, but keep in mind what image you want you customer to come away with when they do business with you. More often than not you want to provide quality at a value, not be thought of as cheap. There is always a cheaper, lazier way to do something, but is that the image you want to leave your customers with?
3. Faking It
Your customers see right through you. You can’t for a second fake anything that has to do with your business without it negatively affecting your customers base. You can’t fake enthusiasm, knowledge, or promises, yet many businesses try and once again fool themselves into thinking they are fooling their customers.
When you’re faking it the impression is you just want to turn a buck. You become a snake oil salesman who can’t be trusted. And that’s the lazy, non sustainable way to do business. If you don’t know it, feel it, or can guarantee it your better off admitting it.
4. Means to an End Mentality
How many businesses do you encounter that treat you like just another sale – just a means to their ends? And how many of those businesses to you go back to time and again.
Treating your customers like a revenue stream is the lazy way to approach service. Give them value, give them great service, and care about them. Once you treat them like meat, it’s very hard to work backwards and show you care.
Don’t Be a Lazy Bones
Like I said before these are the main areas I see businesses getting it wrong. They think the customer won’t notice and thus don’t do anything to correct it. To me it’s just lazy, and a lazy business doesn’t get my business more than once.
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Photo Credit: Kat…
Over 90 Field Tested Guerrilla Marketing Tactics
Looking for some easy ways to get your business noticed? Try one of these quick, fairly easy, and sometimes free guerilla marketing tactics.
This presentation is literally chock full of ideas on who to market your business, and what’s nice many come with real world examples and case studies.
Best viewed with full screen
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Photo Credit: bengarland
Five Very Last Minute Tax Tips
The following guest post from top selling author, attorney, tax and small business expert, Barbara Weltman is extremely timely for people like myself who put off taxes until the last minute. Here Barbara shares her best last minute tips for tax day.
In today’s economic environment, every financial milestone is an important one. It’s critical that small business owners have the right tools and know-how to properly manage their taxes year-round so they’re not dealing with undue stress on the days leading up to April 15th. The right solutions can help small business owners efficiently and easily manage their business’s finances and employee tax withholdings, so they can spend more time running their business. With the April 15th deadline looming, here are some things you can still do to reduce your tax bill and make the filing process a little easier.
5 Very Last Minute Tax Tips
1. Contribute to a deductible IRA or HSA. Yes, even though 2008 is over, you can put money into an IRA or health savings account (HSA) for the 2008 year (assuming you’re eligible for these accounts) and deduct the contributions on your 2008 return. You must act by April 15th. IRA contribution limits for 2008: $5,000, or $6,000 for those 50 or older on December 31, 2008. HSA contribution limits for 2008 depend on whether you have self-only coverage under a high-deductible health plan, or family coverage; those 55 or older on December 31, 2008, can add another $900.
2. Double check for carryovers. You may have forgotten tax breaks from your 2007 tax return that can be used to cut your 2008 tax bill. Look for capital loss carryovers (reported on last year’s Schedule D of Form 1040), which can be used to offset any capital gains in 2008 if you had them, plus up to $3,000 of ordinary income. Other carryover possibilities: home office deductions, charitable contributions, and net operating losses.
3. Settle up your tax bill. If you owe a small amount, pay it by check or charge it to a major credit card. While the IRS doesn’t charge a fee for paying by credit card, there’s a 2.49% convenience fee imposed by the credit card processor, so if you charge $1,000 in taxes, you’ll pay $24.90 to the processor—a hefty cost for racking up frequent flyer miles. Larger bill? If you can’t pay in full, ask the IRS for an installment agreement by filing Form 9564 This usually allows you to pay what you owe, plus interest, over the next three years.
4. File electronically. If you wait until the last minute, avoid lines at the Post Office, as well as save paper and postage, by using e-File to submit your return. Electronic filing also ensures that your return is free from math errors and has all the required information (e.g., Social Security numbers) for processing; you’ll receive an electronic acknowledgment from the IRS that the return has been accepted for filing. You may even be eligible to use FreeFile to prepare your return online and file it electronically at no cost. Bonus: If you’re owed a tax refund, you’ll get it sooner by filing electronically than you would if you send in a paper return.
5. Put your refund to work. If you’re owed money, use it to create future tax savings. You can have the IRS deposit your refund directly into an IRA, an HSA, or a Coverdell education savings account. Provide the account information (account number and routing number). Make sure the account custodian credits your refund to the correct tax year (e.g., your 2008 is applied toward your 2009 IRA contribution). You can even split your refund into two or more accounts (file Form 8888 to provide all account information.)
Caution: If you had a large refund, recognize that it amounts to an interest-free loan you made to Uncle Sam. To avoid this next year, reduce quarterly estimated tax payments related to your business income to better equal your actual tax bill for the year. Under a new rule for small business owners (more than half your income is derived from a small business and your 2008 adjusted gross income was under $500,000), you won’t be penalized for underpaying estimated taxes and you’ll improve your cash flow by pegging 2009 estimated tax payments (plus any tax withholding) at 90% or more of last year’s tax bill.
Final word. If, for any reason, you don’t want to think about taxes now, be sure to obtain an automatic six-month filing extension. File Form 4868 no later than April 15 to avoid late filing penalties. Also, if you expect to owe money, pay as much of it as you can now to minimize or avoid interest and penalties for late tax payments.
About Barbara
Barbara Weltman is a top selling author, attorney, tax and small business expert. Barbara serves as an expert on the Small Business Online Community, powered by Bank of America. She recently conducted an expert forum on the Small Business Online Community, where she answered questions about the impact of the stimulus package on small business owners. Barbara has also authored several books include “J.K. Lasser’s Small Business Taxes” and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business.”
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Photo Credit:Thomas Hawk
How Well do you Know Your Lover?
How well do you know your lover?
Not your wife, or significant other, that’s a topic for another blog – but how well do you know the customers that really love what you do?
They love your products, and they love your brand? Your brand lovers.
Your most powerful marketing tool are your brand lovers. You should know them, and know why the love what you do.
The Power of the Brand Lover
The folks at cultbranding.com have put together a great presentation on the power of the brand lover.
How do brand lovers drive your profitability?
- Existing customers are 5 times more likely to buy from you than another provider
- Your brand lover will buy from you more often than a casual customer
- Brand lovers are your most loyal customer – they don’t even consider the competition as an alternative to what you do
- They are word of mouth machines, creating new customers for you
Repeat sales at Zappos account for 75% of their revenue. Those are brand lovers hard at work.
If you want to unleash the power of your brand lovers, spend a few minutes with Cultbranding’s presentation.
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Photo credit: just.K
Small Business Marketing – Easy as 1-2-3
Possibly the question I am most often asked goes something like this “What should I do to market my product?”, or “How should I advertise my service?’.
I then ask probing follow up questions, and that’s where it tends to break down. In the euphoria to get the word out, we can easily forget the process and method to the marketing madness.
Make it Easy as 1-2-3
You can make your next campaign as easy as 1-2-3 by working through the following – in order! Please continue to email me for thoughts and ideas about your marketing, but be prepared for me to ask you about the following:
#1 Purpose
What is the purpose of your marketing? On the surface that may seem like an easy question, but not all marketing purposes are created equal – that is not all are designed to immediately sell more product.
The purpose of your marketing can be:
- informational focused
- a teaser to intrigue
- a sales generator
- a lead generator (not the same as a sales generator)
- Word of mouth “bait”
- A call to action
- Brand reinforcement
You need to know first and foremost what the purpose of your marketing campaign is. You can have multiple campaigns with different purposes, but you can’t have different purposes for one campaign.
#2 Message
Once you know why you are marketing. You can begin to craft the message.
Ask yourself “what am I trying to say to my customers?” Your key, or central message to the customer needs to be clear, concise, and laser focused. You’re not trying to tell me what War and Peace was about, you’re giving me the first sentence and letting me decide how I want to proceed. You can have multiple campaigns with different key messages, but you cannot have multiple key messages in a single campaign.
#3 Medium
Only after you know your purpose, and your key message, can you decide on the proper medium.
This is where I see people go wrong most often. They start with an idea they want to use Youtube to promote their service, and then work backwards to the purpose and message. Only after you know #1 and #2 can you decide on what the best medium is to reach your customers with your message.
Think about your current marketing…did you work through the steps? If not, would your marketing efforts been more successful had you of?
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Photo Credit: Bravo213
A Question for You
This week we’ve done quite a bit of talking about relationships that have been formed due to social networking, and conversations over social channels.
In Wednesday’s post about Twitter we had some conversation around relationship building in the comments section, and our featured entrepreneur from last week talked about relationships in the context of their business.
Evolving Conversation
I started thinking about how conversations have changed, and evolved, not only with the advent of the internet, but with the proliferation of social media networking, and how that affects our relationships. We (the collective we being us plugged in internet folk) do more communicating now than the generation before us. And no doubt we would say we foster more relationships than we did a few years back.
My Question
The breadth of communication and relationship building is greater today than it has been at any other time in our history.
But are we sacrificing the depth? Has quantity overtaken quality – or has the internet and social media made it so we can have quality conversations and relationships on a large scale?
That’s today’s question.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and let’s see if we can get some “conversation” going around this topic. I’m interested in what you have to say…
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
18 Ways Your Business Can Get Ready for a Rebound!
Tough times aren’t lasting forever, and anyone who’s been reading this site for a while knows that the astute business owner is using the downturn as a way position their business for the eventual upturn.
Here are five areas you can focus on to ensure you emerge from the recession depression stronger than ever:
Connect With Your Customer
- Provide high quality service
- Ask for customer feedback, and take it!
- Get your customers working for you
- Make sure you give them value
Refresh Your Product and/or Service
- Revitalize old products – keep it fresh!
- Reinforce your message – tell your story
- Repurpose a languishing product/service
- Fix leaks and fill gaps in your service/delivery model
Network Your Tail Off
- Leverage social networks
- Establish your online presence
- Talk to other biz owners
- Don’t neglect offline networking
Market Wisely
- Efficient use of marketing dollars
- Don’t cut marketing spend, redistribute
- Be aware of your brand, and build it
- Get creative
Invest in Yourself
What’s going to make you stronger when the economy turns around?
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
