At some point in every business’ growth cycle the leaders lose sight of their real job – sales. They get hung up on staffing issues, quality improvement, planning or new product development and completely forget that if no one is buying what they’re selling they have a huge problem.
In order to grow your company, you must remember that your business is sales. Your business is not the product you manufacture. Your business is not the service you provide. Your real business is marketing and building the internal capacity to successfully sell and deliver your products and services to a multitude of consumers.
Most business owners don’t initially launch their company because they are a great manager or a born marketer. They start their particular business because they possess technical skill in a certain area of expertise such as making glass vases, roofing houses, fixing computer systems or teaching people how to ski. So, when it comes to marketing, small business owners are often fish out of water.
That’s a colossal drawback in today’s competitive business climate, because you can make the most beautiful vases in the world, or be a whiz at troubleshooting computer glitches, and if no one knows you exist you’ll be bankrupt in no time. Or if you design a product that no one likes except you, you’ll have no market for what you are selling. You simply can’t generate revenue without mastering the process of bringing in and retaining customers!
Truly great marketing is an art form - and the strongest companies are willing to invest in professional help to do it right. But every business owner should know their customer base, understand the basic appeal of their products and services, and think like a marketer.
At its most basic, marketing is a three step process:
1. Understand consumer desire. You can’t sell to people you don’t understand, so get intimate with your ideal customers right away. Think about every transaction from their perspective. Learn what they like and don’t like, where they hang out, who they respect… their age, race, gender and income range. Nothing is too small to pay attention to. This process let’s you create a profile of who your best customers are, and will arm you with the data to find them, speak to them, and tailor your business model around issues that are important in their world.
2. Develop an offering that fits your target customers. If you’re selling diamond rings for $10,000, and your target customers are middle-class suburban teenagers who like ‘bling’, it’s not going to work. They can’t afford what you’re selling. Armed with information about your target audience you can make sure that your products and services meet their needs and fit their budget. Maybe in this instance you could create a flashy line of costume jewelry that would suit your target customers better? Or maybe you could re-engineer your products and promotions to appeal to a better target market - upper class professional women.
3. Connect consumers to the products and services they need through a sale. This step represents the most obvious stage of the marketing process – reach a customer and close a sale. You have to know where to reach your target audience, what to say that will peak their interest, and how to remove barriers to buying. Whether you are advertising on TV, writing an editorial column in the local paper, hosting a networking event or making a speech – you have to keep your focus on penetrating your target market and convincing them to make a purchase from you.
There is another key element to the marketing process that is critical and frequently overlooked… What comes after a successful sale? Businesses tend to focus on obtaining new customers to the exclusion of following through on their brand promises and retaining the customers they already have. You need to have a system in place to follow up with customers, encourage repeat purchases, invite referrals and ensure satisfaction.
As you grow your business, I urge you to examine every level of your company from your customer’s perspective. Successful entrepreneurs know that each sale has to be mutually beneficial and consumer-focused to move them a step closer to their ultimate dream of running a large, thriving organization. By thinking like a marketer and acknowledging your never-ending role as the chief salesperson on your team, you too can set yourself up to succeed down the road.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Think BIG!
One of the things that most small business owners struggle with is thinking big enough. We all have to consciously work to expand our horizons and mentally move beyond what we know. But growing a business is not an accidental endeavor, so planning ahead and preparing your company to increase is size is a huge step in seeing your dreams become a reality.
Last month we addressed clarity of vision, which provides the foundation upon which your company is built. That vision will be the driving force behind step number two – thinking bigger than you are. You should have an idealized image in your mind of what you are working toward… what your company can look like five or ten or twenty years into the future. Although you naturally have to deal with lots of little day-to-day issues surrounding the organization you currently have, you should never lose sight of what you ultimately want to become.
Are you willing to make some changes today to transform into something magical tomorrow? Can you sacrifice what you are for what you can be?
If so, then begin to practice the following five principles that will help you think bigger:
1. Stop seeking external validation. While historical data, statistics and industry standards can be helpful, they shouldn’t be the bar by which you measure your present or your future. Ultimately the most successful companies break through barriers and forge pathways into uncharted territories, so if you need to see logical external validation for every move you make, you simply won’t be on the cutting edge of achieving rapid growth.
2. Always act on your intuition. Michael Burke said that, “Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.” I completely agree. How many times do we all look back and say, “Ach, I had a gut feeling about that and I didn’t act on it!” Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of safety in your business. If you play it too safe and can’t make a decision without a perfect case for WHY, then your company won’t be adaptable and competitive in today’s ever-shifting marketplace.
3. Plan ahead for MORE. I can’t stress this point enough when it comes to driving growth. In every decision, every task, every purchase you must think beyond the current size of your business and ask yourself, “Will this be big enough later on?” Companies waste billions of dollars annually scaling up systems that they just put in place to accommodate growth. Your goal should be to plan ahead and design systems that are capable of expanding, serving more customers, integrating more staff and lasting through the next phase of your organization’s life cycle.
4. Make big, bold promises. Promises are different from targets or goals or ideals. If you are an individual of integrity, promises are things that you are willing to commit to in stone. I see many business owners shirk from making lofty promises. They are willing to try, to work towards objectives and to dream - but they are not willing to simply commit to making something happen come ‘hell or high water’. Some of the greatest triumphs in the history of business have come because leaders made a rash promise that seemed unattainable and then found a way to miraculously follow through. As Epictetus sagely advised, “First say what you will be; and then do what you have to do.”
5. Take action now. Vision and planning and promises are great, but your business won’t grow if you don’t take action in the present moment. I urge you to translate your big dreams into small action steps that you can begin working on immediately. A walk of a thousand miles begins with a single step… so take the baby step today that will launch your epic journey of growth and success.
In closing, I want to acknowledge how very difficult it can be to hold an imaginary image of your company as a thriving conglomerate in your head, but that is what it takes to design processes and make long view decisions that will take you to the top. By always thinking beyond your present reality you can continually take the small steps required to thrive in the future.
Last month we addressed clarity of vision, which provides the foundation upon which your company is built. That vision will be the driving force behind step number two – thinking bigger than you are. You should have an idealized image in your mind of what you are working toward… what your company can look like five or ten or twenty years into the future. Although you naturally have to deal with lots of little day-to-day issues surrounding the organization you currently have, you should never lose sight of what you ultimately want to become.
Are you willing to make some changes today to transform into something magical tomorrow? Can you sacrifice what you are for what you can be?
If so, then begin to practice the following five principles that will help you think bigger:
1. Stop seeking external validation. While historical data, statistics and industry standards can be helpful, they shouldn’t be the bar by which you measure your present or your future. Ultimately the most successful companies break through barriers and forge pathways into uncharted territories, so if you need to see logical external validation for every move you make, you simply won’t be on the cutting edge of achieving rapid growth.
2. Always act on your intuition. Michael Burke said that, “Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.” I completely agree. How many times do we all look back and say, “Ach, I had a gut feeling about that and I didn’t act on it!” Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of safety in your business. If you play it too safe and can’t make a decision without a perfect case for WHY, then your company won’t be adaptable and competitive in today’s ever-shifting marketplace.
3. Plan ahead for MORE. I can’t stress this point enough when it comes to driving growth. In every decision, every task, every purchase you must think beyond the current size of your business and ask yourself, “Will this be big enough later on?” Companies waste billions of dollars annually scaling up systems that they just put in place to accommodate growth. Your goal should be to plan ahead and design systems that are capable of expanding, serving more customers, integrating more staff and lasting through the next phase of your organization’s life cycle.
4. Make big, bold promises. Promises are different from targets or goals or ideals. If you are an individual of integrity, promises are things that you are willing to commit to in stone. I see many business owners shirk from making lofty promises. They are willing to try, to work towards objectives and to dream - but they are not willing to simply commit to making something happen come ‘hell or high water’. Some of the greatest triumphs in the history of business have come because leaders made a rash promise that seemed unattainable and then found a way to miraculously follow through. As Epictetus sagely advised, “First say what you will be; and then do what you have to do.”
5. Take action now. Vision and planning and promises are great, but your business won’t grow if you don’t take action in the present moment. I urge you to translate your big dreams into small action steps that you can begin working on immediately. A walk of a thousand miles begins with a single step… so take the baby step today that will launch your epic journey of growth and success.
In closing, I want to acknowledge how very difficult it can be to hold an imaginary image of your company as a thriving conglomerate in your head, but that is what it takes to design processes and make long view decisions that will take you to the top. By always thinking beyond your present reality you can continually take the small steps required to thrive in the future.
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