Posts Tagged ‘small business’

Can A Change Of Focus Make The Difference?

Sometimes all it takes to make a significant turn in your small business is to change your focus a little bit. We all have favorite activities, those parts of our business that we actually enjoy doing. For most, that part is the interaction with their customers. Most people who decide to start a small business are passionate about either the product/service that they provide or the people that their business will connect them with.

Whether you have a retail store or you’re a crafter who sells their goods at craft fairs and flea markets you share the need for customers to sell your goods or services to. You might think that having a website that ranks well in the search engines is more important to the retail store owner, but the fact is that both the shopkeeper’s and the craftsperson’s income are dependent upon increasing the number of customers that each has.

As small business consultants we have a responsibility to our communities to assist and educate as many folks and businesses as we can to the benefits and financial gains available by having a properly designed, optimized and focused website. From doll makers to sporting goods stores and every niche in between, the need is the same.

Once a small business owner realizes the ROI (return on investment) that a well engineered site can provide for them, they invariably want the benefits that it provides. By taking their focus off of their A/P (accounts payable or BILLS) and helping them see ways to increase both foot traffic (where applicable) and even more importantly, SALES they can then begin to use their site as the very powerful tool that it is.

As a bit of a segue, here at OBOW we’ll be changing our focus somewhat over the weeks and months to come. Our original focus was to assist small business consultants in their endeavor to help local businesses in their own areas. We have now broadened the scope of that original vision to include those small business owners and home business owners who would like to learn how to “do-it-themselves”.

Keep an eye out for new and interesting topics, and as always, we welcome your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to comment on any or all of our articles. Your responses are the best way for us to know how to serve you best. We appreciate your visits and would like to accommodate your needs in this niche. Please let us know how we can do that.

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Loyal Customers Don’t Want Sales

It’s the #1 deadly sin of most marketing campaigns.

Take a look at your daily newspaper (if your town still has one) or maybe your mailbox.  See all of those coupons?

• 10% off!
• SALE!
• Low Price Guarantee
• Save 20%, 30%, up to 45% – and more!

Here’s the problem with these offers… you’ll only get two (2) types of people responding to them:

Type 1 – People who aren’t your customers and are just price shopping

Type 2 – Existing customers who would have purchased from you anyway but will take advantage of these discounted prices.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with price shoppers – especially in today’s tough economy.  But if the customers are only buying price – THEY ARE NOT LOYAL CUSTOMERS.  The only thing a price-shopping customer sees in your business is what your product or service will cost.

Now, there are a few businesses that thrive on the low-price business model –  WalMart may be the best known.  But, if I’m any indicator of what’s happening to WalMart’s market then they’re spiraling towards their own destruction (remember, you read it first here!).  I shop discount stores regularly; but I’ll shop at WalMart ONLY when I need something cheap – something that I don’t expect to last, that I know I’ll only use once or twice, and therefore something I don’t want to spend much money on.  Anytime I’m looking for a real item – something that I expect to keep, use, and cherish for sometime – WalMart is nowhere on my list.

When it comes to WalMart – I’m a price shopper – not a LOYAL CUSTOMER.

Then, there are your existing customers who’ll jump on the low prices.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – your customers will have purchased goods or services from you at a really good price.  But, it’s not entirely a good thing either, since – in my experience – most businesses use sales and discount offers to increase revenue and net profit and not primarily to make happy customers.

A large, retail company recently ran a huge promotion with discounted prices.   During the promotion, things seemed to be going swimmingly.  Customers were redeeming the discount coupons at a spectacular rate.  But, when the promotion ended and the sales data analyzed, the company executives were surprised to find that sales revenues were almost unaffected – the increase was insignificant – even with the huge number of redemptions.  Why?  Because most of the redemptions came from existing customers who saw an opportunity to save a few dollars.  The bottom line?  The company’s revenue didn’t increase, their margins decreased, so they ended up with a smaller net profit during the time of the promotion.

“But,” you ask, “doesn’t this prove that good customers want sales?”

No, it proves that good, smart customers will take advantage of a sale – but that’s not what they’re looking for from you.

Loyal customers look for one AND only one thing: COMFORT.

• They want to feel comfortable with you and your business.
• They want to feel comfortable that they’re making the right decision while they’re spending their hard earned money
• They want to feel comfortable once they’ve actually shelled out for your product or service.
• They want to feel comfortable talking to their friends about their purchase.
• They want to feel comfortable that – should they ever need your product/service in the future – they know where to go.
• Then, once they feel comfortable – they want something new

Now, here’s the concept most business owners either don’t know, don’t understand, or entirely ignore:

When suspects and prospects, customer and clients don’t already have a relationship with a business that provides comfort, they’ll shop price to make up for what’s lacking.

So, when you’re creating offers to send out to suspects and prospects remember:

1. Suspects and prospects don’t really know you and feel comfortable with you or your business, so most will ignore your offer.
2. The only way suspects or prospects will consider your offer is if the price is so low that it makes up for their lack of comfort.
3. If your offer is made to existing customers, find something to offer other than price.  For example, instead of a restaurant offering a 15% discount on a meal,  offer a free, rich, to-die-for desert to every loyal customer that returns to the restaurant within a specified promotional period and orders the latest, delicious new entree.  These customers

• already know the restaurant
• feel comfortable that the new entree will be every bit as delicious as advertised
• may already have tasted (or lusted after) the to-die-for desert

so this offer is for something NEW they can feel comfortable about.

Sales and discount offers are short term tricks to increase traffic to your establishment.  They may work for a while but, like most short term fixes, there’s the problem of diminishing returns – the more you use them, the less effective they’ll be.

On the other hand, promotions and offers that focus on building comfortable relationships with prospects and loyal customers will put your business on sure footing for years to come.

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How ToMake A Living By Leasing Websites

Making a good living with internet marketing is nowhere near as easy as some people would have you believe.  To grow a sound and prosperous business requires a range of skills as well as knowledge and persistence.

Usually internet marketers are involved in selling e-books, videos, home study courses, reports, membership sites, CD‘s & DVD‘s.  It is not often that you hear about someone earning a living by leasing websites.

How can this be?

In the operational area of consulting to offline businesses, there is a huge opportunity to do just that.  It is now well established that this is a major growth industry.  At the present time, the large majority of small businesses either do not have a web site, or if they do, it is not bringing in new business.

Enter the offline consultant…

Becoming a consultant to offline businesses dictates that you need to provide them with an effective online presence that assists them to grow their business.  In order to do that you need to weigh the options available to you.

One opportunity would be to design an appropriate web site and sell it to the business owner.  In this scenario, this becomes a one-off transaction and he becomes the owner of the site.  The new owner also has the responsibility to maintain it on an ongoing basis.

A far better option is to prepare a web site for which you remain the owner.  Then lease the website to the business owner on a monthly basis.  You then retain control and can keep things to a proper standard…  More importantly, you then start receiving passive monthly income.  This is an important consideration, particularly when starting out in this area.

As your client portfolio grows, you will have a substantial monthly income.  Of course this income will be supplemented by other products and services that you may provide to your clients, but it will remain as the strong foundation of your business.

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Getting Into Your Client’s Head

Every business has expectations that need to be addressed when developing the original action agenda for transitioning an offline establishment into an online presence.  If these are not addressed almost immediately, the relationship can suffer over time as their unspoken objectives remain unfulfilled.

Careful evaluation and discussion of what the business can rationally expect to gain from a presence on the Internet is extremely important.  The raw data can be obtained using a written series of questions in the original interview.  Or the information could be developed through more informal means. It is important to get a feeling for the pulse of the business and what can be reasonably expected from the online effort.

If the business is faltering, and this is a last grasp at a lifeline, make sure you make no promises.  More often, though, moving to the Internet is seen by an uninitiated outsider as an easy way to increase sales immediately and exponentially.  It may happen: there are many cases where Internet successes have been massive, but there are just as many where the results took much longer to develop than expected.  Either way, it is vital to the developing relationship to understand these expectations and make sure the store is given a realistic viewpoint of what your services can and will deliver.  It is the classic case of under promising and strongly over delivering that should be a hallmark of any services you render.

During the initial evaluation phases, it is also a great time to determine what resources and advantages the client can bring to the table on their own behalf.  Often there are many hidden gems of people who can provide a lot of unique expertise and benefits to the Internet community. Store specialties must be identified and exploited to full advantage in the online presence.   Every little edge that is exploited may spell the difference between a strong campaign and one that falls inexplicably short

Many older store owners have years of expertise and knowledge in areas that can bring huge benefits to them and their followers/readers/fans.  Often they become known as experts in their field.  But this style of presentation requires dedication and commitment to an ongoing contribution.  Many shopkeepers simply do not have the patience or writing skills to provide ongoing content.  It is up to the consultant to recognize inherent talent and even more importantly, understand whether it can be relied upon in an ongoing fashion.

Be very careful about relying on employed talent.  Employees have a way of suddenly leaving a business at the very worst possible time and taking their knowledge with them.  It is unwise to devote an entire campaign, unless it is very short lived and transitory by nature, to the skills offered by an employee.  It is a much better bet if you can count on an owner to perform since he/she would have a vested interest in the outcome.

Identifying and correcting, if needed, the expectations of the client in the very beginning leads to much less stress and disappointment as time goes by.  An open and honest relationship is the foundation for many future collaborations.  Making sure you understand what the business is willing to expend in time and effort also prevents many logistical mistakes.  It is much better to know right away that all the work will fall on your shoulders, so that the fair compensation for the effort is understood right from the beginning.

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Getting it right, right from the start

Any offline to online transition consultant knows that the future sustainable relationship with a client depends on understanding the needs and expectations of the business actually in the process of transitioning from the offline world to the Internet.  It is extremely important to ensure that the right virtual presence is created.  Without a proper base from which to grow, no matter how flashy the site, the traffic will just not be able to sustain itself profitably.

The first and most basic task is to identify the actual needs of the business. If the focus is on the local community, and the business’s perceived role within it, there is no need to try to drive traffic from the ends of the world.  Similarly, any business that sells physical products strictly on reduced price structure has no real need to develop the persona of an expert in a given field.

But there are many times where the business is actually looking to expand and redefine itself in the process.  The Internet offers a wonderful opportunity to develop a “persona” that is completely different from the brick and mortar store setting.  In this case, the vehicle used to promote the expertise is much different from one that is displaying pure price point.

There are lots of ways to promote on the Internet, but the Home page is the most important.  The choice between blog and more standard website is critical.  Although a combination of both is often used, it is the focus of the development on one or the other that can spell the difference between success and failure.  As a general rule of thumb, if the information to be delivered is of a mainly static sort, maybe the business only desires an electronic business card.  Then the choice of the more standard website, with its ability to influence the way the pages are viewed in a somewhat structured way with the proper selection of menus and buttons, is usually the best way to offer exposure.

When the client has the requirement to build an aura of expertise, or a personality of sort is required, then this is most efficiently provided through the use of the blog format.  The blog is much less static and offers the ability to create a “web star” and hordes of followers.  This is something the more traditional website would have a difficult time providing.

You can have the best graphics and copy writing skills, but if the original platform for delivering the message is not appropriate, leading to a confused message and experience, serious problems will surface.  Even the best designed site will have problems delivering the original expectations of the contract if the experience is wrong.  Getting it right, right from the start is often the difference between success and failure in any project.