Entrepreneurship Director Gives 10 Tips for Business Owners
With Wall Street hitting record lows and one of the bleakest economic outlooks in decades, small business owners are preparing to weather hits from the trickle-down effect of a recession.
What will make the difference between the businesses that survive and those that don't? Is there a way to remain resilient in the midst of so much uncertainty?
Dan Steppe, director of the nation's top-ranked entrepreneur program at the University of Houston's C. T. Bauer College of Business, and Ron Wuensch, an instructor at the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at Bauer, have decades of experience in guiding businesses through good times and bad. The two have been busy advising current students about how to weather the current financial upheaval, and recently sat down to compile 10 things small business owners can do to emerge from this down cycle unscathed: 1. Face facts -- but don't get drawn into what Steppe calls "the media melodrama." The political maneuvering that prefaced the eventual signing of a $700 billion financial rescue bill threatens to
detract from a more important reality, he says. "We got into this problem because we have too much debt and not enough collateral. These problems have not been solved. We are going to be or are already in a recession."
2. Look for places to reduce debt and only invest in necessities. "Cut
back on everything," Steppe says. "Be cruel and heartless about
what you need to be in business. Get rid of everything you don't
need. Know exactly why you borrow what you do." Wuensch adds:
"With a change in economics you have an opportunity to really look
at your business, and adjust it to the next economic reality."
3. Remember the basics of sound business. Never borrow money on a short-term
loan if you aren't really able to repay it until long-term.
"Forget that you're a financial genius," Steppe says.
"If you're borrowing money, it needs to be paid back over the
life of the asset you're buying. Don't take out a 12-month loan
assuming you'll be able to borrow at 5 percent or borrow at all when
it comes due."
4. Really get to know your customer. Rip out your answering machine, step up
your service and ask what they need. Understand how your target customer
has evolved. In general, "It's best to target high-end or
budget buyers, the middle is gone," Steppe says. "Do something
fast or you're about to go out of business. People will be buying
what they need and cutting back on their wishes and wants."
5. Embrace the current economic reality, Part I. "The bottom of the
cycle is a really good place to start a business," says Wuensch,
"because when you start off on an up cycle, your assumption is that
this (level of profitability) is going to go on forever." Those who
have studied the history of business will be comforted by the knowledge
that downturns always eventually go up.
6. Embrace the current economic reality, Part II. Competitors' failed
businesses present an opportunity. "If the fundamental need of their
business didn't go away, people who understand this can exploit it
(often by buying the failed company or hiring top employees left without
a job)," Steppe says.
7. Postpone a new business launch, and consider the intervening months or
years a gift. "Those who have experience are better off. Go work for
someone else for a few years, fill in the holes of your education and
keep working on your business plan," Steppe says.
8. Network and join together with other business owners. Vote, and act as a
group to wield influence on local and national levels in order to create
a better business environment.
9. Narrow your focus. Energy and technology-based businesses, for instance,
are two fields that will continue to have needs even as the economy
falters.
10. Remember that the most successful business people are highly adaptable.
"That's the heart and soul of being an entrepreneur,"
Wuensch says. "Reading the environment and reacting to it is what
an entrepreneur does." He adds: "Figure out your position of
strength, make good solid decisions based on your position of strength
and the odds really are in your favor.
HOUSTON, Oct 28, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- UH Bauer Entrepreneurship Director Gives 10 Tips for Business Owners
Showing posts with label small business marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label small business marketing. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Top Ten Tips for Magic Marketing
By Philip Chandler, Business Development Consultant
Whether you already run a business or are thinking of starting one, effective marketing is one of the keys to your success. Conversely, failure to pay sufficient attention to the way you present yourself to actual and potential customers is one of the shortest routes to obscurity.
So, culled from the advice given over many years to my clients, here are my top 10 tips for putting magic into your marketing, with special regard to the needs of people starting with limited resources.
Tip #1: Identify your prospects
Who exactly are your potential customers? Without being able to clearly and concisely answer that question, your marketing campaign will be a hit-and-miss affair with little hope of real success. Too many people new to business think they can sell to everyone. Craftsman-made, high-quality goods sell to people who appreciate and can afford them, not to bargain-hunters or people with good taste and no money. Cheap-and-cheerful, mass-produced products sell mainly to people with less discrimination and lower incomes.
Tip #2: Understand why people buy
People buy in order to feel good, or to satisfy a pressing need or desire. They buy with emotion and justify with logic. Give them good emotional reasons to buy, then show them why their purchase was a really sensible move.
Tip #3: Sell Benefits, not Features
People buy solutions - otherwise known as benefits - not features. They only care about what your product or service can do for them. They want to know that it will do something to improve their lives in some way - not that it is packed with technology they neither understand nor appreciate. Look at your product from a customer’s point of view - would you buy it? What advantages does it have over the competition?
Tip #4: Use simple language
Keep jargon for shop-talk with your colleagues - keep it out of your sales literature, unless you are selling to the trade or a highly technical market. People hate unexplained acronyms in body text. Use plain language and keep sentences reasonably short.
Tip #5: Create a coordinated corporate image
You don’t have to be a multi-national to have a corporate image. Look at how you or your company appears to your customers from their point of view. What do they see when opening your envelope? What effect do the colours, typeface, layout, paper, etc have on people? Have you ever asked them? If you have a high quality product or service, you need to position yourself appropriately in the marketplace using well-designed, high class print and promotional material to project a consistent, congruent image.
Tip #6: Use free and low-cost advertising
Before spending a fortune on media advertising, consider the possibilities for self-publicity offered by story-hungry local newspapers and radio stations. Study them carefully and angle your copy to match their house style. Get yourself interviewed. Consider using leaflets delivered door-to-door to sell domestic products - one way to accurately target your market. Use cards or posters in shop windows or notice boards if appropriate. For mail order products, test classified ads followed up with sales letters before venturing into display space. Always create coded ads so you can track results, otherwise you will never know what works and what does not.
Tip #7: Concatenate your products
Concatenation is the process of forming logical links between your products such that one purchase will lead to others. For example, having read this article you may want to know more about my company’s services and publications. I may consult for you one day, which may lead on to writing your sales literature or training your sales team. Using this technique, you can approach prospects with low-cost - or even free - offers, knowing that a percentage of them will go on to buy your more profitable lines later on. Had you hit them with the big-ticket item first, you would probably have had a tougher time making the sale. Each product should be complete in itself and have logical links to others: don’t cheat by leaving something out of product #1 which forces them to buy #2.
Tip #8: Ask for Referrals
When you have done a good job for someone, ask them if they can suggest two or three other people who might also benefit from your service. Even if they don’t buy, you can still ask for referrals, as in: “I understand that this does not suit your needs right now, and can you suggest someone who may be interested?” Give people an incentive to recommend others, such as a coupon redeemable against future purchases.
Tip#9: Exceed people’s expectations
Go the extra mile. Do something extra without expecting payment. Time and time again it has been proved that people will pay over the odds for exceptional service. A friend of mine actually traveled two or three times a year from Devon to York (about 600 miles round trip) by train to visit her favorite hairdresser! Extreme, perhaps, but this is just one example of the lengths people will go to for that little bit extra. Do more than you promise, and your name will be etched on your customers’ memories in gold lettering. Do less, and you may never see them again.
Tip #10: Learn from feedback
The most accurate and valuable market research you will ever do is face-to-face with your customers. If you want to know what they think of you, ask them! Ask them what they want and they will tell you in plain, jargon-free language. Talk to people - they love to tell you what you are doing right and what you could do better. And it will save you a fortune in fees from market research companies.
Copyright © 1997 P J Chandler. All Rights Reserved.
Whether you already run a business or are thinking of starting one, effective marketing is one of the keys to your success. Conversely, failure to pay sufficient attention to the way you present yourself to actual and potential customers is one of the shortest routes to obscurity.
So, culled from the advice given over many years to my clients, here are my top 10 tips for putting magic into your marketing, with special regard to the needs of people starting with limited resources.
Tip #1: Identify your prospects
Who exactly are your potential customers? Without being able to clearly and concisely answer that question, your marketing campaign will be a hit-and-miss affair with little hope of real success. Too many people new to business think they can sell to everyone. Craftsman-made, high-quality goods sell to people who appreciate and can afford them, not to bargain-hunters or people with good taste and no money. Cheap-and-cheerful, mass-produced products sell mainly to people with less discrimination and lower incomes.
Tip #2: Understand why people buy
People buy in order to feel good, or to satisfy a pressing need or desire. They buy with emotion and justify with logic. Give them good emotional reasons to buy, then show them why their purchase was a really sensible move.
Tip #3: Sell Benefits, not Features
People buy solutions - otherwise known as benefits - not features. They only care about what your product or service can do for them. They want to know that it will do something to improve their lives in some way - not that it is packed with technology they neither understand nor appreciate. Look at your product from a customer’s point of view - would you buy it? What advantages does it have over the competition?
Tip #4: Use simple language
Keep jargon for shop-talk with your colleagues - keep it out of your sales literature, unless you are selling to the trade or a highly technical market. People hate unexplained acronyms in body text. Use plain language and keep sentences reasonably short.
Tip #5: Create a coordinated corporate image
You don’t have to be a multi-national to have a corporate image. Look at how you or your company appears to your customers from their point of view. What do they see when opening your envelope? What effect do the colours, typeface, layout, paper, etc have on people? Have you ever asked them? If you have a high quality product or service, you need to position yourself appropriately in the marketplace using well-designed, high class print and promotional material to project a consistent, congruent image.
Tip #6: Use free and low-cost advertising
Before spending a fortune on media advertising, consider the possibilities for self-publicity offered by story-hungry local newspapers and radio stations. Study them carefully and angle your copy to match their house style. Get yourself interviewed. Consider using leaflets delivered door-to-door to sell domestic products - one way to accurately target your market. Use cards or posters in shop windows or notice boards if appropriate. For mail order products, test classified ads followed up with sales letters before venturing into display space. Always create coded ads so you can track results, otherwise you will never know what works and what does not.
Tip #7: Concatenate your products
Concatenation is the process of forming logical links between your products such that one purchase will lead to others. For example, having read this article you may want to know more about my company’s services and publications. I may consult for you one day, which may lead on to writing your sales literature or training your sales team. Using this technique, you can approach prospects with low-cost - or even free - offers, knowing that a percentage of them will go on to buy your more profitable lines later on. Had you hit them with the big-ticket item first, you would probably have had a tougher time making the sale. Each product should be complete in itself and have logical links to others: don’t cheat by leaving something out of product #1 which forces them to buy #2.
Tip #8: Ask for Referrals
When you have done a good job for someone, ask them if they can suggest two or three other people who might also benefit from your service. Even if they don’t buy, you can still ask for referrals, as in: “I understand that this does not suit your needs right now, and can you suggest someone who may be interested?” Give people an incentive to recommend others, such as a coupon redeemable against future purchases.
Tip#9: Exceed people’s expectations
Go the extra mile. Do something extra without expecting payment. Time and time again it has been proved that people will pay over the odds for exceptional service. A friend of mine actually traveled two or three times a year from Devon to York (about 600 miles round trip) by train to visit her favorite hairdresser! Extreme, perhaps, but this is just one example of the lengths people will go to for that little bit extra. Do more than you promise, and your name will be etched on your customers’ memories in gold lettering. Do less, and you may never see them again.
Tip #10: Learn from feedback
The most accurate and valuable market research you will ever do is face-to-face with your customers. If you want to know what they think of you, ask them! Ask them what they want and they will tell you in plain, jargon-free language. Talk to people - they love to tell you what you are doing right and what you could do better. And it will save you a fortune in fees from market research companies.
Copyright © 1997 P J Chandler. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Marketing You and Your Service
Here are some good thoughts and additional reading suggestions about marketing you and your service.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=
Marketing Your Service-Based Small Business
If your small business is service-oriented, expertise is your product. It’s your value proposition and what sets you apart from your competitors. The better you market your expertise, the better you’ll grow your business.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=
Marketing Your Service-Based Small Business
If your small business is service-oriented, expertise is your product. It’s your value proposition and what sets you apart from your competitors. The better you market your expertise, the better you’ll grow your business.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Find Out More About Your Website Visitors
Microsoft Live Small Business Office has created new ways to generate reports to track trends of the visitors to your website and use that information to attract additional visitors.
This is powerful stuff, check it out.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
How to learn even more about your Web site visitors
Have you noticed that we revamped the Reports area in Office Live Small Business? If not, log into your account and click Reports when you get a chance. We’ve added new features that may help you attract more site visitors and turn them into customers. For instance, now you can follow day-to-day trends in your Web site traffic and see results of your keyword advertising campaigns at the same time. Those are great insights to have when you’re trying to make marketing decisions.
This is powerful stuff, check it out.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
How to learn even more about your Web site visitors
Have you noticed that we revamped the Reports area in Office Live Small Business? If not, log into your account and click Reports when you get a chance. We’ve added new features that may help you attract more site visitors and turn them into customers. For instance, now you can follow day-to-day trends in your Web site traffic and see results of your keyword advertising campaigns at the same time. Those are great insights to have when you’re trying to make marketing decisions.
Friday, November 30, 2007
23 Surefire Ways To Market Your Business in 2008
Hi Everyone,
I found this article and it is a great resource for you to keep close at hand. Having a marketing plan is so important. Once you write down what you're planning and when to do it you have a plan that will guide you throughout the year.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
23 Surefire Small Business Marketing Tips for 2008
This is the time of year I recommend you lay out your small-business marketing plan for 2008. Getting these ideas organized now will free you up to enjoy the holidays and hit the ground running at the first of the year. ...
I found this article and it is a great resource for you to keep close at hand. Having a marketing plan is so important. Once you write down what you're planning and when to do it you have a plan that will guide you throughout the year.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
23 Surefire Small Business Marketing Tips for 2008
This is the time of year I recommend you lay out your small-business marketing plan for 2008. Getting these ideas organized now will free you up to enjoy the holidays and hit the ground running at the first of the year. ...
Thursday, October 4, 2007
When starting your small business, or if you have one and not up-to-date on website design and marketing, Microsoft Office Live Small Business provides information and resources to help create a presense on the Internet. They recently reached an agreement with 'The Search Agency' to add search engine marketing services to their suite of information.
Find out what they offer that will assist you by clicking here.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Microsoft Office Live Small Business offers a suite of services to help small businesses register domains, put up websites, direct PPC campaigns and establish a presence on the Internet. And now they’re offering search engine marketing services and education.
Read the full story here.
Find out what they offer that will assist you by clicking here.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Microsoft Office Live Small Business offers a suite of services to help small businesses register domains, put up websites, direct PPC campaigns and establish a presence on the Internet. And now they’re offering search engine marketing services and education.
Read the full story here.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
10 Time-Tested Tips For Small Business, and MORE
Keeping you up-to-date on what is happening in the world of small business and telecommuting.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
10 Steps To Small Business Success
Try Out These Time-Tested Tips To Make Business Bustle
Take Your Small Business On The Road
Today, running a business requires you to be in a lot of places at the same time. You run from meeting to meeting, while at the same time answering and sending emails. This can all be a bit overwhelming; fortunately technology...
More workers telecommuting, but plenty of obstacles remain
Americans are "teleworking" or "telecommuting," spending at least part of their workdays at sites other than their offices, usually their homes. ...
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro
10 Steps To Small Business Success
Try Out These Time-Tested Tips To Make Business Bustle
Take Your Small Business On The Road
Today, running a business requires you to be in a lot of places at the same time. You run from meeting to meeting, while at the same time answering and sending emails. This can all be a bit overwhelming; fortunately technology...
More workers telecommuting, but plenty of obstacles remain
Americans are "teleworking" or "telecommuting," spending at least part of their workdays at sites other than their offices, usually their homes. ...
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