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Showing posts with label business growth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business growth. Show all posts
If you haven't seen this video yet you are in for a treat. Simon Sinek articulates very well just how important your Why is for your business.
The reality is that most business owners have a great understanding of What they do and How they do it but often never focus on Why they do it.
The Why of your business may be more profound then you might first realize. Sure we all want to make money, but if that is your only Why, then chances are that you will inspire no one and you are limiting your success.
While I am no fan of Nietzsche, I do like this particular quote. “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” When you realize how important your Why is for your business, it can do wonders in transforming it into the business you want it to be. It can even transform the culture into something powerful and exciting both inside and outside the business.
Every business on the planet knows What they do and How they do it. It is when a business provides their unique Why that it sets itself apart from others, becoming a leader in their industry. What is your Why?
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The reality is that most business owners have a great understanding of What they do and How they do it but often never focus on Why they do it.
The Why of your business may be more profound then you might first realize. Sure we all want to make money, but if that is your only Why, then chances are that you will inspire no one and you are limiting your success.
While I am no fan of Nietzsche, I do like this particular quote. “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” When you realize how important your Why is for your business, it can do wonders in transforming it into the business you want it to be. It can even transform the culture into something powerful and exciting both inside and outside the business.
Every business on the planet knows What they do and How they do it. It is when a business provides their unique Why that it sets itself apart from others, becoming a leader in their industry. What is your Why?
Listening is an art that usually comes
natural to business owners. They can sense an opportunity from a mile
away. Business owners know their business better than anyone,
however, employees and even friends and family often miss obvious
opportunities. This is true either because they do not really care,
have no incentive or simply because they have not been tuned to
listen for those ever present opportunities.
Make your whole staff feel more
involved
Training your staff to listen for
opportunities will help them feel more involved in the company, which
of course will add to retention of employees. Most staff members are
looking for opportunities to rise up and be seen. Reward them for
finding clients and see how they respond. You will find that your top
go-getters, regardless of position, will rise to the top. This can be
a great way to see who is who in your company.
Training your staff to be tuned to
hearing opportunities is not all that difficult. Take the time to have a company wide staff meeting and
include everyone that is in your employ as well as outside
contractors if possible. At the meeting go through the worksheet and
brainstorm what the keywords and buzz terms that staff could listen
for to snatch up opportunities for your company.
Offer incentives to your staff. It is
one thing to train your staff and get them excited about being
involved in the growth of the company, it is quite another to give
them a motivation for doing so. Offering a standing commission for
anyone that provides a lead that becomes a sale is a great beginning.
Though money is a powerful motivator it is not the only thing that
can initiate people to action. Some other motivators are a free
lunch, vacations, a new office chair and many others. Find out what
motivates your staff and leverage that to your company’s advantage.
The fact is, is that every person that
works in your company, even the janitor, is capable of helping draw
more business. It is important to understand that everyone no matter
position is a representative of your company. By training your staff
on how to be effective listeners, you will have FREE word-of-mouth advertising which is the best type of marketing.
How to Listen
Part of listening is hearing what the
needs are of a potential client. It is important not to just pick up
on a word or phrase that triggers a conversation, but also to dig
deeper to find out what that need is. When a potential client feels
that they have been listened to and that their needs can be met, it
makes it really easy to get their contact information and hand out a
business card.
If a staff member is not a sales
person, they should not try to sell your product or service. Instead
train your staff to ask for contact information from a prospective
client and ask permission for the client to be contacted by someone
at your company. This keeps things not only simple but also makes it
easier for all staff to feel comfortable picking up leads.
Always get their Contact Information
What percentage of people really keeps your business card and calls you back? Is it 5%, 2%, 1% or less? If you have had a person that has genuine interest or need, you can get an outstanding 80% capture/close ratio by requesting to have their contact information. If they are genuinely interested they will always give you their contact information without hesitation and will expect a call. Always follow up within 24-48 hours.
What percentage of people really keeps your business card and calls you back? Is it 5%, 2%, 1% or less? If you have had a person that has genuine interest or need, you can get an outstanding 80% capture/close ratio by requesting to have their contact information. If they are genuinely interested they will always give you their contact information without hesitation and will expect a call. Always follow up within 24-48 hours.
Example case
Lets’ say your secretary is at a
party in which the subject of conversation is vacation time.
Your business is a travel agency. What an easy opportunity it
is for them to mention your travel agency, website and hand out a
business card. Even though your secretary is not an agent or on
commission they just presented an opportunity to expand your
business.
Top 4 Things To Listen For:
1) Need
Statements that are predicated by “I
need” is a flag that should tell you that they are in the market
for whatever that need is.
2) Dissatisfaction
If anyone starts to speak of their
dissatisfaction of their current service or product, they may be in
the market for someone that can resolve those issues for them.
3) Loss
If anyone mentions that they just lost
something (a product, provider, service, etc.) then they may be
looking for someone to replace it for them.
4) New
If anyone has recently moved to the
area, just started a business, or introducing a new product, you may
have an opportunity to be the first to introduce yourself in your
industry.
When you have an office of expert listeners, it is easy to get the new leads that you have been looking for. Make sure you do some kind of update or exercise with your employees to keep them up to speed on the latest greatest about your products or services. Many companies have a once a month all staff meeting to keep all employees involved in the company. This is a great time to leverage your employee base to listen to all of the potential opportunities.
Geographic Market
There are several important factors to consider regarding various geographic markets. First, your local geography is your greatest asset. Many companies that do business on a national level do not take the time to own their own local market. The local market is the easiest to tap because of an existing knowledge of the area. It is also the most inexpensive. Most businesses should consider pursuing at least a 20% to 30% market share of their local business. The greatest advantage is the opportunity to meet face to face, extend a little greater customer service, build relationships and get strong testimonies. This will be your arsenal when pursuing national clients.
The second consideration is geography in general. There may be some great opportunities because of areas that are distant or not easily accessible that your competitors may not like to pursue. How far will you go for a client and what will they say about you for doing so? Most will appreciate anyone that goes out of the way for them.
Other considerations could be the geographic climate itself such as areas that experience unique weather (i.e. beach front property). It may be that there are opportunities that are unique to an area due to their climate. Heavy rainfall or extraordinarily dry weather may cause problems that your product or service may be able to solve. If this is the case then targeting these areas could prove to be very lucrative.
Languages and Cultures
One of the most neglected markets is the minority group. Producing multilingual marketing material or simply providing multilingual staff to work with minorities is a great way to open up those markets. Take the time to translate your website into a least one other language, preferably a language that is prominent in your country or region. For example, if your business is located in the state of California in the U.S. then Spanish is an obvious choice.
It always important to consider that what may not be of value to one culture is quite valuable to another. Discover what is needed for other cultures in your area and see if your business can fulfill that need.
Educating staff on various cultures will help them feel more comfortable and provide easier opportunities to do business with those people groups. Culture is not limited to foreign nationals but also counter cultures within your own country (i.e. punk, goth, surfer, etc.).
Niche Markets
Tapping into various niche markets can be very profitable. There are an enormous amount of niche markets that are overlooked every year. The ones that are leveraged by businesses, however, are well exploited and those companies usually make a small fortune.
NOTE: It is vitally important to remember that many niche markets come and go. Don’t
put all your eggs in one basket and know when to pull out when the time is right. The best business executives can walk away from anything, without hesitation, when the time is right.
Demographics
When it all comes down to it, having a healthy knowledge of your demographics is absolutely key to successfully taking hold of the greatest share of your market. Demographics tell you several things that are relevant to your business. Here is a list of important items that you should consider:
- Age group that will use your product or service
- Percentage of your market that makes up this age group
- Available market share for age group
- Gender
- Percentage of male vs. female clients using product or service
- Proper targeting
- Race / Ethnicity / Religion
- Ratio of ethnic groups
- Percentage of ethnic groups that are relevant to your business
- Calculate ratios to market share
- Household Income / Wealth Index
- Percentage of households that can afford your product or service
- Median gaps by area
- Affordability to profitability ratios
- Need / Want
- Objective look at whether your product or service is actually needed or wanted
Surveys are great tools to help you gather the right information to make informed decisions about leveraging your services or products with the various demographics. There are many companies that provide surveys or you can take advantage of social media and create one of your own. Doing your research before taking action on tapping into other areas of your market will save you money and headaches. If you think bigger and look deeper into the world around you, you will find a great, untapped market.
Before you spend your hard earned money on a particular marketing/advertising campaign, here are some important factors that need consideration:
- Complete a Cost vs Return On Investment (ROI) analysis
- How many sales will it take to make up cost?
- If you can't make a ROI, will it have an impact on your branding or positive effect on future business
- Establish turn around time. How quickly will you get a return once you spend the money?
- Qualify target market.
- Is it the right market?
- Do they have the spending power to buy your product or service?
- Is there a current need or demand?
- Determine relevancy (just because it worked 5 years ago, doesn't mean it will work today)
- Establish competitive edge
- Why should they buy from you instead of the other guy?
- Do you present a clear value over your competitor?
- Is that value important to your market?
- Determine whether or not if you would be influenced as a customer by the medium you are planning to use. No matter how great of a deal it is, if your target market is not interacting with that form of media then you will not get your return on investment.
- When was the last time you used a physical phone book to find anything? Chances are that unless your customer base are the elderly and/or they do not have internet access, then you are wasting your money. Tell the yellow pages rep to get lost.
- Radio advertising can be costly, however, a well placed ad that targets your specific market can have some great influence in acquiring new customers and obtaining brand recognition. Make sure you get specifics on the stations demographics and times the ad will air; this will quickly let you know whether it will be worth you time and money.
- If your competitor has been doing it for years, chances are that it is working for them.
- Direct mail does work for certain industries, however, the average ROI is usually only 1%-5%. Unless the direct mail is going out to your specific target market, you are probably not going to get the results you are looking for.
