Tag: marketing

What is Your Brand?

~ C.O.R.E. Beliefs ~ Leave a comment

Good morning.  It’s a little overcast this morning here in Vancouver but it should burn off shortly and we ought to have a very nice day today.

I think that many small businesses completely misunderstand the idea of a Brand.  We hear it often and think it has something to do with a cool business name, an imaginary slogan, a logo, a phone number which spells out your business name, domain name: You get the picture.

These items are very important but they are not your Brand – they support your Brand.  Now, what is a Brand?

The best definition of a Brand I have found comes from Al Reis and it is really about “Your Customer’s Image of You.”

If your customers think you are the best widget-maker in town, that is your Brand.  If your customers think you are the only lawyer in town who calls back within 4 hours, that is your Brand.  Their perception becomes your reality and your concern is capitalizing on this and helping spread your Brand.

What do you want your customers talking about when the opportunity arises for them to potentially refer you to a colleague who fits your ideal customer profile?  This is your Brand talking.  Is your current customer missing a vital tool to help you grow your business?

By identifying your Brand, you can start to align your other marketing overhead expenses to support your image.  For instance, if your image in the marketplace is a highly knowledgeable commercial realtor, are you spending your marketing dollars and keeping potential leads, current prospects, and clients informed about real estate trends?  My good friend Jim West of Coldwell Banker does this better than anyone I know.  I am fortunate to be able to call Jim a good friend for many years and he always goes out of his way to share his wealth of information.

His Brand is my image of him.  He cultivates this and when the opportunity comes up to have a conversation with someone about commercial real estate, guess who is top of mind?  By the way, the imagine I have of Jim is exactly the same image that all of Jim’s network sees.  He ensures a consistent message and this is the important part.

The best part of sharing your Brand is that it doesn’t need to consume your entire marketing budget.  Once you identify a possible Brand issue, create a few flyers, perhaps update your website, but most of all, talk the talk.  If you are the most approachable Dentist in town, then cultivate that.  Do presentations to local community groups with lots of Q&A, ask to speak at a school assembly.  You get the point.  Expand on your approachability and enhance your Brand.

If you are unsure of your real Brand, ask a few customers what makes you different than every other widget-maker.  They might be shocked, they might even say they never even think about it as you feel like a perfect fit as you get them (what a Brand!), but their response might open up new avenues for spreading your message and growing your business.

I would encourage you to have a conversation about your marketing expenses and if they are really generating the revenues you would like with your accounting professional.  If you are not currently working with an accountant or would like to have a second opinion, feel free to contact me to set up a free no obligation consultation about your business.

Have a great Tuesday.

Imagine

~ C.O.R.E. Beliefs ~ Leave a comment

Happy Friday.  I understand there is a great deal of angst out there what with Britain leaving the E.U., our own political turmoil and the risk of another global recession on the horizon; but try to keep it in perspective.  What goes down goes back up.  People will save for a while and then spend.  Your primary role as a small business owner is to remain faithful to your Company and the value it brings to customers.  So again, Happy Friday!

Kubae and I were talking last night and this morning about a woman, lets call her Ann, who was an excellent baker and who decided to open her own bakery.  She quit after two months and Ann’s comment was, “Why would I want to go through the trouble of baking 30 dozen cookies if I only make $1.00 a dozen?”

To which I replied, “Why couldn’t she make $1.00 a dozen and sell 30,000 dozens?”

Kubae’s response to my answer was, “What point is there in making 30,000 dozen cookies if she couldn’t sell them?”

I have written about it before but it is worth repeating.  Most small business owner focus on the wrong parts of the business.  They are worried about the cookies and not about how to get more of the right customers.  The right customer will not find you by accident.  It takes hard work, dedication, and a willingness to extend yourself to get your ideal customer to come to your door.

One of the things I like to do with a client is walk through their “Imagination”.  Much like a therapist, I ask him to close his eyes and imagine his small business as perfection.

  • “What does it look like?”
  • “Who are the customers?”
  • Who is doing what jobs in the business?”
  • “How much profit is it doing?”
  • Where is the business located?”

Most small business owners cannot imagine these things.  They are busy baking the cookies and worrying about “the perfect cookie” instead of “the perfect business”.

Build the perfect business.  This starts with knowing your ideal customer and then finding ways to get them to give you a chance to wow them.  There are many books on the subject, but I like Michael Gerber’s “The E-Myth” series and also John Jantsch’s “Duct Tape Marketing”.

Both authors try to get us to understand that, perfect cookies aside, there must be some overarching vision.  Both call for small business owners to “Work on their business, not in their business.”  Both call for small business owners to create systems and processes that can allow your business to grow profitably without you, the owner, having to carry out every last aspect of the business.

How does a baker sell 30,000 dozen cookies?  One dozen at a time to 30,000 people.  The hard part isn’t making the cookies, it is finding the customers.

Go.

Find.

Customers.

I know this has nothing to do with accounting, but there is no fun in accounting if there is no revenue and profit.  So, if you feel that making the cookies is driving your business, I strongly suggest you talk with a professional or work with a coach on how to improve your lead generation, prospect education and closing.  If you like, you can contact me for a free consultation to discuss how you might be able to generate excitement about your business.  And read the books!  You will be glad you did.

Have a great Friday and an awesome weekend.

 

New Customers

~ C.O.R.E. Beliefs ~ Leave a comment

Happy Friday.  In a few hours I go get Brendan and David and they are evening have a few friends over this weekend.  4 young boys playing X-box, drinking soda’s and eating gummy worms.  Pizza night is being replaced by spaghetti.  We generally do our own individual pizza’s over the barbeque but I even making a big pot of spaghetti too!

One area I think we often overlook, especially in small business, is prospecting and new customer development.  It isn’t that small business owners don’t care, it is that they are focused on bringing in business – any business, to help pay the bills.  And then, one day, you wake up and your whole world is consumed by “bad customers”.

A few years back, I went to a seminar and the speaker presented the fact that there is no such thing as a “bad customer”.  What there is, he said, was poor training.  My biggest takeaway from that presentation was this:

You train your customer or your customer trains you

With this new thought bouncing around in my head, I revisited how I went out and did prospecting.  How do I let prospects know that the firm will be training them on how to do business with us?  How do I ensure that the new client respects the rules of our relationship without it seeming overbearing?  I created what John Jantsch in his book “Duct Tape Marketing” called the New Client Orientation Kit.

We actually followed his prescription to the letter.  The kit laid out how the process was going to work from beginning to end, including asking for their participation in quarterly and annual client workshops.  We explained how we were going to bill them, when to expect the bill and how important it was to pay the bill on time.

In short, we trained new clients on how to work with us.  And we started that training in the prospecting stage.

By clearly stating what we wanted from the relationship and how clients could benefit from this approach, we left them with the “Yes” decision.  In this stage, I was no longer saying “Yes, we want to work with you”, it turned into the client saying, “After hearing all this, yes, we want to work with you.”

Instead of bringing in 20 new $250 tax returns, we were now bringing in 1 new $5,000 small business client.   The marketing approach pivoted and we got far more “No’s” than ever before, but we ended up with new clients that met our expectations and who wanted to work the way we envisioned it.

Can you do the same in your small business?  Absolutely.  You don’t even need to read “Duct Tape Marketing” (although I strongly recommend it) and you don’t even need to create a New Client Orientation Kit.  Although I found it much more effective to have it in writing.

First Make sure  your marketing literature is targeted to your ideal customer.   Yes, that means be very clear with yourself on who your new ideal customer is!  Throw out the pulse and checkbook approach!  If your target market is a single mom in the medical field, then identify that mom and find out what makes her want to do business with you.

Second, once the prospect gets to “Warm acceptance” explain your expectations.  Your expectations are “This is how you will get the most from working with us”.  If you are picking up that mom’s dry cleaning, then the expectation is “You will have your dry cleaning in the bag we will provide and it will be at the front desk at 3:30.  Our courteous driver will be there to pick-up and drop-off between 3:30 and 4:00.”  Oh, and don’t forget, “We will charge the credit card on file for the items dropped off on Friday morning.”

Third, make sure they know who to call with questions, comments and referrals.  Something else I learned the hard way, you do not have to take every phone call!  You have an amazing staff (or you soon will), let them do the job you hired them to do.  Which means you explain that if you are going on vacation, call the 800 number and press 3 to speak with dispatch.  Call the 800 number and press 9 if there is a question on the bill, etc.

Fourth, ask if they have questions about the process.  And finally, ask them if they can see themselves being successful in this process.  The answer is “Yes” or “No”.

I know I make it sound easy.  Trust, me, this part is very easy once you believe that the process you offer is what adds value to your customer.  The hard part, is wanting to take a hard look at how you are currently doing business and asking “Can we do it better?”

Have an awesome weekend.  John (my oldest) and Andrew are both in town this weekend and are coming over for our Father’s Day “Grill and Chill”.  I am looking forward to a great time with the boys.

BTW 840 works and 44 minutes.  (I was editing too much today)

 

 

Marketing Expenses

~ C.O.R.E. Beliefs ~ Leave a comment

Happy Monday everyone.

On Saturday, Kubae and I went into Portland for an Urban Hike.  In all, we put in almost 10 miles (granted over 6 hours) and enjoyed an almost car-free downtown experience.

We even caught part of the Rose Parade, but mostly walked the Pearl District with brunch at the Brunchbox – Monte Cristo sandwich and late lunch at the Upper Deck on 13th.  For lunch we split the Fenway Club (which was smart because it was enormous) and lots and lots of fries.

I really enjoy our urban explorations, especially when a city is kind enough to shutdown auto traffic.

In my years of practice, I have discovered that, for the most part, small business owners have been slow to embrace marketing as a means to growing their business.  My observation is that there are two areas of the business which are typically thought about at the last minute when the owner strikes out on his own – accounting and marketing.  I think this is because these are the two areas they were not exposed to in the previous position when they got the idea to go into business.  These are also the two areas that protect the process – the business as you see it – by generating interest in your offering and then making sure that you are profitable.

There is the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”  But what if you had along a “Horse Whisperer”, whose sole job was to constantly whisper into the horses ear – in horse language – “You are thirsty, you are thirsty, you are thirsty…”  I think that by the time the horse was lead to water, it would be extremely difficult to get your horse to stop drinking!

This is the essence of marketing.  Marketing is all about building awareness of your business; what you offer and how customers can buy.  This should not be confused with the act of closing the deal – the sale.  Marketing gets prospects in the door and sales does the easy part… provided that your sales message supported all the marketing you have done.

Marketing is the front end of your business.  It is the telephone, your website, your email address.   It is about how your business looks when a customer walks in the door.  10,000 things that come together to present your business.  Marketing is all the things that give your prospects and returning customers that feeling you totally understand his situation and offer the right solution.

When it comes to marketing, think bigger picture.  Ask yourself how prospects look for products/services you offer?  Do they ask a friend or perhaps another trusted advisor?  Is your prospects first stop Google?  In today’s fast-paced world, you should consider that most new prospects and repeat customers, are going to search you on the internet so you need to be ready for that.

Since we are now at mid-year for most small businesses, I would encourage you to start your budgeting process for next year.  I know, no one likes to budget but it can really help you determine how your limited resources are going to be put to use in growing your business profitably.  By looking hard at what you have and what you want, you can start making better decisions about how you spend money to get the business you want.

Some things to consider:

  • The demographic of your target customer
  • What your target customer likes and dislikes
  • How they find a solution to a potential problem
  • Internet presence and searchability
  • Company phone number versus cell number
  • Email (domain) address – no Yahoo, Hotmail, or Google.
  • 800 number
  • Printed materials
  • Time

Put values on these items, both their cost and their potential revenue.  Be conservative on both sides.  The low dollar investment with high potential pay-out might likely be the area you want to invest your money in to generate new prospects.  But no matter how you want to invest in your marketing, you will definitely want to find measurements that help you know if your investment is working like you planned.

I strongly encourage you to work with your accounting professional and perhaps even a marketing consultant if you have questions.  Remember, your accounting firm’s Principals and Partners have many years of experience marketing and developing their business and can be a very useful resource for you.  And if you would like to have a second opinion or are looking for an Accounting firm that knows small business, feel free to contact us at Currie & McLain.  We would be happy to sit down with you for a free no obligation consultation about your business and how you might find ways to grow profitably.