Lost Opportunities

I walked into a large used furniture store recently looking for an antique bureau. I had never heard of this store and just happened to drive by. A man in his 50's, who appeared to be the owner, was doing work on his computer and briefly glanced up. I looked around the store for a few minutes and left shaking my head. There was nobody else in the store and part of the reason was obvious. The service was terrible and the store was boring and dull. There wasn't any music playing and the walls were bare.

This man lost a multitude of business opportunities by being complacent. A passionate business owner with powerful marketing skills would run this business different. Here is what a masterful marketer, like your self, would do:

• Get out of your seat and greet customers with warm smiles.
• Offer coffee and a doughnut, pastry, Glacier Ice Cream, etc.
• Try to strike up conversations with the intention of discovering commonalities.
  
• Ask customers if they are looking for anything specific. If they aren't, keep an eye on them and tell them to feel free to ask any questions.
• Offer to call a competitor for items you do not stock. A network of used furniture stores that cooperate can be very effective. New furniture stores are also competition to used furniture stores. I wound up buying a new bureau.
• Offer a $20 off your next visit coupon in exchange for the customers email information. Keep a database of items customers are looking for and send out periodic offers through email newsletters.
• Have music and wall decorations in the store. You should also sell everything displayed on the walls.
  
• Give your customers coupons for a 10%-20% premium when they sell use furniture to the store.
  
• Market heavily at and around the local university that has over 10,000 students move in and out each year. (None of the over ten used furniture stores in Boulder do this)
• Do fusion marketing with other used item businesses like clothing stores, bicycle stores, and home furnishing stores. You can network, offer coupons, and put small displays in co-operating businesses.
• Establish relationships with local landlords and property management companies.
• Put furniture displays outside your store on sunny days.
• When your customers are completely satisfied with everything you offer, hand out special offer coupons to give their friends. You can even make it more beneficial for customers. Offer $100 in free merchandise for each $500 in business that the coupons generate.

You have control of your destiny. Ignorance is not an excuse. Struggling entrepreneurs can either wallow in their misery or do something about it. There is an endless source of free marketing information on the web or you can hire a professional marketing consultant to help you regain your dream. This is your moment. Create a profitable business that is the perfect reflection of you.

Playing With Reality

It is human nature to question everything. Sometimes life is like driving a car: always adjusting to stay on the road. As a small business owner, you need to step back and occasionally evaluate the direction you are heading.

It is extremely important that you remain emotionally detached when you analyze your own business and solicit feedback. This can be very difficult. Small business owners can be a proud and cocky bunch.

Here are some suggestions for getting solid unbiased opinions about what people really think about your business and the way you run it:

• Ask your customers for advice on how you can better satisfy them and how you can enhance what you offer.
• Ask your employees how you can improve your business. Let them speak openly and encourage negative feedback.
• Give a small gift to customers that fill out a customer survey. Ask open ended questions on the survey and allow anonymous comments.
• Ask friends and relatives what they would do different if they owned the business. You will receive more honest feedback with this approach because it is an impersonal approach.
  
• Form a leads group or mastermind group of outstanding business people in your community. Successful business owners will be more likely to give and less likely to be offended by constructive criticism.
• Offer a comment box on your website and in your store.

A positive attitude is mandatory when you evaluate the feedback you receive. Suck it up, roll up your sleeves, and get to work on improving your livelihood.

"A smart businessperson is one who makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes it again. A wise businessperson is one who finds a smart businessperson and learns from him how to avoid the mistakes he made". Jim Abrams

Ben Franklin on Driving

"Drive thy business or it will drive thee”. Ben Franklin

Wisdom is timeless. Ben Franklin touches upon an enormous problem many small business owners face: being a slave to your business.

I am a firm believer in spending as much time as humanly possible in your business during the first year of operation. But don’t fall into the trap of taking on all your business’ tasks because you feel that you do the job best. This situation is like entrepreneurial quicksand. The harder you work, the harder it is to get out.


It is imperative that you outsource and train employees to take over any task that is not of major importance. This will help accelerate the growth of your business. Once you’ve become established, you can then grow your business by doing tasks that increase existing sales and bring in new customers. Below is a list of suggestions to help you outsource and delegate more tasks to employees:

• Train your employees thoroughly using a training guide.
• Make checklists for your workers to fill out during their shifts. Individuals on shifts with multiple employees should initial checklists instead of just checking off tasks. This forces your employees to take personal responsibility for incomplete tasks.
• Do extremely important tasks yourself. Delegate and check on moderately important tasks. Delegate menial jobs.
• Keep a suggestion and complaint box in stores. Your customers will let you know quickly if your employees are not doing a good job.
• Hire a bookkeeper and accountant if you can afford to.
• Screen sales calls and have your employees take detailed messages.
• Give your most reliable employees management roles.
• Hire trustworthy and personable employees.
• Give out your cell phone number to potential and important customers. This allows you to be away from your business and still receive important calls.
• Use email and text communication for trivial issues.
• Use your website as a resource and sales tool. Answer frequently asked questions.

Take personal responsibility for growing your own business. Analyze your business on a regular basis. Can you develop more outside sales? Do you network in your community? Are you developing relationships that can lead to future sales? Is your web site up to date? Business success starts with you taking control of your own destiny. Do something extraordinary today.

Fusion Marketing

We small-business owners are usually hard working, independent people. Unfortunately, that mindset often prevents us from asking for, as the Beatles said, "a little help from our friends.”

One of the most powerful small business marketing techniques is called ‘Fusion Marketing’. Fusion marketing is cooperative marketing with non-competing businesses that share similar types of customers. Each business markets its products or services with its partners.

For example, Glacier Ice Cream in Boulder, Colorado has made fusion marketing arrangements with two local pizza shops. Glacier sells wholesale pints of ice cream to Sun Deli and Skinny Jays. The pizza restaurants put Glacier coupons on pizza boxes. In return, Sun Deli and Skinny Jays display their menus in Glacier’s stores.

Write down a list of businesses that have the same type of customers as your business. Brainstorm ideas on how your businesses can work together to attract each other’s customers. Some businesses are natural fits to work with each other. Here are a couple of ideas:

• Business coaches- Marketers, bankers, accountants, bookkeepers, and advertisers.
  
• Caterers- Photographers, florists, musicians, and event centers.
  
• Real estate agents- Builders, bankers, handymen, painters, plumbers, and mortgage brokers.
• Personal trainers-Message therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, yoga instructors, and martial arts studios.
• Furniture stores-Real estate agents, builders, movers, and carpet stores.

The idea behind fusion marketing is for independent business owners to work together to help each other out with marketing and referrals. You can take it a step further and hold regular meetings to discuss new ideas and co-marketing opportunities. Join your local chamber of commerce to network with fellow local business owners. Make the synergy of local businesses working together a powerful force in your community.

Information Overload Part 2

Judging by yesterday's responses, it seems as though many of you also have issues with easily accessing information you have read or filed. And, unless you have a photographic memory, it is important to organize a workable retrieval system for that information. I have been working on a system that is very time consuming, but will be an incredible resource once I am finished.

I have an extensive library of business, marketing, and persuasion books, as well as a file of relevant magazine and newspaper articles. I have always underlined key points and made notes in all of my books and I never sell a good book.

For the last year, I have spent hundreds of hours putting my notes in an electronic format using a couple of software programs; Stickies and Microsoft Word. Stickies is an electronic version of Post It Notes that exists on your computer desktop. I cut and paste relevant Internet information and put the source at the end of a numbered point. I also add my underlined book and magazine notes to the files. I then back up the files on an Internet storage site.

Once I finish summarizing the book points and my paper files, I will pay an assistant to break down the points even further into subcategories. I am doing this because I might have an idea under two or more categories. The beauty of this is that I will have my own easily accessible electronic files for articles, blogs, newsletters, books, etc.

You are fooling yourself if you think you can easily recall everything that you have learned in your reading and research. We are in a revolutionary period where an almost infinite amount of information is available with the press of a button. Those of us that can summarize valuable information and put it in an easy to use format will own an information goldmine. Combine this with excellent copy writing and solid business practices and you will be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams.

P.S Feel free to offer suggestions for simplifying my system. There are numerous people that responded that have a similar need to save valuable information. JC had a great idea to create a software program to help organize different categories of information. I really think a program like that can be a huge seller.

Information Overload

Our brains are suffering from information overload. It is like a 24/7 carnival of electronic stimulation. Don’t let the valuable information pass you by. Start an electronic file system that keeps track of all of your most important information and ideas.

I currently keep electronic files on marketing ideas, persuasion techniques, valuable websites, quotes, negotiating tips, business ideas, and more. In six months' time, I have referenced over 3,000 pieces of information from close to 20 years of files and books. This information will be invaluable once it is indexed in a more accessible manner. I encourage you to start doing the same.

“The object of education isn't knowledge, it’s action” Thomas Kempis

Making a sale without selling

ser⋅en⋅dip⋅i⋅ty

Making a desirable discovery by accident.

I just had an epiphany after reading an informative article from kevinhogan.com. The article was about dealing with people’s preconceived notions when making sales. This was where my serendipity occurred. Two days earlier, I had picked up two wholesale accounts by doing one simple thing.

I was emailed by a potential wholesale client from Denver who had found out about us from a web search. Instead of calling him back, I told him to check out our Yelp reviews and gave him my phone number.

One hour later, his girlfriend called me on the phone. She asked me a couple of basic questions. I started to tell her about our products but she interrupted.

 “Don’t bother, we want to use you,” she said.

She said her boyfriend had checked Yelp and was so impressed with the reviews that he immediately knew we were the right company for him.

I was thrilled about the account, but my brain must have been on autopilot. I had a Homer Simpson moment – the reason for my sale did not occur to me until I read the Kevin Hogan article. It was serendipity. My current customers had helped create a future sale.

Most of you would say that it is common sense to use references, testimonials, reviews, etc. The problem is, knowledge is worthless unless we utilize it. Twenty-four out of 27 of my Yelp reviews are five stars, but I have never utilized this for marketing.

Ask your best customers for testimonials. Check online comments or reviews of your products or services. Use this information to pre-sell what you offer. Put it in your marketing materials, website, and advertisements.  The buzz created by your current customers will send a powerful message to future ones.