Business and Marketing Tips
Click on the Tips below:-
Creating a Niche for Your Business
Develop That Extra Edge
The Power of a Free Sample
How To Give Great Customer Service
How To Effectively Measure and Control Your Business Growth
Plan For Success
Create Ads that are effective and profitable
The Most Overlooked Marketing Tool
Do Good and Get Exposure
1. Creating a Niche for Your Business
Successful products, and services have one thing in common without exception—they fill the need of a niche market.
Niche marketing today means targeting, selling, and obtaining feedback on the most frequent users of your business's products or services.
This small group of customers represents your biggest opportunities for more sales. Ideally, you want to sell more to this group and seek out others just like them.
Catering to the right segment of the market is important to achieving large sales volumes and profitability to survive and prosper as a business. To define your niche, you must understand how your product or service satisfies your customers' needs. Customers don't buy features, they buy benefits which fill their needs.
Keeping this idea in mind, here are some questions to consider to help define your niche:
Is there something you can add to your product or service that your competition doesn't have or isn't doing?
What positive elements can you pull from other products or services to make yours more enticing?
Are there ways you can make your product or service more personal?
Can you offer your customers ways to make your product or service easier to buy, use, or own?
Can you reduce risk or add safety for your customers?
2. Develop That Extra Edge
Smart business people know it’s important to look for the extra “edge” that will develop new business, ensure you remain ahead of the competition and keep existing customers satisfied. Every so often, it’s important to take a break from the daily activities to examine your business strategies and see where you might be able to develop that “edge”. As you look back over the past 12 months, it may be the ideal time to consider where you can increase sales, put together a more cohesive marketing plan and broaden the bottom line.
The following may help:
3. The Power of a Free Sample
Do you have a great product or service you know people will want if only they knew about it?
Is your advertising budget non-existent? Then put your feet to the pavement and start putting free samples into the hands of your target market.
Nothing is more powerful in generating sales than having your customers touch and experience your product first hand.
Do you think those people at the grocery store handing out free samples are actually concerned that you might be hungry while shopping? They know that if you try something and like it, you are much more likely to buy.
And the cost is substantially less than advertising. When customers get to try your product themselves, conversion rates are much higher than a print ad or radio commercial. Why?
Free samples actively engage the customer in your product, where advertising is oh so easy to ignore.
If you're handling your free sample promotion right, you are also actively engaging with your customers, promoting your product in a much more personal way. In addition, you can gain invaluable feedback, which you can use to improve your product or service.
Now you're not just saving on advertising, but also market research. With any product or service launch, a carefully planned free sample promotion is a low cost, highly effective way to win new customers.
This can work just as well for services as for products (e.g. the 5 minute massage, the free legal advice, the bonnet car wash & wax etc. etc.).
4. How To Give Great Customer Service
Given we are coming up to the peak holiday season I thought it would be a good idea to address what is probably the most important aspect of marketing your business – and that is customer service.
If you don’t give your customer’s service then who will sustain your business?. Never mind if you’re doing well at getting new customers, how will you stay profitable if none of them are retained? It’s all about the action and service that you give a customer that counts. You’ll only be remembered by what you have or not done.
Don’t forget, consumers’ expectations are higher than ever now and competition is increasingly stiff. So to stand our in a customer’s mind and leaving an impression that you care about them is imperative.
Here are some suggestions that will help in your attempts to deliver good customer service:-
1) Treat the customer like they really are a somebody. Because regular customers expect (and deserve) to be remembered. As someone recently summed it up, “You don’t need to remember my name, or what I order, but do acknowledge that I’ve been there and possibly been there before.”
A good example of this is remembering how often your customer visits you. For instance, if you run a coffee shop, you should be able to take note of regulars, what their preferences are and how often they come. And acknowledging such, e.g. “See you next Tuesday”, or “Black coffee as usual sir?” This will make them feel like a somebody.
2) There’s nothing quite like good old fashioned manners. All too often reception staff, or those on the end of the phone never use the word please or thank you. Be polite! A survey conducted by Schulich School of Business suggests that basic rudeness exists in over 30% of companies, and costs them hundreds of millions of dollars in lost customers (and revenues) each and every year. Don’t let your company end up as one of these statistics.
3) Show your gratitude. When someone in your business finishes a transaction, they should thank the customer with a smile and a sincere “thank you for … completed by whatever is appropriate for your business”. With large purchases, the verbal greeting should be followed up with a hand-written card – not just because it leads to increased referrals (which is does), but because it is the correct thing to do.
4) Nearly 90% of customers form an impression about how competent and reputable your company is based on what they see when they walk through your doors. Appearances do count! And that doesn’t stop at how smartly dressed your reception staff are. Is the surrounding desk, shop floor etc neat, dust free, gleaming? People can glean a huge amount of information about your company based on the first few minutes of entering your premises.
5) Keep your promises. Do what you say... when you say. Stay in contact. Remember, one of the quickest ways to lose customer confidence is to not follow-through, or to be late delivering a service or product. By notifying the customer in advance, determining whether or not the delay will impact the customer and providing an alternate solution in the interim if necessary conveys honesty and thus gains trust.
6) Give your customers a surprise from the time to time. Special gestures can go a long way towards gaining total customer loyalty. Wherever possible provide an extra level of service. Offer an unexpected complimentary dessert in a restaurant, or an upgrade that has not been requested. It has long been known that on average, a dissatisfied customer will tell 10 - 16 others, but people who have had an unexpectedly good experience also recount their positive stories.
7) Sometimes it’s the small things that count. Make sure you provide a “loaded with extras” service. For example, if you are a photo framer, why not include the hooks and a small levelling device when the customer collects the finished frame? If you sell remote control toys why not include the batteries in the price? There is no question that gestures like these will be greatly appreciated.
8) Admit your mistakes. Aim to set things straight immediately. Truly listen to the customer. Then apologise and take corrective action. In many instances, the very act of listening (without interrupting) can be enough to diffuse the situation and make the person feel worthy as a customer. Then ask the customer how they would like you to resolve the situation. In most instances, your client will come up with something reasonable – and often less costly than a solution you might have proposed.
9) Ensure your customers know that their business is appreciated. Listen to your customers. Conduct your own surveys and get feedback on what they like and don’t like - and take corrective action as required.
None of these suggestions takes a lot of time or money to implement, yet they can pay dividends in increased customer satisfaction and retention. The key, though, is to ensuring that employees understand the importance of their front-line role and get good training and supervision.
5. How To Effectively Measure and Control Your Business Growth
Successful businesses control their business well. Effective controls not only ensure that you have a profitable and growing business - they also allow the business to successfully operate without you having to be there all the time.
While you need to “systemise” your business so that procedures are in place for all your business processes, you also need the appropriate control measures in place so that you can confidently delegate and still maintain effective control over your business.
What You Need To Measure
Here, we will assume that all of the standard financial reporting is already in place – Income Statement (P&L), Balance Sheet, Cash Flow – as well as the key related areas such as debtors, stock and expenses.
While these are all important measures, the focus of this article is on the key drivers of profitable business growth – as many of these are less commonly measured and extremely powerful. Frequent and regular measurement of these factors provides an owner or manager with a clear picture of what is really happening in the business and where additional focus is needed to make a real impact on profitable growth.
The key drivers of profitable growth for most businesses are:
1. Sales Inquiries
This is the number of people who walk into your shop, phone calls, emails or other forms of prospective customers contacting you. (It is also important to record inquiries by their source. ie what prompted the sales inquiry).
2. Conversion Rates
Also referred to as the closing rate, this is the average number of sales inquiries it takes to make one sale.
3. Order Value
The average value of orders (or sales) for your business.
4. Order Frequency
The average number of times a customer purchases from you each year.
5. GP%
The average gross profit expressed as a percentage of the average sales value.
6. Referrals
The average number of referrals received.
7. Customer “Lifetime”
The average number of years that a customer continues to buy from your business.
By tracking these factors regularly and examining the trends, at least one of these factors is likely to stand out for attention and allow you to direct your efforts where they will have the most impact on profit growth.
For example, if you currently convert only 1 out 10 inquiries into a sale, imagine the effect on your profit if you could improve the conversion rate to just 2 out of 10. Your profit will double. In this case, it would therefore make sense to divert some of your advertising budget to sales training – at least until the Conversion Rate improves to a more satisfactory level. (If your conversion rate is 1 out of 10 (or 10%), that means 90% of your advertising is actually being wasted).
Similarly, if the Order Frequency is lower than it should be, you may be better to reduce your spending on advertising to attract new customers and spend more on getting existing customers to buy from you more often.
While these are only a few examples, you can now imagine the impact even a small improvement in each of these factors would have on your bottom line. So if you aren't measuring the key profit drivers for your business already, you should now see the real power of doing so.
6. Plan For Success
In business there are no accidental successes. Having a good product or service is not enough and every business needs to follow a rigorous planning process in order to lay solid foundations for success. Remember that “no one plans to fail …. but this is what you will get, if you fail to plan”.
Why Plan?
The most common reason for a business plan being prepared is to gain funding for the business. However, an annual plan provides many benefits:
The opportunity for you – as the business owner or manager – to “step outside” the business and re-examine what is really important to your actions throughout the year objective method for gauging progress towards your business goals means of gaining a common commitment from the entire organisation
Key Elements Of A Business Plan
A business plan contains the necessary strategy (and underlying assumptions) for a business to achieve the objectives of its owners.
While the actual content and emphasis of an effective business plan will vary depending on the nature of the business and the purpose of the plan, the key elements of a typical business plan include:
1. Business Summary : Brief description of the business; it's products and services; the market and it's potential; objectives and strategies; and it's structure
2. Marketing Plan: The market – industry, competition and market segmentation; customers; SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats); sales and marketing objectives; competitive advantage; products and services; pricing; promotion; sales distribution
3. Financial Plan: Current and planned financial position – income statement, balance sheet & cash flow; and a risks & mitigation plan
4. Management Plan: Organisation structure and key personnel
5. Project Plan: Specific planned actions – each with time frames, responsibilities and the method of measuring success
6. Backwards Planning: Although not widely practiced, backwards planning is a useful technique – especially to check the reasonableness of your business plan. In backwards planning, you:
Start with the desired outcome
Then progressively work backwards through all the steps in the process that lead to the desired result At each step, ensure that you have included an appropriate action in the Project Plan to produce this result:
For example – if you have assumed that sales revenue will grow by 20% in the coming year, work backwards through your sales process to determine how many additional customer inquiries will actually be needed to achieve this and then check whether the actions included in the Project Plan will deliver this result.
Planning Tips
Tailor the plan to suit the purpose. In particular, if the plan is being prepared to obtain external funding, establish in advance what the prospective financier expects to see aside time specifically for planning - free of any distractions as objective as possible – you are only kidding yourself if you aren't should be about quality not quantity. A well conceived 10 page plan is far better than a 50 page plan that may never be read your staff in the planning process. You are likely to end up with a more practical plan and your staff are also more likely to take ownership of the actions that will be required to achieve the plan
Look on planning as ongoing process – it should be refined throughout the year – especially if any of the key assumptions change never lose sight of the fact that, while a good plan is the foundation for success, it is the effective execution of the plan that ensures success.
7. Create Ads that are effective and profitable
Given the number of ways and mediums now available to promote your business it’s no wonder that we are tempted just to hastily get something out simply to “get it out there”!
There are however, a number of basic fundamentals that will help create advertisements that are effective and profitable.
1. Establish and confirm that your USP (unique selling position) is easily understood and provoking.
Find out what makes your business different from that of your competitors. Good marketers identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT’s) and develop their strategy from the results.
Bizarrely using a line detailing an apparent weakness can actually work e.g.
“We’re not number one, so we work harder to get the job done.”
Prospective customers will realise that since they are not number one the service and pricing will be more competitive.
It’s imperative that your company has a USP and one that sets you apart from all your competition. Ensure that it leaves an impression on your customers minds.
2. Get your headlines and copy working effectively.
It must attract their Attention, keep them Interested, generate Desire and make them Act to get what you have to offer! (the “AIDA” principle)
You must have all these in place for your advertising campaign to work. Perhaps the most important and sometimes forgotten part is the “call to action”. A customer may have been attracted by your headline, read everything, but if he isn’t prompted to do something straight away the chances are he’ll move on to other things. I see 97% lack this fundamental call to action and they wonder why they don’t get any or little response.
Everyone buys based on basic human wants. These can be put into two categories, the desire to gain and the desire to avoid to lose. Designing your call to action based around avoiding loss, e.g. “don’t miss out”, or “hurry before it’s too late” is usually most effective.
3. Check that what you’re saying is being said in the right place.
Here’s a list of pointers that will give you the edge when it comes to buying expensive advertising space.
Ads on a full page get better response on the right hand pages.
Larger ads work better than smaller ads.
Smaller ads generate more response if lower on the page and closer to the outer margins.
In direct mail, buyers are more responsive to mailings received mid-week than on Mondays, Fridays, or weekends.
Seminars and lectures work better during the second and thirds weeks of the month.
These are just a few simple facts that will create better responses for you.
It’s the little details that make all the difference! Remember advertising can be costly so give it your proper attention.
8. The Most Overlooked Marketing Tool
The most effective, the most cost-efficient, the most profitable thing you can do in your business, is to create a database of your current and past customers and follow up with them.
Many people are in a business where collecting customers names and contact details would be acceptable be it B&B’s, electricians, galleries etc.
The method you use to follow up with your current and past customers doesn’t have to be an elaborate system, plan or strategy. It doesn’t have to be costly. It’s doesn’t have to break the bank. But it does have to be well thought-out, planned and tailored to the unique wants of your customers, if you want it to be overwhelmingly successful.
This one strategy is the most overlooked, yet most effective marketing tool you have in your arsenal for getting your customers to buy from you more often, extending their buying lifetime with you and getting them to refer others to you. In short…
This one strategy can do more for your business than just about anything else.
It certainly helped Joe Girard get listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "World's Greatest Retail Salesman" for 12 consecutive years.
He sold an average of 6 cars everyday, throughout his selling career and he did this by following up his customers and building and maintaining a long lasting relationship with them. In other words he created a place for himself in the brains of his prospects and customers by keeping in touch with them. He made sure that he was in peoples' minds when they had to buy a car.
9. Do Good and Get Exposure
Performing good deeds makes you feel good and those you’re helping.
But have you stopped to think that it’s also good for your business?
Start up businesses and entrepreneurs should include a community outreach plan as part of their marketing plan. It's a guaranteed way to meet potential prospects and partners, and one of the least expensive sources of advertising available.
Being involved in community activities can help small businesses compensate for small advertising budgets.
The cost of a sponsorship or product or service donation is low compared to the community exposure you will receive in return.
Of course joining and participating in local community or business organisations such as Business Chambers are also an excellent way to network and gain exposure for your business.