Small Business

Circuit City shut its doors, office supply stores are reporting slow quarters, and consumers are staying home. The slow economy has reduced sales in just about every retail store. If your company is selling in the retail channel (or thinking about it), the news can be frightening.

One year ago I could read the writing on the wall. The retail channel was either dead or mortally wounded. Consumers’ buying habits had changed and product sales in brick and mortar stores were in a steep decline. I had the dubious pleasure of steering a once profitable sales channel into the ground.

During a period when retail sales reports were appalling and getting worse each week, Palo Alto Software chose to review every aspect of its retail channel plan. We didn’t expect to be able to fully rebound; we were hoping that we could find a way to slow the decline. We looked at every partnership, channel position, and retail decision. We challenged ourselves to make wholesale changes where necessary. We threw out all of our preconceived notions and started from scratch.

Was our software selling on-shelf in the right stores? Did our pricing model maximize revenue? Did we know where our customers were shopping? What was our competition’s strategy? Were retail sales in the process of dying off? Every aspect of our retail strategy was researched, challenged and weighed. Our start-from-scratch approach immediately brought glaring problems to the surface.

By asking the right questions, our management team was able to get a better understanding of the retail market. We were able to correct our mistakes and identify some very significant opportunities. A year later, Palo Alto Software has a thriving retail channel that continues to realize significant growth, month over month. Retail is not dead, it’s not wounded, it’s just changing!

In retail, the learning curve can be very steep and unforgiving.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be blogging about the lessons we learned in retail. Hopefully this series will challenge your business to take a fresh look at retail. It is a complicated, time-consuming sales channel, but the returns can be well worth the effort.

David Shear is the Channel Sales Manager at Palo Alto Software, where he oversees all academic, corporate, government and retail sales.  David came to Palo Alto Software from the banking industry where he was a regional and national sales manager for Indymac Bank, Optium Financial and Rainland Mortgage; David worked in correspondent and wholesale mortgages for over a decade.

Having attended University of Oregon’s Law School, David is quick to point out that while the Oregon Ducks are his first love, sales come in a close second.

(editor’s note: David’s status with UofO was incorrectly listed as being an Alum. This is completely a miss on ‘Chelle’s part and not a devious attempt on David’s. )

Tags: David Shear, inside look, retail, sales
Posted on February 5th, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Fascinating article from ReadWriteStart about what the iPad could possibly mean to start-ups. In a word? Instant Demos.

“Startups and entrepreneurs will benefit immensely from the ability to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations on-the-go, allowing them to take their product pitches with them wherever they go. When they meet people at events, they can whip out their iPad and flip through their Keynote presentation right then and there.”

Read the rest of the article at ReadWriteStart

Tags: apple, hardware, startup, techology
Posted on January 28th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

AmEx’s OPEN Forum is quickly becoming one of the best places to find new and informative content from some of the best minds in the business world. Along with great articles from people like Anita Campbell, John Jantsch and Guy Kawasaki, you can find short video’s from MSNBC and from the AmEx forum itself..

This video about the Cafe Circa restaurant in Atlanta is a great example of how a business can learn from mistakes and the effort that goes into creating a successful business.

Click the picture to watch the video on the OPEN Forum website

Tags: AmEx OPEN Forum, Small Business, video
Posted on January 11th, 2010 | No Comments »

I don’t mean to get carried away with the title of this post, but since reading John Maxwell’s book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, I’m convinced that one of the key factors to being a successful business owner is becoming a better leader.

Here’s the good news – becoming a better leader is a learned behavior, just like most other skills we learn.

So, what exactly is this thing we call leadership?  What does it look like?

According to John Maxwell “leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.”  Leadership may come in all shapes and sizes, but it only comes from influence, and that can’t be mandated by a title, position or knowledge. It must be earned.  The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or to undermine it.

I believe leadership is misunderstood.  Many people mistakenly believe that by being a business owner or entrepreneur, you are automatically a leader.  Nothing, in my opinion can be further from the truth.  To be truly successful, a business owner needs to develop (and continue to develop) the necessary skills to influence not only the people in their organization, but their prospects and customers.

So what are some of the key elements of effective leadership?

• Relationships - Effective leaders are able to develop relationships – the stronger the relationship, the more potential for effective leadership.
• Knowledge - Information is critical to the success of a leader.  Knowledge alone won’t make someone a leader, but without knowledge, no one can become a successful leader.
• Intuition - Effective leaders have a “gut” instinct when it comes to putting their “finger on the pulse” of others’ feelings, morale and energy.
• Past Success - Nothing is more important to a person’s ability to lead than their track record of accomplishment or for getting the job done.

Here’s a quick method to access what factors you rely upon to persuade people to follow you.  For the following factors listed below, rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10.  (1 means it’s not a factor while a 10 means you rely on it continually)

• Character – who you are
• Relationships – who you know
• Knowledge – what you know
• Intuition – what you feel
• Experience – where you’ve been
• Past Success – what you’ve done
• Ability - what you can do

Now, try to determine ways to better utilize the factors with low scores.

Joe Costantino is owner of Business Marketing Success in Boston, a marketing company that helps professional service firms learn how to effectively market their businesses with a step-by-step marketing system.  He is also a certified Duct Tape Marketing Coach and East Coast Regional Guide assisting in recruitment and training of new Duct Tape Marketing coaches.  Joe also provides keynotes, seminars and workshops on a number of marketing topics.  You can learn more about Joe at www.businessmarketingsuccess.com or by e-mail at joe@businessmarketingsuccess.com

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Joe Costantino
Posted on December 9th, 2009 | No Comments »

James P. Shelley

James P. Shelley creates business documents for a living. He writes full business plans, financial plans, summaries, even Web copy and employee/employer documents (like employee manuals). He works with startups and ongoing businesses to craft their documents, and explains, “my specialty is to work with principals and key employees of existing businesses of all types to create changes that will help them reach their next level of organization, leadership, and performance, and to improve their profitability.”

Back in 1996, Jim was launching a health information consulting company with a few partners, and used Business Plan Pro to write the plan for that business. Since then, he has used several versions of the software to write plans for his own businesses, as well as all business and financial plans he writes for his clients. “I like the simplicity of Business Plan Pro,” he notes.

“In 2004 I engineered my own business plan for a venture separate from my writing business. The lending institution told me that it was one of the best plans they had ever seen; very detailed and easy to understand. This resulted in a business loan that included the purchase of a business and the associated real property.”

A business plan is an important document, according to Jim, because it helps to determine if a business idea will work. “Many people have great business ideas, but until everything is fleshed out — until they look at how all the numbers gel together — it’s a guessing game.” But almost as important as the plan is for determining the course of the business for the business owner, is the tremendous impact it has on lenders and investors. “Having a properly prepared business plan has ensured my clients present their ideas to the proper people in a proper format. It must be perfect. There is no un-ringing the bell.”

Writing a business plan is an everyday thing for Jim, but he experiences the same difficulties as anyone who sits down to the task. “The biggest challenge of engineering a business plan without Business Plan Pro is the financial plan component. Engineering a financial plan as comprehensive as that in Business Plan Pro, using a workbook with spreadsheets, is simply too time consuming.” He tells the story of a client who handed him a bundle of 36 spreadsheets, prepared by a CPA. Though it was challenging, he was able to cull the information from all those sheets and use Business Plan Pro to create a finished product that made his client happy. “I’m not a CPA, but when everything folded together in Business Plan Pro, the end result was a comprehensive financial plan easily understood by most any banker.”

While the financial tools were his favorite part of the software, he says the flow of the program was really helpful as well. “The outline feature is very appealing. I like to see where I’ve been, where I’m going, and enjoy being guided towards a conclusion. I also like the review feature… which identifies the success or failure of your work.”

One feature of Business Plan Pro that Jim doesn’t use is the plan versus actual comparison. Since he’s writing the plans for other people, he doesn’t usually have the opportunity to follow up. “However, for my clients, I encourage them to purchase Business Plan Pro Premier Edition so they can use that feature once they’ve established their business.”

Jim has been writing business plans for clients for over four years, and says he has not written any of them without Business Plan Pro. “While I consider myself very organized, I found the intuitiveness of Business Plan Pro quite appealing.  It really is a smart approach to engineering such an important document.”

Before starting his writing business, Jim says he labored in the corporate world — “Been there, done that.” He finds a great deal of satisfaction in what he’s doing now. “I enjoy helping people identify, reach, and enjoy their hopes, dreams, and aspirations through proper planning.”

Check out Jim’s website for more about what he does, samples of his work, or to contact him directly.

Tags: customer spotlight, news, success story, testimonial, testimonials
Posted on December 8th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

One of our favourite clients is a business training centre at a local college. For the past few months, we’ve been working with their team to find out what small business owners want most from training, and how they want to receive it.

We began by doing a telephone survey. It was illuminating to see how extremely satisfied the training centre’s clients are with the great customer service they get from the staff, and a bit daunting to think that we could help grow such a well-established business even more.

We could have asked a standard question like, “Is (subject) of interest to you?” or “Do you or your employees need training in anything?” …but our work with entrepreneurs has shown us that the answer to this question is usually “No. I don’t have time.”

We ended up asking “What topics would be worth taking time off from your business to learn about?”

Small business owners told us they would indeed take time off work if they could learn: a better way to find new customers; stay ahead of their competition; and spend marketing money more effectively.

This was a great start. But these topics cover a lot of territory and the training centre wisely wanted to do further research to hone the new offerings. To do that, they decided to offer a series of free seminars to businesses in three separate regions, teaming up with partners in each area.

The seminars will be samplings of the broader courses they are considering offering at the centre. They will gauge interest in the topics via the number who enroll for the seminars, and circulate a questionnaire to gather even more information. They will also ask for permission to continue sending information to participants.

The results should provide guidance on what courses to offer and what kind of businesses will be interested in each. Further, the seminars will kindle interest in training in those companies that participate.

Sampling is a standard strategy in package goods marketing. This project by a training centre shows how the same technique can be used to develop or improve a product and build new business.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin
Posted on December 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

Customer service has been turned upside down by the self-sufficiency and immediacy of shopping and buying products and services on the Web. Our self-help culture has been transformed into a self-service culture with customers able and willing to do much more for themselves. At the same time, we are becoming accustomed to the benefits and good feelings that we experience online through automated buying experiences that can be customized and personalized to our schedules, locations, tastes, buying patterns, and desires.

More than ever before, the transactional relationship between the seller of products and the buyer of those products is critical to companies’ overall profitability. Except for economic monopolies, only companies that deliver excellent customer service make money. In this increasingly transparent world where so many products and services are viewed by consumers as commodities, providing exceptional customer service becomes the only sustainable competitive advantage for creating customer loyalty. The harsh economic realities that every business faces today and for the foreseeable future make this even truer.

First, It is important to debunk the twenty common myths of customer service (We call this BAM!)—from “The customer is always right” to “Customer service means the same thing to everyone” to “Companies achieve customer service by under-promising and over-delivering.” Customer service myths run the customer policies of many companies without anyone even questioning them. Unfortunately, this ensures that customer service will only be a “bolt-on” and not a part of the DNA of that company. Inside the DNA of most companies is where customer service needs to be in order to retain profitability.

We need to replace the myths with a tactical approach that shows companies how to make more money through attitudes and actions that will help their customers feel satisfied in good times or bad. In profitable companies, delivering BAM!-good customer service measurably increases revenue, reduces cost, and makes doing business much more enjoyable for us and for our customers.

Bad treatment so permeates American business that many of us don’t realize how little customer service there actually is until we go into the rare place that treats its customers like kings. Why do we as consumers put up with bad customer service? Assuming there is a choice to get the product or service somewhere else, are we too lazy to make a change? Is the barrier to exit too high? Or have we been lulled into expecting and accepting less and lowered our standards accordingly?

We always tell businesses that what is critical for their growth is a sustainable competitive advantage. Unless yours is an economic monopoly, every business needs something that will keep customers coming back when someone smarter with deeper pockets comes into their business space and tries to squish them like a bug. We can’t rely on patents or other such legal maneuvers. No, we need to rely on customer service for our customers to stick with us and keep coming back. In fact, through social media, customers can also not only tell 7 people about their good or bad experiences with your company, but 10,000. Customer service has now become just plain good marketing.

Barry has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years. A nationally recognized expert on entrepreneurship, Barry has given hundreds of presentations to audiences ranging from 20 to 20,000. He has taught entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and he has appeared on many TV and radio programs such as The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch and The Tavis Smiley Show. Author of three books, his latest book, “BAM! Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World” shows how customer service is the new marketing.

B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World is available now.

Tags: Barry Moltz, customer service
Posted on November 24th, 2009 | No Comments »

Bruce Mayberry is what’s known as a serial entrepreneur. He’s been self-employed for over 20 years, and his business ventures have run the gamut from selling high-speed data circuits to owning an art gallery, and a lot of other businesses in between. He’s used both Business Plan Pro and Marketing Plan Pro to write plans for his own businesses, and has even written them for clients as a tax consultant. His first business, he says, “was all smoke and mirrors. I started a trucking firm with $20 and a big smile.”

Now he’s writing the business plan for his newest venture and he feels confident that he’ll secure the $4 million in funding he’s seeking. “As to the receipt of the funds, I’m not worried. With a good plan and good management, money is always around.”

Bruce’s new startup is a modern-day barter organization called BarterPX. It’s a website that allows users to easily post their goods and services and exchange them amongst a large member community. According to the website, bartering produces new business and allows users to expand their markets. At the same time, it conserves cash — instead of spending money to purchase needed goods and services, users can trade their own goods and services, keeping cash in their businesses for other purposes.

Bruce has been working on the BarterPX concept for a few years, and has been going at it full time now for about six months. A quick glance at the website reveals a vibrant trade community, using modern technology to barter goods the way it was done centuries ago.

In the past, Bruce has written business plans for businesses that were already up and running. “Sometimes you just need to re-focus to grind some more profit out. Those programs really help you get a new perspective,” he comments. For this current business, though, he has a different goal for the plan he’s writing. For a startup, he says, “The properly written business plan tells you how much capital you’ll need, and everything else is inaccurate, unsubstantiated guessing.”

Business Plan Pro is to credit for some of his successes, according to Bruce. “Every single time I have ideas and brainstorms, they pay off big when I use the software. The process of answering all [of the software's] inquiries really opens you up to some opportunity you’ll miss otherwise.”

Crafting a business plan isn’t easy. For Bruce, as for a lot of “idea people,” it’s the financials that pose the biggest hurdle. “For me the hardest part is the balance sheet. I’m an entrepreneur, not an accountant. I can do a balance sheet, but it takes days of detailed work that I rarely do. What a relief to enter the numbers and it happens,” he says, describing how Business Plan Pro handles the calculations in the balance sheet based on numbers the user inputs elsewhere.

When asked what he thought the most exciting part of being an entrepreneur was, Bruce’s answer was telling. “Exciting, are you kidding? Doesn’t everyone like 90 hours of work a week, biting their fingernails over payroll for a year, worrying about sales forecast, competitors, advertising cost, staffing…?”

“Well I love all that, but this is not for the thin-skinned. It gets in your blood like speed for a NASCAR driver. I’ve never sold a business and not had a huge emotional response — a sense of sadness and joy. It’s about more than the money, but it is always about the money.”

His obvious enjoyment of the process aside, Bruce is quick to point out that there are challenges, especially when dealing with investors. “You better be ready when you’re talking to venture capitalists. Business Plan Pro really helps — a lot!”

While not everyone may have the entrepreneurial spirit that Bruce Mayberry clearly has, he has some good advice for anyone starting down the entrepreneurship path. “More is lost by indecision than the wrong decision. The human mind is a powerful thing; so is hunger. Get out there and make it happen!!!”

Tags: customer spotlight, news, success story, testimonial, testimonials
Posted on November 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

The world of testimonials is changing and with it are some incredible opportunities to strengthen your credibility in the marketplace.  But the very first question I need to ask you is,

“Are you even collecting testimonials?”

Don’t panic if the answer is NO. Most of us aren’t as diligent as we can be in the collection process.  The main reason I hear is that people feel they need to ask for them.  While this certainly is one way, there are some other ways I find work extremely well.

1) RECAP – My favorite way to capture a strong testimonial is when someone has shared a success with me verbally.  When this happens to you, ask them right then and there if you could quote them for a testimonial.  When the answer is yes, take 2 minutes to type out the testimonial as you heard it.  Put it into an email to the source along with any other info you require (like a result or the link to their site, etc).  Ask them to confirm that this is correct and “ta da” you have your testimonial.

2) FEEDBACK FORMS – Once you have finished working with a customer, send them out a feedback form regarding the experience.  Add questions, like “how would you describe this experience to a friend” or “what is the biggest result/benefit you received?”  When you get some great responses, go back and ask if you can use this as a testimonial.

3) TESTIMONIAL PARTIES – I love connecting people so the idea of a testimonial party really appeals to me.  I got this idea from John Jantsch with Duct Tape Marketing and can’t wait to try it out.  Consider renting a videographer and asking individuals to record a structured testimonial or asking the videographer to approach attendees and capture testimonials.

4) PHONE IN TESTIMONIAL – Do you have an extra extension you can set up on your phone system, or perhaps just have individuals leave a voice mail message on your phone.  Either way your message or instructions can direct them as to what type of information they need to include and then you can either transcribe or use as audio samples on your site!

Capturing Killer Testimonials
Okay, so now you know how to collect them.  My next question to you is how strong are your testimonials?  Those that simply say you’re great or your product is great are what I call  “VANILLA”  or washed out testimonials.  Avoid run of the mill and aim for RESULTS and testimonials that point out what makes you different or better than others in your industry.  In order to garner stronger testimonials, you need to ASK for this type of information.  Consider encouraging your sources to share the following:

Why they chose you
What they were expecting
What they ended up getting
How that helped them and/or exceeded their expectations.
Why would they recommend others should work with you?

Answers to questions like this will get you some KILLER TESTIMONIALS!

Types of  Testimonials

While text emails are great, these days it’s becoming a no-brainer to add audio and video testimonials as well.  The technology has made this super easy.  Digital Recorders and VOIP phone systems will conveniently record in MP3 or WAV formats.  Inexpensive Digital Video Cameras are on the market to record your own video testimonials and services from companies like BizBoxTV have made it cost effective to get nicely produced videos as well.  When your product or service is emotion based or complex, I highly encourage you to use audio and video!

WHERE

Of course your testimonials should go on your website.  But I hope you don’t hide them under some lame tab called testimonials!  Be creative.  Pepper them throughout your website, or rotate them in your header or along one side.  At the very least, change the name of the tab, to “What OTHERS have to say”

Remember to also use your testimonials in promotional pieces and sales presentations.  Why not add them to your email signature or even to your business card?  The opportunities are endless and remember: we always gain more credibility when OTHERS say we’re great!

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget-minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought-after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cindee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

Tags: Cidnee Stephen, Duct Tape Marketing Coach, news, testimonials
Posted on November 11th, 2009 | No Comments »

Diana Peloquin found out recently that she had secured the property she was hoping for: a much sought-after piece of commercial real estate in Surrey, British Columbia. She intends to turn it into Cafe Pelorina, a high-end cafe featuring not just coffee, but art, books, and a community involvement component.

When she first began exploring locations for her cafe, she says, “I was told by my commercial realtor that the developers would not even look at an offer unless I had a business plan. Being of the strong mind that you don’t re-invent the wheel, I went on the Internet to search programs that offered business plans.”

Peloquin needed to get the business plan together quickly, as there were several other businesses interested in the property she had her eye on. She had never written a business plan before. “Instead of taking time, which I didn’t have, trying to figure out what a business plan is even supposed to look like, I Googled business plan software.” And that’s when she found Business Plan Pro, and discovered how helpful it was.

She says the planning process provided a lot of insight into her business. “As I was going through I realized how much detailed information I really had to get to be better prepared. I also realized that it was going to actually cost twice as much as I had thought!”

Her cafe hasn’t even opened yet, but Peloquin is already going back and fine-tuning her business plan. “I have already had to go back a couple of times to adjust numbers when I would look at the final outcome and see where there could be a problem in prices I had set. I was going to be paying too much for some supplies, which led me to get new suppliers and allowed me to achieve the margins I needed to make to be successful.”

Now a big fan of business plans, Diana would hate to think of what would have happened if she hadn’t written one. “If the developer hadn’t required that I have one I wouldn’t have made one, and I now realize this could have led to a huge disaster.”

Peloquin believes there’s no substitute for having a concrete plan when you’re starting your business. “Until you have everything in writing in front of you, you don’t know everything you should know.” She adds that Business Plan Pro made the entire process painless for her to accomplish. “I was amazingly impressed by how easy it was to do and how very professional the finished business plan was,” she says.

“I feel that doing a business plan gives you a great idea of how your business is going to work. You will be amazed by everything you learn about your industry.”

Tags: customer spotlight, news, small business tools, success story, testimonial, testimonials
Posted on November 5th, 2009 | No Comments »