Indy Smallbiz - Indianapolis’s Small Business News Magazine

DOUBLE YOUR SALES

By Lorraine Ball

Two years ago, my firm suffered from split business disorder and as the owner, so did I. Offering marketing services for small business owners, we also offered team building and training services to Fortune 500 firms.

Neither segment was large enough to stand alone, so I spent my time split between both. When someone asked me what I did, I was never quite sure how to respond and often said too much. Networking associates overloaded with T.M.I. (Too Much Information) rarely had a good referral for me. How could they? If I didn’t know what I did or who I wanted to meet, it was unrealistic to expect others to be able to help me. A drastic change was required!

Narrow Your Focus and Create a Plan

And so I made a decision to narrow my focus, targeting small business owners exclusively. This was the segment which had been most productive and I believed if I created an action plan to support the change I would see improved results. I began by evaluating every element of my marketing plan, eliminating elements which no longer fit the overall direction of the business.

My Goal was to become well known and respected in a smaller circle. I wanted to be the go-to person for small business marketing in Indianapolis.

*  I gave up chasing “corporate gigs” and I concentrated on small
businesses.

1. I pulled 650 prospects from my database which did not fit my core target. I turned the contacts over to a competitor. (There was no changing direction after that!)
2. I discontinued my corporate eNews and gave up memberships in organizations which were not relevant for my core small business customer.

*   Next I redirected my time and resources to attract the attention of
small business owners.

1. Networking venues and groups were selected because they would allow me to spend more time with small business owners.
2. To be seen as a thought leader, I knew I needed to be more then just a member. Since I was being more selective in the events I was attending it was easier to commit to taking on a leadership roles in organizations which served this market.
3. I became a preferred resource for the SBDC and the SBA, offering free or low cost workshops on topics which were relevant to small business owners.
4. I reviewed the articles I had written, and began submitting them to on-line and off line publications with a readership which was comprised primarily of small business owners. I focused on local business publications first.
5. And finally, I revised all our marketing material to support this new focus. We added information and phrases which are relevant to my core customer.

The Result

In two years I have moved from being self-employed to running a business with a team of four employees and two interns. Roundpeg is known for our small business expertise. Many of our current clients and referral sources have no idea we ever worked with larger firms, and they never need to know. Tightening our focus has allowed us to concentrate and grow!
Lorraine Ball is focused on Small Business. As founder of Roundpeg, Indy’s leading small business marketing firm, Lorraine helps small firms become big firms!

Posted in Articles

Underestimating the Importance of Powerful GoalsConsider the following scenario…

By C.J. McClanahan

You are a school teacher and during lunch one day you discover that someone you love (son, daughter, mother, father, best friend, etc.) has just been diagnosed with a rare disease and given less than 6 months to live.

The next day you learn that you can save their life if you can figure out a way to raise $1 million in the next 90 days. Considering the fact that the most you have made in one year is $42,000 this seems like an impossible challenge.

What would you say to this impossible challenge? When faced with the prospect of loosing a loved one most of us claim that we will do what ever it takes to save their life – even if it means raising more than 20 times our annual salary in the next 3 months. So, if we are all capable of overcoming what seem to be insurmountable obstacles why is it so hard to get your employees to make minor improvements at the office? Why can’t you convince that recent college graduate that they need to treat every possible customer with a smile and a firm handshake?

Because, your employees don’t see a connection between the stuff you require at the office and the things that are important to them. You haven’t set meaningful goals that inspire your staff to improve.

So, how do you change? I recommend a simple 3-step process:

Set meaningful goals and clearly communicate them to your employees.

Find out what motivates each of your employees and show them a connection between hitting your company goals and their individual aspirations.

Reinforce your goals and this connection every single day! People get easily distracted and forget what’s important – it’s your job to keep them focused. Also, don’t fall into the trap of saying you don’t have enough time to set goals. You have exactly the same amount of hours in a day as Helen Keller, Alexander Graham Bell and Martin Luther King. Quit making excuses and make it happen.

- Does your company have clear and meaningful goals?

- Do you discuss these goals outside of the annual meeting?

- What if your employees were focused and excited about these goals?

Spending Too much Time on Administration

How much time do you spend each week on the following types of tasks: running to the post office, sending out invoices, routine customer service, answering the telephone, etc?

Is that a good use of your time?

Before you answer that question, complete the following exercise. Take your annual projected revenue and divide it by the number of hours you work in a typical year. This number represents the amount of revenue you as the business owner are ultimately
responsible generating/managing per hour.

For example, if you expect to make $1 million this year (and we assume that a typical year has 2,000 working hours) your hourly rate would be $500.

So, before you complete that next administrative task ask yourself “Is this a $500 an hour activity?” If the answer is “no”, then hire someone else to do it. The general rule should be “If a task doesn’t require my unique set of skills or expertise, I should consider having it done by someone else”.

But, what if you can’t afford to hire someone?

The simple answer – figure out a way to make it work. If you don’t, you will never be able to get your business to the next level.

How much is your time worth?

Do you spend too much of it on $25 an hour tasks?

What should you be doing with your time?

Posted in Articles

Doing Business on Your Terms - Maximizing Your Time Through Target Marketing

By Scott Manning
Manning Methods, LLC

Doing business on your terms relies upon leveraging your sales process to prepare people to buy.  Let me ask you, do you remember the purpose of business?  To over-service its clients, right?  Great, and what do we ask in exchange? Premium prices, right?  Great!  So when is a business being a business, or generating profits? When it is SELLING, or better said transacting money; so the point here is that “maximizing time” means always being in a SELLING position, doing something that MAKES MONEY. Businesses that invariable struggle year after year are those that don’t do-Daily–enough activities that result in MONEY transacting - they don’t use their time to make money.

We will dissect the basis for making time create money.  We will accomplish this by designing our business and sales process to “talk” to people that WANT us and we WANT.  People who are ready, willing, and capable of becoming our Clients are the only ones that bring money to the bottom-line.  Targeting, qualifying, and making it easy for people to get involved with your company are the ways to maximize your time, putting you in position to be “belly to belly” to make the sale.  This begins with External Marketing. Every form of it should be designed to get you one step closer to selling the Right Prospect at the Right Time at the Right Price Point.  Doing business on your terms means all of those things–who, when, and how much.  Now, let’s set ourselves up for success and make our time profitable.

Target Market -ONLY go after people who CAN/ SHOULD do business with you

Let’s get two things straight before we dive into this section:
FIRST; Marketing IS a revenue generating activity
SECOND; Marketing IS the single most important responsibility of any Business Owner or Entrepreneur.

Target Marketing
Target marketing is marketing specifically to those people– future clients–who need or want your products or services, whether they know it or not.  Target marketing is marketing to people based upon the untold requirements they must satisfy to do business with your company.

Examples:
A target market might be location, income, home owners, men, women, old, young, occupational, or any other of numerous specifications that are necessary for you to provide whatever it is you provide.
The Basics
When trying to decide on your target market first ask - WHO YOU SERVE -
Children, Adults, Rich, Poor, Local, Global, etc.
Next we want to figure out - WHERE THEY ARE -
Houses, apartments, offices, industries, schools, etc.
Finally we want to decide - HOW TO GET TO THEM -
Radio, TV, Mailbox, car flyer, other businesses, magazines, etc.

Now, I don’t mean to be too simplistic; but Target Marketing isn’t difficult, it really is common sense, and it deserves your real attention…here’s why:

Every dollar or minute you invest in trying to attract future clients to your company you can not get back, unless of course you make a sale and gain a client.  It makes sense then to go after those people whom YOU want and WHO want you, instead of wasting time asking people that you could have eliminated based upon your Target Market considerations.  Let me give you some STUPID examples:

A single straight guy doesn’t go to the local guys’ only club to find a date.  If you want to find a date you’ve got to go where there are viable prospects that resemble what you’re looking for.  The same goes for your business, you’ve got to go after the people who fit your business.

Let me be as blunt and clear as possible - You don’t have to be an equal opportunity business provider. Employer, “Yes.” Client service, “No way?”

Jay Abraham, the greatest marketing consultant of all time to some of the world’s largest companies, relentlessly insists that, “You can’t be all things to all people.”  Nor do you want to be.   That is the biggest mistake you can make; only use your time and tactics to sell your products or service to the people that need it and/or want it.

Message in order to “Market Match” - via the proper Media
Dan Kennedy is known for his marketing formula: You must have the right message going to the right market via way of the right media.

This should make sense by now.  The point is vitally important, because there is no profit to trying to inform everyone about what you’re doing or offering.  The only people that need to know is the ones that are capable of actually being or becoming clients.

Key steps for putting $$$ to the bottom-line
Decide who your perfect client is, describe them and know everything about them.  Make sure to evaluate all areas of your business. You may have more than one type client for different business areas; but try to determine just one, core client, a target market that is comprised of the people that bring the most to your company.

Focus primarily on these five things;

1. Age of client
2. Location of client (demographic breakdown of area)
3. Occupation / Hobbies / Interest
4. Money in the household or typical income ranges
5. Any other notable characteristics–often this is children at home, home owner or renter, cars they drive, etc.

We are looking for buyer and buying character-istics in order to identify our TARGET MARKET to start focusing our efforts, dollars and minutes into this specific target market.

In most businesses you will find 80-90 percent of your clients, or at least a majority,  come from a very specific market…chances are you struggle to get them, or at least struggle to get the volume you need.  This is because your marketing efforts are not concentrated enough and directed toward this target market.  When you start catering your business, sales presentation, and marketing material and message directly to this market segment - your ideal clients - you will multiply your business…overnight!

Posted in Articles

How to help your business succeed!!

By Tim Garrison

When was the last time you had a surprise with a cash balance, cash availability receivables, inventory, a job and the list just keeps going.   Did you go into fire fighting mode to put the fire out only to get swamped with the next problem?

When we interview our new clients we ask what processes they have in place for reporting and the frequency of this reporting.  It is not a surprise any more to hear that this isn’t in place, or is in place but not followed, isn’t meaningful or I’m to busy to deal with it!

Every business has this issue and the opportunity to make this something that weekly can give management a barometer of where they are on what if vital for that businesses success.  There are items that likely would look the same generally for a lot of companies coupled with specific reports that are necessary for the unique aspects of each company.

Your goal as you think through this is what information would help you to know where you were at in a glance in summary form along with what information do you need in detail.   I have provided some ideas below that is general but hopefully will help get you started I would suggest weekly would be the appropriate frequency for these.

Summary

• Net liquidity
• Credit line availability
• Backlog of open orders

Net Liquidity

Detailed Reports

• Accounts receivable aging
• Accounts  payable aging
• Inventory
• Job costing

Now the question comes down to who in your company has the ability to pull this together and who should be getting it.   For the detailed reports if you have an accounting staff calls should already be noted on the receivable aging on what is to be happening on past due balances.   Inventory over/under stock coupled with back order problems need to be worked through.  In job costing how are you tracking compared to budget, best use of staff.

Tim Garrison
The Controllership Group
(317) 572-1225
timg@thecontrollershipgroup.com

Posted in Articles, Business Tips