Find the Best Ways to Strengthen Your Customer Relationships
The most experienced group of small business owners working today are the Baby Boomers and in Bank of America’s spring 2015 Small Business Owner Report, 71 percent said that the relationships they have developed with their customer base has given them repeat business. That’s not a surprise, although Millennials and Gen-Xers aren’t so sure. They attribute less repeat business to the relationships they’ve developed, 47 and 53 percent respectively. Maybe their wrong in their estimates, or they have a younger, less loyal customer base. In any case, building those relationships is a relatively inexpensive way to earn repeat business and rewarding your customers should be part of that picture. This infographic – inspired by data in the Bank of America report – lists eight ways small businesses reward their customers and if you check out the percentages attached to each, you’ll see that they are fairly equal in popularity. Your job is to find the one that works best for you, or “mix it up” to keep things...
read moreEnter These Contests To Win Big Money and Sharpen Your Small Business Skills
On the bus. To the 1960’s “Love Generation,” the phrase referred to Ken Kesey’s infamous drug-addled cross-country trip with the self-proclaimed Merry Pranksters. Today anyone using the phrase is more likely referring to the StartupBus which takes groups of entrepreneurs, software developers, and designers on a once-a-year journey of designing products and business models. The trip ends with a contest where the best concept wins. Interesting historical footnote: The San Francisco Bay Area lays claim as the starting point for both today’s “buspreneurs” and the ’64 Merry Pranksters. It’s too late to jump on this year’s StartupBus and try to take the top prize. It left Baghdad By The Bay on June 4 heading for a June 8 arrival in Music City, aka Nashville. However, there’s always next year, so keep tabs on the event. But, if you’re itching to test yourself against other great minds in the startup world – or even more generally against other small businesses – there are always events going on. They can be national, regional or local. I encourage you to consider getting yourself involved in a contest. They sharpen the mind and can be a quick way to eliminate bad ideas and lousy designs. Even if you don’t win, you emerge with a much better idea of the standards that determine the best business concepts and management practices. We recently ran an article by Cliff Ennico where he runs through the logic he used when he recently judged the Connecticut Business Plan Competition. Getting that kind of feedback can be priceless. Here are some more opportunities: Shark Tank. Let’s be honest, this is the golden unicorn of entrepreneurial challenges and few make the cut. If you think you have what it takes, start by skimming this article that probes the show’s supervising casting producer to uncover the secrets for making the cut. Sage Small Business of the Year. There are weekly winners ($650-plus each) and a grand-prize winner ($19,000-plus) in this yearly contest put on by Sage. I’m proud to be a partner in the event, along with several notable companies. The 5-Day Big Brand Challenge. Sponsored by Bplans and PrestoBox. June 8 is the start date for this five-day event. You receive an email with advice and exercises for you to do. You submit before and after stories. Winners will be selected who receive branding packs from Presto Brand with their choice of logo, brand guide, or business card files custom designed. A free webinar pulls everything together. Flo’s 2015 Fabulous Food Truck Contest. Three prizes – from $2,500 to $10,000 – will be awarded in this contest sponsored by Progressive Commercial Auto. It’s for food truck operators and is more of a popularity contest than critically judged event. Entries are accepted until June 30. Miller Lite Tap the Future. The entry period for this one has passed, but bookmark it for next year. In the world of prize money, Miller Lite is more filling, awarding entrepreneurs more than $200,000 to fund their startups. There are many more opportunities out there. Do a search for terms like “business contests, “startup contests,” and “contests for entrepreneurs.” Do those same searches but add your state or city to get additional results that are more local. Good luck. Image: Further-5, by Visitor7, [CC BY-SA...
read moreSmall Business Owners: Here’s Why You Must Be Ready to Say ‘No’
Small business owners are eager and optimistic, so they are naturally inclined to say “yes” to all kinds of opportunities. However, learning to say “no” can ultimately be the difference between success and failure. Consider this Steve Jobs quote: “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things.” Jobs was talking about innovation and what he is saying covers businesses at virtually every step of their evolution, but it may be most important for the majority of businesses when they are in the startup phase. Distill, don’t dilute The single most important attribute for a startup is to have a clearly defined minimal viable product or service. We’re always talking about the critical “elevator pitch” that entrepreneurs need to have in their pocket. If there isn’t a clearly defined central idea, there can be no concise elevator pitch. Whenever your business idea is linked together several times by the word “or” – you’re probably on the wrong path; you need to say no to a thousand things. However, it is also true that innovative startups often discover that they have to “pivot” one or more times as they get closer to the marketplace. Understand that a strategic pivot is not the same as a “shotgun” approach to business formation. Whenever you pivot, it must be in the direction of a product or service that is even more clearly defined and closely aligned to market conditions than your previous product or service concept. Leave your Small Biz lane, get disqualified The need to say no continues throughout the lifecycle of your small business. Rough patches or a shifting market can light a fire under owners and send them scurrying to find ways to increase revenue. Noted customer service expert Shep Hyken likes to talk about companies having a “lane” in which they run. When they stray outside of their lane, they tend to get into trouble. This is a trap that businesses both large and small can fall into. A friend once told me about a small, independent hardware store in a rural community that was struggling after many years of being in business. Suddenly school supplies started to appear on its shelves along with other merchandise unrelated to the hardware business. Before long, the owner sold to a couple of young guys who had been in the construction business. They went the opposite direction. They sold off all the junk not related to hardware at fire sale prices, dramatically expanded their hardware and building supplies inventory, and aggressively pursued professional builders for their business. If I can borrow Shep’s language, I would say that instead of going outside of their lane, they stayed in their lane but found the energy to run even faster. They were able to turn the corner on profitability. Few radios in Radio Shack That’s one small, rural store. On a national level, we have just witnessed Radio Shack filing for bankruptcy protection. Once a haven for electronic DIYers and innovators,...
read moreFire Employees Wisely, or Pay the Price
Firing an employee is never easy for anyone involved. Not only are there emotional entanglements, there is the potential for legal entanglements – small business owners need to conduct themselves wisely on both accounts. State laws vary, so before you even hire your first employee, get legal advice on firing; as soon as you have employee number one on the payroll, the possibility of firing enters your world. In most states, workers are employed on an “at-will” basis, meaning they can be fired at anytime. However, if you have a contract with any employees, the terms of the contract will come into play. Tip: Be careful not to give a verbal contract when hiring, such as, “The only reason you could ever lose your job would be if we don’t get the contract from Acme Widgets.” If you’ve made any promises or commitments, then you may end up with a fight on your hands. Small business owners also need to understand that they cannot violate a person’s rights. The Supreme Court just ruled that Abercrombie & Fitch violated a Muslim women’s religious rights when the company refused to hire her because she would wear a head scarf on the job. Other categories include age, race, sex, national origin, and disability (as long as it does not hinder job performance). Sexual orientation may also be on that list in your state. There are other mistakes you must avoid. In order to dodge firing a worker, some small business owners make work miserable for an employee in the hopes that he or she will just quit. If the scheme works and the employee quits, the small business owner is likely to end up in the middle of an expensive wrongful termination suit. Be a straight shooter with your employees, even in difficult situations. The fundamental guidance when firing is that it should be the final step in a process. If the day arrives when an employee must be fired, it should never come as a surprise. The process must include: Documenting the problems, Working with the employee on corrective measures, Informing the employee of the consequences. However, many companies have “zero-tolerance” policies that cover some behaviors, such as violence, harassment, drugs and discrimination. If you decide to implement any zero-tolerance policies, get legal advice; enforcement is not always as easy as it might seem. When you decide it’s time to fire someone, do not act in haste or anger. Take the time you need to be sure your attitude is right and you are fully prepared for the process. Here are some tips: Do it fast. As soon as you know someone isn’t right, end the employment relationship. Dragging it out doesn’t do anyone a favor. Be brief, direct, straightforward and unapologetic when delivering the news. “We’re letting you go today,” is really all you have to say, along with any details regarding pay and packing up. Don’t allow the employee to start a long discussion or argument. Be prepared for the logistics. Have a person ready – or it can be you – who oversees the employee when packing up. Don’t let the employee finish the day or the week. Experts advise firing at the beginning of the week and never on Fridays. Although it’s optional, try to have a...
read moreSmall Business Success: Refuse To Be Sucked into Uncertainty
Whenever it looks like we’re in an economic downturn, a handful of optimistic and hard-working small business owners and entrepreneurs charge ahead behind the rallying cry: I refuse to participate in a recession! We aren’t currently in a recession, but according to the most reliable economic indicators, we aren’t in a boom cycle either. However, we are in an era where one indicator is going through the roof: The number of opinion surveys. More public opinion surveys are being conducted today than ever before and frankly many are starkly contradictory. The entire polling and surveying industry is in a state of flux itself. Recent major misses in predicting elections results are signs of this. Small business optimism polls But, their accuracy in measuring the health and attitude of small businesses seems to equally as poor. Here’s a quote from the CNBC article summarizing the recent survey conducted by Gallup for Wells Fargo: “The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, a measure of optimism, dropped from 71 in January to 64 in April, Wells Fargo said. It was the first significant decrease since November 2012. The survey questioned 601 small business owners.” That article appeared on May 11. One day later, reporting on a National Federation of Independent Business optimism survey, the Wall Street Journal said this: “Confidence among small business owners increased in April after a March drop, according to a report released Tuesday. Hiring activity also picked up, although many owners said they could not find qualified workers.” In fairness, I need to point out that the Wells Fargo index has a reporting period of January to April, while the NFIB index has a reporting period of March to April. But the important thing to learn is that surveys, polls and indexes aren’t important. In an era like today, they are “all over the place” and at best they create an attitude of uncertainty. Further, even an accurate survey shows where we were, not where we are and certainly not where we are going. Your future is not controlled by a survey, unless you allow it to. This is why I exhort you: Refuse to be sucked into the current atmosphere of uncertainty. The enemy of small business owners Uncertainty is the enemy of a small business owner. You need to make decisions every day. You need to have a strategy that guides you over the next several months. You will make some wrong decisions and you will make some great decisions. That’s just a fact. However, you must be resilient. You must be able to put bad decisions behind you and carry on. I believe that for any of your decisions to have a chance at being successful, the actions that follow those decisions must be founded on confidence. Half-hearted efforts are bound to fail. All of us prefer recoveries over recessions and certainty over uncertainty, but for you – small business owner – all that matters is how you are doing. Remember, even in the absolute worst economic times, such as the Great Depression, there were plenty of successful businesses and startups. • • • New, affordable small business resource I hope the observations, advice and encouragement I’ve given you here provide you with you some mental ammunition to shoot down any doubts that creep into your...
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