Archive for the 'Management' Category

Dec 01 2011

BUSINESS STARTUP

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Community Support,Contacts/Networking,Creative Thinking,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Delegation,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Goals,INTERNET Marketing,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Marketing,Motivation,Objectives,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Productivity,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Stress Management,Tactics,Time Management,Trust,Writing

Startup Fever

 

Channeling startup energy wisely is certainly a paradox. In fact, channeling startup energy wisely is an almost impossible task because the heat of the moment tends to override the rationality of the brain. Emotions, in other words, pack more punch than objectivity and a measured approach. Hmmm, remind you of dating days?

Isn’t this also the reason successful marketers always direct their sales messages to trigger emotional buying motives instead of rational ones? Benefits, not features. I mean, do you really care what’s under the hood if it gets you where you want to go, doesn’t break down, is snazzy, and you think it makes you look good driving it?

If a car turns the neighbor’s head every time you pull into the driveway, and jumpstarts your brain into dreaming of being a big-name, cross-country race car driver just as a result of you buckling up and adjusting the mirrors, you buy it. You may offer 101 other more rational, logical reasons, but that’s just a justification cover!

When an entrepreneur starts a business, she 0r he is typically filled with emotions that seem to run at cross-purposes. Money. Where will it come from? Where will I get the money I need? Will it be enough? Workspace. How much do I need now? Later? Where? What’s the deal? Insurance? Yikes! Equipment? Furnishings? Accountant? Lawyer? Advisory board? Employees? Benefit plans? Strategic plans? Business Plans? Hours of operation? Website? Pricing? What? Huh? Packaging? Promotions? PR? Advertising? Sales? Phone System? Reception? Presentations? Partners? Investors? Lenders? Logo?Suppliers? Branding?Memberships? Networks? Jeeze! Maintenance? Distribution? Referrers? Community? Titles? Whoa! Signage? Name? Mission statement? Elevator speech? Professional or industry relations? Goals? Target markets? And on and on . . .

                                         

According to the most recent SBA studies I could muster (the WH doesn’t want to publicize new small business data), 9 out of every 11 new businesses reportedly fail within the first 10 years, and it takes an average of 6 years just to break even financially. Pretty miserable odds for all that emotional and financial expenditure.

But —considering that your idea and your support systems are great, and the alternative is a secure go-nowhere job with the braindead government or some big corporate shabang position with nothing but ladders to climb before you sleep– entrepreneuring at least gives you adventure, challenge, opportunity, freedom, and fun.

So the answer IS: Channel all that explosive chain-reaction energy. (Try increased attention to deep breathing, yoga, exercise, power walks, eating and sleeping right.) Channel the energy into filling the gaps of business needs that you lack, so you can concentrate on what you like and do best, which will maximize your performance.

You’re lousy at writing or marketing or managing others? Hire someone with a proven track-record to step in and free you up. Sometimes just one or two people can fill all three of these for-example roles. See where and how to consolidate tasks and functions that you can pass along. (But remember responsibility cannot be delegated.)      

The point is that startup entrepreneurs need to jet down and focus their total energy on the “here-and-now” of what they’re doing: find the needs, determine the costs, fill the needs. Shop around for services. Be a detective. Line up at least 10 times the amount of money you think you’ll need. 10? Yup! Guaranteed! 

 

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Hal@Businessworks.US

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 30 2011

In Debt? Who’s Not? So What?

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Goals,Innovation,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives/Strategies/Tactics,Observations,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Tactics,Trust

When business ownership feels claustrophobic…

Debt? Get Used To It!

 

 

DID YOU KNOW THIS?

       [Source: www.cnsnews.com 11/17/11]                          

  • Three weeks ago, the U.S. Treasury Dept. reported that the federal government’s debt had exceeded $15 Trillion for the first time in the history of America, hitting $15,033,607,255,920.32 and safe to assume that it’s higher yet as of today.

  •  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just estimated that there were 93,641,000 full-time private sector workers in America in 2010 (and 18,073,000 full-time workers in federal, state, and local government.

  • That means the $15.0336 Trillion federal debt equals approximately $160,545 per full-time private sector worker.

  • Given that the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there were approximately 76,089,045 families in America in 2010, the federal debt equals approximately $197,579 for each and every American family. 

                                     

Besides your vote on November 6, 2012, is there no escape? Well, you could close up shop, grab your piggy bank, and head for some remote island, getting sunburn and mosquito bites and drinking piña coladas and coco locos until you can’t walk or talk — not to mention that there’s just so much coconut milk your system can take!

OR, you could –what did Grandpa used to say?– buckle up, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, put your shoulder to the wheel and your nose to the grindstone! Not a pretty picture. 

You COULD simply make productive use of this traditionally slow business time (unless you’re in retailing, in which case you’re not taking time to read anything right now, least of all a blog post) by doing a little introspection and a quick reassessment of your year-end and new-year goals. Are your goals ALL 6 OF THESE? . . .

Realistic? Specific?

Flexible? Due-Dated?

Written on paper?

In your pocket?

                                                                      

If your goals don’t meet ALL of these criteria, they are the stuff of wishlists and fantasyland. Don’t kid yourself into thinking they’ll work if you skip a couple. But if you follow all six, and keep adjusting them as you go (Flexible, remember?), you will have insured yourself of the best possible outcome. Why settle for less? It’s a choice.

What’s the single most important thing you learned about your SELF in 2011? What’s the single most important thing you learned about your BUSINESS in 2011? How can you combine these two revelations to do a better job of protecting your self and your business in 2012? Roadblocks? What? Detours? Where? Solutions?

Why all the hoopla on goals? Because we’re all in debt up to our ears and there are no miracle prospects on the horizon, so the best solution is to take what you have and work your butt off to make it better, to make it work in spite of what union/government/corporate giant muckity-mucks do or don’t do. It’s all about YOU.

With 30 million small businesses in America, and you as part of that universe, there is untold opportunity for moving forward as a free spirit entrepreneur, and there is untold opportunity for moving forward by working in concert with other like-minded small businesses. Call it collaboration, strategic alliance, whatever works.

In the end, Business Works. Does yours?

 

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 30 2011

No one you can really talk to?

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Creative Thinking,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Gestalt Therapy,Good Health,Happiness,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Listening,Management,Mental Health,Motivation,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Productivity,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Stress Management,Tactics,Trust

When it gets lonesome at the top… 

Are you talking 

 

to your SELF?

 

                                                                                   

Those who talked to themselves were once considered out of step with reality, and those who out-loud answered their own questions were thought to be in urgent need of psychoanalysis… or a straitjacket.. perhaps even a lobotomy, like in the gruesome 1450s in England. But today? You’re in luck!

Judge-and-jury assessments like this obviously don’t include entrepreneurs. After all, you probably talk to yourself at least hourly, and carry a lifetime reputation for being crazy. I mean, how else could you still be good enough to be in business in this staggering leaderless economy?

When you decide to become an entrepreneur,

you necessarily choose to also become your

own (often lonesome) sounding board.  

                                                             

You should know, by the way, I’m not trying to put a damper on your rants and raves and ongoing mutterings. Those activities, in fact, can be stress-reducing in and of themselves, and serve the purpose of clearing your head — something like a wet retriever shaking off water while standing on your foot! (Had that experience, eh?)

What I am suggesting is that you add to your self-talk repertoire, a bunch of other self-oriented and self-focused actions — like trusting your SELF and appreciating your SELF and recognizing your SELF-uniqueness.

Yeah, but that borders on being selfish, doesn’t it? And don’t we all know that selfish behavior is not a good thing for society, our planet, our personal long-term value? Absolutely. But I’m not speaking of self-aggrandizement. I am addressing the basic life and business success need — to be oriented toward one’s SELF.

Calling it selfish or not doesn’t matter. It’s what your purpose and intentions are all about that really count. When we can be oriented toward our selves in our thoughts and actions, we can be –among other things– more aware of the needs of others, and how we might best be able to help meet or fill those needs in addition to our own.

Selfishness in this respect also tips our internal scales in favor of a more improved, more productive and balanced state of mental and emotional health.

The more we appreciate and value our SELVES and our uniqueness’s, the more we tend to respect the uniqueness’s of others, and the more effective we can become at improving our pathways toward self-sufficiency, self-determination, and the all-important life quality that traditional schools fail to teach: self-esteem.

So the thin line to walk is being able to keep humility and let go of egotism while nurturing self-respect and fostering self-development through increased self-awareness. A high-wire act? If you choose to make it difficult on your self, it is… and it will be. But the choice is yours. And NOW is the time to act! Good luck!

 

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 21 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”Z”

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Community Support,Contacts/Networking,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Leadership,Lifestyle,Listening,Management,Motivation,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Productivity,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Strategies,Tactics,Teamwork,Trust

The final subject of this, the world’s first BIZ ALPHABET Series of blog posts! (Check out “A” – “Y”)

                                            

“Z”…ZEST

                              

ZEST (not the soap) refers to you and your business . . . ardor, élan, gusto, joie de vivre, lust, oomph, passion, pep, pizzazz, tang, vitality, energy, zing,  zoom, zip,  zap . . . either you’ve got it or you don’t.

If you’ve got it, you can make it better. Start here now. If you don’t have it, you can get it ignited here, now. Free. No strings attached. No gimmicks! Just you and your business, and me.

~~~~~~~ 

Sounds good, you say, but who cares? Uh, your customers, your employees, your suppliers, your investors, your lenders, your community . . . and your family. Does that work for an answer? This is not just another lecture on motivation. It’s about operating your business with a competitive edge.

Let’s get to it: When did you last ask a few customers why they do business with you instead of with __________ (fill in the name of a leading competitor)? Oh, you did a survey? Well, that’s great, but there’s nothin’ like the real thing, Baby, goes the old song, and there’s nothing like straight eyeball-to-eyeball answers.

Whatever you hear back, by the way, accept and be appreciative. Do not criticize. Do not “Yes, But.” Do not argue or dismiss. There’s a reason for everything. Take it in. Write it down. Smile and say thank you. Go off and think. Odds are pretty good that the answers you’ll get will have something to do with your attitude and approach.

In other words, HOW you deal with customers, employees, and others around you is what determines more than anything else why your customers are your customers. And it’s that reputation that attracts other customers. So, if these assumption about how you deal with others is even just half right, you already have a competitive edge.

It may simply need –like the holiday carving knife– a little sharpening. Start by asking yourself if you and/or someone else who works with you have been partly or largely responsible for positive customer feedback. Do you appropriately reward that behavior when it comes from others. Rewarding positives breeds more positives.

If you get feedback that attributes your business strength to other factors –price, quality, convenience, etc.–you need to giddy-yap over to your customer service counter/person/policy/strategy/whatever, to fix it or make it better.

Why? Because in this lousy economy, it is frankly not a good sign that anything other than your outstanding service should be the #1 factor quoted by customers. You cannot any longer compete on price or packaging or quality or convenience or sustainability. Anyone with the know-how and gumption can beat you on those points. 

But no one else can be you!

                                                                       

No one else can treat people exactly the same as you, and therein lies your single greatest and unique competitive edge — it’s the differential that you, exclusively, can offer. Have you ever by-passed others and gone out of your way to deal with a particular business because you relate better to the source? Of course you have.

We all seek individuals and entities we feel offer more integrity, more authenticity, a better reputation, provide more extras. So your customers are different? What’s keeping you from adjusting, over-hauling, boosting or perking up your business approaches and attitude NOW? Aren’t roadblocks, after all, a matter of choice?

Choose more of what works. Put a little spice in your spirit! And remember what you put out and how you come across — your spirit — is yours alone. No one else has or can use your strengths. 

                                                       

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 20 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”Y”

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Community Support,Corporate Management,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family,Family Business,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Trust

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

“Y”…YES

 

   Have you done it?

 Can you do it?

 Will you do it?

   Are you doing it NOW?

 

 The only “YES!” that counts is your answer to the last question because the only time in your life and in the life of your business that’s real, and that counts, is NOW!

                                               

Getting to “YES!” may not always feel like an easy journey when other burdens are pulling at your shoulders, but it is –after all is said and done– a choice. And we are always free to make a choice be one that is easy or one that is hard.

 Choosing “YES!” certainly offers more promise and greater rewards than choosing “NO!” under almost any circumstances, except those of course that can have negative impact. (Choosing “NO!” to illegal, unhealthy, or harmful offers comes to mind as an example of times when “NO!” can be positive.)

But most of us struggle everyday with making “the right” choices… the ones that are right for us as individuals, as family and community members, as business leaders, as entrepreneurs. We “struggle” because –what’s the old saying? “The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence!”?

In a word: Temptation.

We struggle to decide what’s best for ourselves and our families because we’re so pushed and pulled by others. And having a business venture that’s teetering on the brink of bankruptcy or major financial loss, can put enormous undue stress and strain on us as owners and managers, even for a small solopreneur kitchen-based business.

This added stress is often to the detriment of important family choices and relationships, and almost always to the detriment of fun and relaxation. Fun and relaxation? Hmmm. What’s that about? Fortunately, or UNfortunately depending on your perspective, fun and relaxation are necessary for life balance.

Life balance is necessary for business success. But achieving it can be complicated. In other words, no one I have ever heard of has made a successful business from anger, or from over-indulging in any emotion or activity.

When we make a conscious effort to say “YES!” at every turn –a “YES ATTITUDE” if you will– we are cultivating and nurturing life balance ingredients: willingness, receptivity, responsiveness, reliability, integrity, uthenticity, constructive and transparent leadership.

 Others will follow, be influenced, motivated, and inspired.

Others will see their own potential in the actions (words and deeds) that we as positive-minded entrepreneurs teach by example. “YES!” carries responsibility in its backpack. To agree to do something means doing it!.

Actually delivering the goods

is far more important

than just promising to deliver the goods.

                                              

A “YES! ATTITUDE” (not just for a day or a week, but as a way of life) allows us to thrive and grow as human beings, as people, while we cultivate and nurture the attitudes of those we influence around us –employees, customers, suppliers, referrers, lenders, investors, partners, delivery and cleaning people, our neighbors, community organizations, and, above all– our families.

We have untold opportunities to make real change and to make that change stick. Day after day, it’s always a choice! (And YES, that includes November 6, 2012.)

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Hal@Businessworks.US

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 17 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES… “X”

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Leadership,Lifestyle,Listening,Management,Marketing,Motivation,Observations,Overcoming Objections,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Trust

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

“X”…XYLOPHONE

 

If corporate types might be best equated with a musical instrument, it would likely be a bass drum. Big companies march to a loud, dull, steady, monotonous, unimaginative beat. They thrive on maintaining status quo.

And if government employees might be best equated with a musical instrument, it would probably be a kazoo because it requires no skill to use, except to be able to hum (and even politicians can hum!).

If you accept all or part of the above instrument assignments and accompanying rationales, then entrepreneurs might best be equated with a Xylophone. Like the other two match-ups, this instrument is self-energized, but unlike the other two, the xylophone requires both: musical skill and a sense of rhythm.

[Besides, there’s hardly an army of small business related words that start with the letter “X.” In fact, my dictionary displays only a few dozen words of any kind that start with the letter “X,” and so, as a matter of practicality –and my need to deliver what I started–  “Xylophone” seemed better than “x-ray”!]

The music that a xylophone actually does produce, by the way, is best characterized as bright, lively, cheerful, and allowing for great diversity, imagination, and –to be able to produce any music– self-discipline.

So there you are. If you’re the entrepreneurial spirit personified, Xylophones are in! If you’re not a true DNA entrepreneur, go hum or beat a drum. 

When did you last step back from what you’re doing, step back from your business, and what your business is doing? When did you last –like a doctor–perform a diagnostic workup on your SELF? On your business? Do you really want to know more about what others think? You should!

It is, after all, what others think –your reputation– that ultimately confirms your message, and determines your sales success. 

First of all, diagnostics always start with a patient history. So make a bullet list of high spots that you and your business have experienced in your lives. (Limit yourself to 3 minutes for each list.)

Next, start testing that history against things you know… abstract categories work best: musical instruments, animals, plants, sports, birds, song titles, cities… ask others what  (animal, plant, instrument, sport, etc.) they think you and/or your business are most closely associated with in their minds: a lion, fox, snake, turkey, hog, poison ivy, thorny vines, a mighty oak, MMA, hockey, fly fishing?

The most useful input on these assessments —IF you can avoid rebuttal, and just quietly take in and process what you learn– comes from asking others how they would equate and match you and your business. (Remember to sincerely thank each person you ask, for each input, even when it may seem insulting to you!)

Now. take what you get, and sift through what you think are the meanings attached to each. Decide what fits best, and what directions that the equations others draw may best send you.

Then go!

Play your Xylophone!  

                                                  

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 16 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”W”

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Choosing Behavior,Contacts/Networking,Decision Making,Goals,Innovation,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Objectives/Strategies/Tactics,Observations,Personal Growth,Productivity,Professional Practices,Reality,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Tactics,Writing

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

“W”…WISHING

 

WISHING may make it so in Peter Pan or The Wizard of Oz, but it’s a death knell in small business. Like hoping and dreaming, wishing accomplishes nothing. As entrepreneurs, the sooner we face reality and anchor ourselves in the present here-and-now moment for as many passing moments of every day as we possibly can, the sooner we will achieve success.

                             

~~~~~~~

No need to take my word for this sweeping rhetoric. It’s been proven endlessly over the ages by every successful, big-name entrepreneur who ever lived — from Thomas Edison, Henry Ford,  and Dale Carnegie, to Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, and Mary Kay Ashe.

So if this is such common knowledge, why doesn’t every entrepreneur succeed? Part of the answer is in the title of this blog post. We are taught from childhood to wish upon a star, that if we find a container on the beach and rub it, a genie will appear and grant three wishes, and so on.

Why do I bring this to our attention now, as we reach the end of the alphabet? Because besides that tonight, we landed on “W,” we are also on the cusp of the greatest annual “wishfest” in American history.

The whole thing starts the day after Thanksgiving and typically continues until Christmas when the dried out and “wishable” Thanksgiving turkey wishbone is ready to be or has already been snapped, and is likely to be replaced by a fresh new Christmas turkey wishbone.

Besides every greeting card filled with best holiday wishes, the season itself brings with it even more wishing as we see lottery ticket sales zoom and letters to Santa abound with children’s wishlists. And then, there’s New Year’s resolutions and wishes… success, success, success!

We certainly have ample opportunities for legitimatized, formal, and official wishing, but… alas!… WE are entrepreneurs, and we know far better than any corporate counterparts or government flunkies that wishing is a colossal waste of time and energy… not praying, mind you, but wishes! We all need all the prayer we can muster.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t have goals. In fact, if we are truly to succeed, goal-setting needs to be an essential and ongoing activity. And real goals –as opposed to fantasized missions– must adhere to four essential criteria, or they are not real goals, and not likely even achievable.

Ongoing? Yes, since –as you may have just discovered by clicking on the last word link above– one of the four essential goal-setting criteria is flexibility, the idea of ongoing goal-setting should be apparent. They need to be adjusted, re-adjusted, and upgraded to reflect the following truism:

Time and events cause changes in

  purpose, passion, and resources.

(Aspiring political candidates should also take note!)

                                                                                    

Do you write down your goals and write down your revised and upgraded goals and carry a copy of the latest version on your person every day? Do you go to sleep and wake up with them in your face every day? Do you keep them private except from others who:

  • You trust
  • You know have their own goals
  • You know will provide you with positive, reinforcing, encouragement on your pursuits

Stop wishing and start taking positive steps to make things happen. Begin in reality with written goals.

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Hal@Businessworks.US 

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Nov 15 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”V”

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Advertising,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Communication,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Delegation,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Innovation,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Marketing,Motivation,Objectives,Observations,Personal Growth,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Tactics

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

“V”…VOLUME

 

As in “Turn it up!” or “Turn it down!”?  A book? Number of patient visits? Amount of sales? Number of decibels your message uses? The major dial on the 4-wheeled boombox next to you at the traffic light? Depends. Are you an entrepreneur?       

~~~~~~~

As an entrepreneur, you may periodically plunk all or nearly all into your brain’s search window for updates. Sure, the muscle beach teeny-bopper with his car audio base vibrating 3 blocks away can be annoying, especially when you’re on your cell with a major client, a lawyer or your mother (sometimes indistinguishable!).

And keeping the volume turned up isn’t limited to rap stars, hard rockers, QVC, and your grandfather. Did you ever see or hear a soft-spoken, low volume car dealership commercial?

(Okay, maybe –maybe– for something like the 1931 Bugatti Royale Kellner Coupe, which was sold for $8,700,000 in 1987, where we can figure that anybody with a gazillion dollars to spend on a car probably won’t respond well to shouts, y’think?)  

But it’s important to remind your marketing and/or salesperson or team (and yourself, anytime you give a presentation) that in the same type of “actions speak louder than words” context, w~h~i~s~p~e~r~s can speak louder than SHOUTS!  They serve to seize the moment! Sales stage presentations are famous for this technique.

It’s all about getting prospects, customers, audiences to sit up on the edges of their seats and listen hard.

Applied to packaging, I once discovered that every brand product in a particular section of the supermarket has a red and gold package–every one. I succeeded in talking my smaller, lesser known client into whispering with black and white packaging, which in a sea of red and gold, visually popped off the shelf into big-time POP sales.

Volume, then, is also visual, and it includes appearance when you’re in sales (and who isn’t?). Dressing conservatively helps salespeople keep prospect’s attention on the goods or services. Flamboyant clothing, jewelry, hair and makeup styles distract from the message. Save the Hawaiian shirt for weekends on your yacht.

Now, since doctors are a different breed of entrepreneurial animal altogether, it’s no wonder that their primary business focus is on growing patient volume. After all, doctors have no inventory, no one else (besides perhaps other doctor partners) they can pass patients off to for diagnostics and treatment (except referrals).

So the goal is to keep pushing for increased “volume” (in case you’ve wondered about that sitting in a healthcare waiting room with 20 other people waiting to see one doctor for 12 minutes!). Doctors have gotten better at delegating but there is a magic breaking point where reimbursements don’t cover added staff services.

Oh, and sales volume? A good thing, generally, but not always a good thing. Depends on the nature of your business. Ask your accountant about this. Too much volume can overwhelm ability to deliver the goods, and distract from the focal point of your business or marketing strategy.

Yes, and Volumes have been written about how to reach out and grab a customer, a prospect, but the bottom line is that if your marketing messages fail, your business fails. Take a hard look at the words you’re using. Decide whether your ads grab, win, lurk or suck? Do they just win a lot of meaningless awards, instead of sales?

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 14 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”U”

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Advertising,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Corporate Management,Creative Thinking,Customer Service (CRM),Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Innovation,Lifestyle,Management,Marketing,Motivation,Observations,Personal Growth,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Special People/Special Occasions

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

“U”…UNIQUENESS

 

You already know that you’re different, or you’d be watching TV right now. Isn’t that so? People who enjoy being the same, work for big organizations where they can get lost in the waves instead of having  to make them, and they don’t surf blog posts about being unique because even though they are, they don’t believe they are.

You, on the other hand, are unique and know it. At various times in your life, you’ve been called weird, odd, a know-it-all, an opportunist, a hustler, a misfit, a trouble-maker, an instigator, an oddball, and one who marches to his or her own drum. You’re an entrepreneur. You own and/or run a business. You live for your idea to succeed. 

Now, what about your business? Do you think your business must be unique too? Odds are it’s not. In fact, the more unique your products or services are, the less likely your business is to survive. Investors and lenders like substantial, tangible businesses run by people with substantial, tangible, directly-related experience.

Customers are gun-shy about trying new products and services. They are also deathly afraid of buying technology that will be obsolete before they finish making payments. What does that leave? Pizza? Chickens? Cardboard? Dishwasher maintenance contracts? Delivery services?  Toothpaste? Cemetery Recycling?

Ah, so the trick isn’t necessarily (or even often) having a unique business. What then? Isn’t it more like being able to use your personal and instinctive uniqueness to design or develop or produce a unique perspective of what you have to sell? A competitive advantage? A single differential? Maybe. Maybe it’s just something that seems unique. 

It’s true, isn’t it, that uniqueness can be created with the stroke of a pen or keypad? Nike’s SWOOSH for example? And how about the 1, 2, and 3-word brandings that stick in our minds… the ones that sell?

  • 1-word example:  UNcola (for 7-Up when Coke and Pepsi were under the dark caffeine drink health destruction PR axe)
  • 2-word example:  “Got Milk?” (hard to top that message)
  • 3-word example:  “I’m Lovin’ It!” (even if you hate burgers and fries!)

In other words, BRANDING is what is responsible (my guess: 99% of the time) for UNIQUENESS. What we perceive, remember, is what we believe. Stated another way: Perceptions are facts! Does this imply that anything cute, different, or smashing, will create uniqueness which will create sales. Not a chance. Only substance succeeds.

BRANDING, then is about using unique ways to paint a picture of a business that delivers substance. And not unlike the old Marshall Mcluhan enlightenment that “The medium is the message,” could it also be that “Uniqueness is the message”? So it’s HOW we market that’s more important than what it is that we actually take to market?

Well, if these thoughts are even only partly correct, YOU have a distinct advantage in being able to present your business venture and offerings as unique, because you already are to start with. (We established that in the first sentence of this post.) And that which is unique rarely breeds that which is routine. Ask any spotted owl. 

 

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 13 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”T”

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Corporate Management,Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Innovation,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Small Business,Strategies,Tactics,Trust

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

“T”…TRUST

 

If you’re reading this, you already know–in spite of claims by mainstream media talking heads, corporate moguls, misguided unionists, and political loudmouths– that entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurs are the catalysts of society. When small business innovates, it creates jobs. When it creates jobs, the economy flourishes.

Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to you, but the backbone of entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurship, small business ownership and management, and all of what it is that each of us does every day to move our business interests and pursuits forward, is TRUST.  

 

SMALL BUSINESS RUNS ON HANDSHAKES!

                                              

We thrive on handshakes, assurances, nods of the head, genuine smiles, pats on the back, and words like , “Okay, let’s go!” and “I’ll try it.” Sure, there are times when we trust that we get stung, bitten, cut off at the knees, ripped off, swindled, clobbered and killed. Yet we feistily avoid contracts, and live to avoid lawyers.

When we accept partial commitments, and move forward, we do it in good faith, but may cringe a little depending on age, and by how much we’ve been beaten up by dishonorable associates, employees, investors, and customers.  Even when the bad outnumbers the good, we still tend to “chalk it up to experience.”

We keep going, sometimes reluctantly. Sometimes we get up from the canvas too slowly for our own good, and get hit again before we’ve regained balance. Sometimes we’re preoccupied with damage reports instead of with boosting sales.

Sometimes we forget that income doesn’t come from turning out lights and cutting corners or wallowing in self-pity over having been taken advantage of. It’s an easy trap to fall into. It’s the M.O. for corporate executives and government, which goes something like this:

  • Cover your butt.

  • Justify.

  • Analyze.

  • Don’t make waves.

  • Be P.C.

  • Don’t risk.

  • Be Green.

  • Think small.

                                                                                      

But maybe that’s because big business and government simply don’t trust handshakes and authenticity. And they are quick to point to the losses from failed relationships. Maybe it’s because they are so heavily invested in protecting the status quo. Maybe it’s because they are controlled by disproportionate numbers of attorneys.

I’ve worked on all sides of these fences and prefer conducting business backed by the unspoken “In God We Trust” that blankets what I believe to be most entrepreneurial deals, vs. the government and big business spouting of our nation’s motto, but adhering to “In Contracts and Lawyers We Trust” as the mission that they practice.

I’ll take my lumps with God on my side rather than suffocate in legalities and paperwork required of those whose trustworthiness seems questionable. Like “The lady doth protest too much,” when I’m swarmed on by insistence for contracts, I back off. I honor my commitments and expect others to honor theirs.

Naive? I believe it’s naive to think that contracts seal a deal. I’ve lost more money and opportunities and productive relationships by having a signed contract than I have —ever— with a handshake.

So, what’s the suggestion? Blind trust? Hardly. Due Diligence must always precede a handshake. And don’t rely on some one’s social media profile or website bio. Talk with people who know or worked with the individual(s) you’re planning to work with. Talk with -people who know or worked with those people. Be a detective.

When you’re satisfied with what you learn, trust your judgement, trust in God, and pay –or get paid– in chunks.

                                                                 

The bottom line? Take heart. Believe in yourself. Remember you are not in business to be in court, to waste time and energy dwelling on losses, nor to make lawyers rich. If you can’t trust a handshake and recognize it will sometimes cost you, you might want to look at that cone placement job with the Roads Department.

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Hal@Businessworks.US

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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