Category: BUSINESS TOPICS

Entrepreneurial Skills Required by Successful Business People

In today’s world, if you want to be successful in business or as a business entrepreneur, there is certainly a continuous “evolutionary” process that we must all undertake.  In other words, there are entrepreneurial skills that successful business people must each practice, learn and re-learn in order to thrive in today’s business world. As our business environment changes, we need to be able to adapt those skills to our surroundings, or be left behind.

Before I tell you about the entrepreneurial skills to develop, I’d like to tell you a story to set the stage, so to speak.

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday morning. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about “a thousand marbles.” I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

“Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It’s too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital,” he continued; “Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.”

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I’m getting to the important part.

It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail,” he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.

Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.

There’s nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.

It was nice to meet you Tom. I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 year old man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!”

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”

“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile.

“Oh, nothing special, it’s just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”

 Below are 11 essential entrepreneurial skills for today’s business men and women whether they ever become an independent entrepreneur or not:

Have fun

You won’t find this skill on many lists, because many people would not consider it a skill. We not only consider it a skill (fun doesn’t happen often without working at it!), but we consider it so fundamental to all the other skills on the list that it is our top priority. The corollary to this skill must be mastered as well … when you dislike something, stop doing it.

Decision Making

No one can deny that the ability to make decisions is a core skill that every business person must possess if he or she wants to be successful.  Decisions on how to proceed with marketing, funding, product production (in some cases), vendor selection, and a host of other judgments need to be made.  The key is to learn from mistakes.

Avoid Fear of Failure

Remove fear rather than fearing mistakes to the point that you avoid decisions. This is a skill that is very difficult for some people to master.

Be disruptive and change the playing field

Don’t settle for the ordinary or the mundane, even if it means a little controversy. Don’t be afraid of ticking someone off. Make those around you think.  

People skills 

It’s often said that no matter what business you’re in, you’re in the people business. How true that is!  Whether dealing with customers, vendors, investors, the press, or employees, well developed people skills can mean the difference between success and failure.

Innovate and iterate 

Car models change every year because customers want something different. This is true in all industries. Be sure to innovate on your thinking often … be creative and try new ideas. 

Planning

Being able to project into the future and build a plan to accomplish your objectives is a skill that can take any entrepreneur far.  Effective planning is what will guide your business and ultimately define what you’re all about.  The skilled business planner knows that planning is only an effective skill when combined with action, so they don’t get bogged down in planning rather plan with flexibility in mind. Don’t exclude strong time planning and management here, as without it, little else can be planned well.

Be Decisive … Just Do It! 

The Nike slogan is not just for sportswear. Stop sitting around talking about your “great idea.” Get out there and pursue it. As Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

Don’t believe you know as much as you think 

Find an experienced entrepreneur-like mentor to help and guide you and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Listen to feedback from your mentor and others. Sure, you’ll get some bad inputs, but learn to filter. 

Avoid the time killers

This includes constant email monitoring, meeting just to meet, having in-person chats when phone or Skype will work. Your time is very valuable, make the most of it. 
 

Communication

If ever the term “last but not least” was appropriate, this is it. The skill of communication (all forms) plays a role in the execution of all of the other skills above.  If you don’t have this skill, none of the other skills will be fully developed, no matter how hard you try. 

Of course there are other important entrepreneurial skills you will need, but these are the key ones in our opinion.

What would you add to the list? Please share one or two entrepreneurial stories with us.

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How to Build a Strong Brand

Knowing how to build a strong brand is one of the first steps toward starting a successful business. With around 305 million startups launching yearly, a strong branding strategy helps one stand out from the competition.

However, without sufficient knowledge, branding your business can be a long and complicated process.

To help out, here are key tips on branding your brand.

Put Customer Interests First

Customers like great products and they like serious benefits. For them, things that benefit them personally are easy to justify. The Nike Moon shoes did this, but only because the customer was beginning to understand jogging and its benefits for their health. Bill’s secret goal wasn’t to sell shoes, he was simply promoting something that he believed in. This may not sound like a marketing strategy, but it certainly should.

If you’re unsure what your audience is really looking for, try putting yourself in their shoes for a moment and think beyond the scope of your product or service. Instead of thinking about your product’s features or competitive advantages, think about what goal your customer is trying to achieve. Then, be there with the information, products, and services they need to make it happen. This means you need to do your research first.

Base Your Strategy On A Felt Need

Initially for Nike’s audience, the felt need wasn’t for better running shoes, but for a better way to get in shape. Certainly, running was already popular among kids and athletes in the 1970’s, but it wasn’t the widespread social activity that we see today. The growing white-collar workforce helped pave the way for social activities that included the promotion of cardiovascular health. Once the trend was ingrained, the need shifted and the “jogging shoes” themselves became the felt need.

Believe In Your Product

It’s unlikely that Bowerman’s original goal was to become a millionaire as he penned the pages of his first jogging pamphlet. That wasn’t why he did what he did. His only goal was to promote a sport and an idea that he believed in. As marketers, shouldn’t we believe in the product and the ideas we are selling? For Bowerman, it sure made marketing a lot easier. He was “marketing” without even realizing what he was up to.

Sell Easily Identifiable Benefits Instead Of Your Product

While jogging is pretty easy to understand, the waffle tread isn’t (at least not until you understand why Bowerman made it in the first place). His goal was to make the world’s most light–weight running shoe. He believed that this factor alone could dramatically improve the speed of a distance runner. His product worked and quickly gained the industry respect that it deserved.  

Embrace New Technologies

While Nike’s early marketing strategy centered on print publications, they later went on to dominate other mediums, like television in the 80s and 90s, through modern social media platforms today.

Adapt To The Needs Of Your Audience

Nike hasn’t historically adopted new communication platforms for their marketing just because they’re chasing new, flashy objects. Far from it. Rather, they’ve been quick to conquer new mediums because they’re where their customers are. For example, take a look at their Instagram profile. They know their core demographic includes heavy Instagram users and so it makes sense for their brand to maintain a presence there. However, they also make sure that everything they post provides value. Rather than interrupting the flow of their follower’s feeds with flagrant sales pitches, they share motivational messaging. Other posts subtly tie into the brand’s history and their sponsored influencers while directing users to interest–specific Nike sub-accounts on Instagram. In this case, they could have simply said something to the effect of, “Check out our women’s footwear and apparel profile, and our general running product profile.” Instead, they went the extra mile and created something memorable and entertaining while staying relevant to what their audience wants to see.

Stay True To Your Sense Of Purpose

They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. For Nike, that has certainly remained true. Throughout their current content marketing initiatives, Nike makes sure their brand message hasn’t gotten lost over time or across channels. They focus their emphasis on creating content that promotes the benefits of their products, rather than the features. Helping their customers be better at what they love to do is still the focus of their branding and message. By moving their content marketing to the platforms where their customers are, it shows that they are keeping their audience’s needs in mind while staying true to themselves. Nike’s marketing strategy has succeeded in sustaining a global brand while many of their competitors have come and gone from the spotlight.

Small Business Challenges for the Foreseeable Future

This article offers strategies for the future survival and growth of small businesses. It explores the evolving nature of small businesses and documents how many are creating successes that are richly creative and widely beneficial. This article summarizes major challenges for the foreseeable future impacting small businesses. While the trends that follow are not exhaustive, they are major drivers of business change. Small businesses should be aware of these broad trends, should think about how they may positively or negatively affect the future of their business, and should adjust their planning for the future accordingly.

Personalization

This important trend bodes well for small independents that can leverage their inherent advantages of flexibility and customer intimacy to create a more personalized experience for their customers. While technology permits sophisticated database marketing and promotions, small independents are still the best poised to get to know their customers individually as they are often a personal part of their lives. Knowledge of customers’ birthdays, favorite colors, time of day they like to shop, and other information is not just pleasantry anymore. It can be an essential driver of sales. While big companies employ slogans like “reach out and touch someone,” it is more likely the small business can actually shake their hand.

Value Proposition

American consumers are becoming more interested in getting more value for their money. Price is not the only factor in a value determination. Speed, convenience, service and knowledge all play an increasingly important role. Both large and small businesses continue to redefine their value propositions with better prices, selection, service, and products. A value proposition refers to the unique characteristics that distinguish your business from competition. It defines the intrinsic worth of your business’s offering to customers. A strong value proposition communicates a clear message to your marketplace about why potential customers should buy from you. It defines what your customers will get for their money.

 Increased Competition

Competition continues to increase in number and intensity. We are over-stored with an explosion of products displayed in an ever-increasing amount of square feet per capita in the U.S. Big businesses continue to get bigger, employing market share growth strategies and communicating value propositions that are designed to either dominate a product category or customer segment. Increased size leads to increased efficiencies that in turn fuel additional growth. Small companies are left to scramble for the remaining market share. Further, the market has become global with the Internet blurring the lines of traditional market areas. Because of the Internet and the increasing clout of large national chains, small businesses must not compete on price. The real strengths of successful small businesses revolve around specialization, differentiation and finding profitable, defendable, and sustainable niches. Success for many derive from the decision to move beyond just the selling of product to creating customer experience, moving from a transaction orientation to establishing on-going relationships. This decision shifts focus from what moves product to what moves people.

Changing Demographics

Three powerful demographic trends will cause profound change

The Aging of America – It is predicted that the number of Americans ages 55 and older will almost double between now and 2030. This aging of America will present many opportunities for small independents that may choose to target this growing segment.

The growth of the Hispanic population – The U.S. Hispanic population became the largest minority in the United States in 2002 and will continue in this position through 2050. This growing market continues to be underserved by many small businesses.

Generation Y – Born between 1981 and 1995, this new generation numbered 57 million. It is the largest consumer group in the history of the U.S. and represents a dominant future market. Many of the most popular traditional brands are having a tough time appealing to this group who seem immune to traditional marketing messages.

Community Activism

There is a growing national trend of community resistance to unrestrained small business development in order to protect local community personality, feel, and values. This trend speaks to the perceived benefits of small independents. Nevertheless, the consumer will find his or her way to where they want to shop – big box, specialty store, or national chain. Trying to stop new development often becomes a major distraction when they should be spending time thinking about their own business and improving their downtown or neighborhood shopping areas.

Health Care Costs

The healthcare insurance crisis affects the small business especially hard due to the runaway costs of providing benefits to employees. It creates a real competitive disadvantage. The availability of health insurance is often a determining factor in choice of employment. Until this problem is fixed, small businesses need to explore every available alternative, from exploring the availability of state or trade association health plans to implementing new solutions like the recently available high deductible health savings accounts. If small retailers want to attract and retain the kind of employees that will give them competitive advantages, health care benefits must be considered.

Changing Consumer Attitudes and Behavior

The traditional customer definitions and delineations have been blurred by the sheer volume of marketing activity across the entire socioeconomic spectrum. People are more fluid in their shopping behavior. They move in and out and around and through value businesses, middle market stores and luxury goods purveyors on a weekly basis. Everybody is everybody’s customer now. It is up to the business to know their customers well enough to make the connection and offer that will entice them to buy. Time has become number one on the list of what Americans cherish most. The desire for convenience will continue to drive changes in store concepts, formats, retail mixes and locations. People are time-starved and small independents need to factor the need for speed and convenience in their individual value propositions. Given the explosion of choice, consumers are less loyal, less tolerant, and more willing to explore and experiment in search of satisfaction. Consumers are growing more cynical and skeptical. Small businesses need to develop trust through clear and consistent demonstrations of their differentiated value propositions. They need to make the shopping experience easy for the customer by eliminating confusing or inefficient elements that frustrate customers and complicate their choices.

Urban Sprawl and Real Estate Development

A recent trend in new development is to create community spaces of mixed-use that exhibit a strong sense of place. Many of these developments called “the new urbanism,” incorporate features more in keeping with feelings of towns and neighborhoods vs. traditional large retail centers. They are designed to promote social interaction and leisure time activities. These mixed-use, smaller scale, more friendly environments that hearken back to the tradition of Main Street, providing a social hub where people, live, shop, work, and play. Small business fits this model more logically and more naturally than many larger format competitors.

Why Some Businesses Insist their Customers Are Usually Wrong

One of the more iconic phrases in customer service is “give them a pickle”, drawn from a story by Bob Farrell regarding an unhappy customer who couldn’t get extra pickles for his hamburger. Are customers usually wrong?

The customer actually wrote a letter detailing the frustration he felt in his inability to get said pickles. The phrase stuck thanks to the important lesson Bob learned that day — a little extra effort in service is often all it takes to make for a great experience. The benefits of fulfilling small requests give truth to another popular idiom: that “the customer is (almost) always right.”

But what about feedback and requests that go beyond personal interactions with your company, and deal directly with your product? Should you listen to customers then? Do they understand their problem well enough to propose feasible solutions?

When it comes to a product’s vision, many will tell you: customers are often poor judges of their own needs. You’ll find yourself having to say “No” most of the time, and it’s for a good reason — in regards to building the best solutions, the customer is mostly wrong.

It’s Your Job to Solve the Problem

When listening to feedback, the temptation to follow the customer’s lead is always looming. After all, they know their problem, so they are probably the best person to plot out the solution, right?

Customers might help identify the destination, but you can’t usually listen to them on how to get there.

Where the customer tends to be consistently “right” is in that ability to point out problems.

In regards to Henry Ford’s supposed observation that people would have asked for “faster horses,” we see where the customer was actually right—identifying the need for quicker transportation.

But you needn’t be disrupting the horse and buggy industry to view feedback the same way. When someone takes time out of their day to contact you, pay attention: their thoughts could shed light on what other customers might be struggling with.

Where paths diverge is in developing with the best, most innovative solution. How do you build the solution of tomorrow around feedback that only consists of the ideas of today?

Customer feedback is great for telling you what you did wrong. It’s terrible at telling you what you should do next.”—Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote

The customer is thus “mostly wrong” because 99% of the time they will suggest faster horses.

This can be misleading: in hindsight, “faster horses” obviously wasn’t the answer, but imagine being bombarded with thousands of similar requests. It is tough to say “No” in the face of such demand, but you have to remember that popularity doesn’t dictate optimal utility.

Once your product has achieved product/market fit (it’s likely well on it’s way when you start getting thousands of feature requests), it’s best to stop chasing problems. There will always be things that other people want your product to do.

Rather than attempting to solve all of them, which will effectively make it impossible to solve any of them, instead focus on any problem that allows the customer to achieve a must-have experience.

This might mean you turn away potentially good customers in the short term, all for the purpose of attracting great customers.

Many would agree that excessive people-pleasing after product/market fit can ruin an initially good product. You have to recognize that most suggestions from customers won’t fit your vision. You have to be able to say “No.”

This makes turning customers down a key skill in keeping support standards high, while focusing on building the product people need.

And yet, saying “No” isn’t always easy. Product people build products because they love solving problems for customers (marketing folks like myself, who focus on customer success, feel the same way).

It’s tough turning people down. We can all use a refresher on how to say “No,” and why it is not the worst thing in the world for a customer to hear.

How to Tell a Customer No

Learning how to say no isn’t just a necessary skill for support, it’s a necessary skill for life. It may take some practice, but here are a few things to keep in mind.

  • Realize that “yes” can be selfish. It’s important to acknowledge that there are many folks building products who struggle with the guilt of saying no. The thing to realize is that a misguided “yes” is essentially a selfish gesture towards the rest of your customers.

Bending over backward with new features or building something that is outside of your product’s vision in order to keep a single big customer will lead to a less than stellar product for the majority. “No” can be the most selfless thing you say all day.

  • “No” sounds better with understanding. Whenever an outcome isn’t in someone’s favor, it’s hard to make it a truly positive situation. But leaving the conversation without providing a reason is like applying for a job and not receiving any feedback: you’d rather just hear the why, even if you didn’t get the position.

Acknowledging the effort the customer put into the request and why you see how it might be useful (if true) is often just the right amount of empathy needed before you explain why it just isn’t a fit for where your team is taking the product.

  • Give recommendations when appropriate. It’s not uncommon for customers—especially larger customers—to get into an “all-in-one” mindset. Some companies do well building software this way, but they are the exception.

If a customer requests a feature that would bloat your product but would make for a great stand alone product, give a recommendation. We happily recommend fine folks like SproutSocial for providing quick and accurate responses to customer feedback on social media.

  • Set clear expectations. It is always best to err on the side of caution whenever you get feedback that you might implement. Having a customer follow up every 2 weeks after you’ve lead him or her on is awful for both of you.

If an idea has merit but isn’t on your immediate roadmap, don’t even come close to using the word “soon.” Assure the customer that you’re looking into said feature but that, “At best, it’s quite far out while we work on _____.”

  • Treat every “No” like the first one of the day. Saying no to so many feature requests can start to affect your empathy toward the customer.

To counteract this, be sure to remind yourself that the customer doesn’t know this is your twelfth no for a certain feature—they are likely getting in touch with you for the first time. It’s your job to make them feel like their contribution, even if it doesn’t get implemented, isn’t just a burden to you: “Really appreciate you taking the time to share these thoughts, Karen!”

  • Don’t lose your curiosity. Repetition also creates a risk of “seen that before” syndrome. This often results in you giving less and less attention to requests that seem repetitive.

It’s sometimes good, however, to dig into a feature request you’ve turned down before. Why did this person specifically ask for it? Although the default response to a customer question is often “action,” responding with your own questions from time to time can reveal some new insights about a certain feature that you’ve never had before.

Use “No” to Keep Your Competitive Edge

To be clear, let us not forget that product excellence is often defined by meticulous evaluation and execution on evolving customer requirements. Knowing what customers need is what keeps a great product great, hence the ongoing utility of feedback.

You just have to remember that a company’s competitive edge often comes from avoiding the “sameness trap,” or by solving problems in ways that other companies and customers themselves never considered. Searching for the best outcome often requires many no’s, before you can finally say yes.

What do YOU think?v

5 Benefits of Using SMS Sender ID

In the digital era, communication channels are evolving to offer more personalized and secure options for businesses to connect with their audience. One such innovation is the Short Message Service (SMS) Sender Identification (ID).

SMS Sender ID allows businesses to customize the sender’s name on the recipient’s device when receiving a text message. Instead of a generic phone number, companies can set their brand name or any chosen identifier, making the message instantly recognizable. In other words, it acts as a digital signature, ensuring recipients know who exactly the message is from at first glance.

Here are the key benefits of using it as a business strategy.

Enhanced Brand Recognition

One of the primary benefits of using an SMS Sender ID is the immediate brand recognition it offers. Customers who receive a message displaying the business name instead of an unfamiliar number are likelier to open and read the message. This familiarity encourages a stronger connection between the brand and its audience, reinforcing brand identity with every message sent.

Brand recognition is also vital in a crowded marketplace. Utilizing a unique SMS Sender ID helps businesses stand out in their customers’ message lists, making their communications more effective. This consistent brand visibility helps keep the company top-of-mind among consumers, which is essential for long-term customer engagement and loyalty.

If companies are uncertain about how SMS Sender ID can enhance their brand recognition, considering a free trial could be a valuable step forward. Providers like Esendex offer such services. They allow businesses to experience the potential of  SMS Sender ID firsthand and demonstrate the benefits of increased visibility and familiarity among customers, all at no cost and risk-free.

Increased Trust and Credibility

SMS Sender ID can significantly improve trust, which is key to customer relationships. It ensures that messages are identified as coming from a legitimate source. As a result,  businesses can reduce the risk of their communications being mistaken for spam or phishing attempts.

Note that customers are more cautious about digital security than ever. Hence, a recognizable sender name can make all the difference in ensuring messages are received and perceived positively.

Furthermore, this increased trust can lead to higher engagement rates. When customers feel secure in knowing who the message is from, they’re more likely to respond, engage with content, or follow through with calls to action. This trust not only improves the effectiveness of individual campaigns but also builds a stronger foundation for all future communications.

Better Customer Experience

Customizing the SMS Sender ID contributes significantly to a better overall customer experience. It allows for a more personal and direct line of communication, making customers feel valued and respected. Personalization goes a long way in customer satisfaction, and seeing a familiar name pop up on their phone can enhance the perception of the business.

Additionally, this personal touch can streamline communication efforts, making it easier for customers to recognize and sort important messages from their preferred brands. This can be particularly beneficial for time-sensitive communications, such as appointment reminders, delivery notifications, or urgent updates, ensuring that important information is promptly seen and acted upon.

Improved Message Delivery and Open Rates

The clarity and recognition that come with an SMS Sender ID can also lead to improved message delivery and open rates. These are two key metrics used to assess the effectiveness of messaging campaigns, particularly in email and SMS marketing.

  • Message Delivery Rate is the percentage of messages successfully delivered to the recipient’s inboxes from the total number of messages sent. This metric helps businesses understand how well their messaging infrastructure performs and whether any issues prevent messages from reaching their intended audience, such as incorrect numbers or addresses, spam filters, or server problems.
  • Open Rate measures the percentage of recipients who open or view the message out of the total number of messages successfully delivered. This metric is crucial for evaluating the audience’s engagement level with the messages’ content. A high open rate indicates that the message is likely relevant, well-timed, and from a trusted sender, making it an essential indicator of the messaging strategy’s effectiveness in capturing the target audience’s attention.

Together, these metrics offer valuable insights into the efficiency and impact of communication efforts. They guide businesses in optimizing their messaging campaigns for better reach and engagement.

For SMS Sender IDs, since messages are less likely to be marked as spam, they have a higher chance of reaching the intended recipient. This direct delivery is crucial for time-sensitive and critical communications.

Moreover, the open rate for SMS messages is already significantly higher than for emails, and a recognizable sender ID can enhance this advantage. Recipients are more inclined to open a message when they can immediately see it’s from a trusted source, leading to increased engagement with the content.

Cost-Effective Marketing

Finally, using an SMS Sender ID is a cost-effective marketing strategy. Despite its customization and branding benefits, SMS marketing remains one of the most affordable ways to reach customers directly. The efficiency of having higher open and engagement rates means businesses can achieve a better return on investment compared to other marketing channels that might require more significant resources for less direct engagement.

In addition, the ability to cut through the clutter of traditional advertising and directly reach consumers who have opted to receive messages can significantly reduce marketing costs. This direct line of communication ensures that marketing efforts are targeted and efficient, reaching an audience already interested in the brand.

Final Thoughts

SMS Sender ID is crucial for businesses leveraging SMS messaging for marketing, notifications, and customer service. This simple yet effective tool helps businesses boost their brand visibility as well as add another layer of trust and profes

My Favorite Story on Social Business

A landscape gardener ran a business that had been in the family for two or three generations. The staff was happy, and customers loved to visit the store, or to have the staff work on their gardens or make deliveries – anything from bedding plants to ride-on mowers. A great social business example, yes?

For as long as anyone could remember, the current owner and previous generations of owners were extremely positive happy people.

Most folk assumed it was because they ran a successful business.

In fact it was the other way around…

A tradition in the business was that the owner always wore a big lapel badge, saying Business Is Great!

The business was indeed generally great, although it went through tough times like any other. What never changed however was the owner’s attitude, and the badge saying Business Is Great!

Everyone who saw the badge for the first time invariably asked, “What’s so great about business?” Sometimes people would also comment that their own business was miserable, or even that they personally were miserable or stressed.

Anyhow, the Business Is Great! badge always tended to start a conversation, which typically involved the owner talking about lots of positive aspects of business and work, for example:

  • the pleasure of meeting and talking with different people every day
  • the reward that comes from helping staff take on new challenges and experiences
  • the fun and laughter in a relaxed and healthy work environment
  • the fascination in the work itself, and in the other people’s work and businesses
  • the great feeling when you finish a job and do it to the best of your capabilities
  • the new things you learn every day – even without looking to do so
  • and the thought that everyone in business is blessed – because there are many millions of people who would swap their own situation to have the same opportunities of doing a productive meaningful job, in a civilized well-fed country, where we have no real worries.

And so the list went on. And no matter how miserable a person was, they’d usually end up feeling a lot happier after just a couple of minutes listening to all this infectious enthusiasm and positivity.

It is impossible to quantify or measure attitude like this, but to one extent or another it’s probably a self-fulfilling prophecy, on which point, if asked about the badge in a quiet moment, the business owner would confide:

The badge came first. The great business followed. And that my friends is the best social business strategy that I know of.

What do you think?

15 Priorities to Follow for Business Success

No business attribute is more important today as that of adaptability, as many, many businesses are on the brink of irrelevance … unless they change as fast as change itself. You need to have and try many creative business ideas as often as possible and implement these factors for small business success.

Your strategies for success do run out of steam, get old and become ineffective. You need to keep refreshing them based on your anticipation of the next change.

Building a small business for failure? Certainly not. But results show much more failures than successes. In 7 out of 8 industry sectors.

Related: Need Help Building a Small Business That Delivers Results?

From a November 2012 article by Scott Shane, his results showed a services sector rate of success of 47% and a retail sector success rate of 41%. For businesses started in 2005. Not very success oriented, eh?

Why may you ask? Many reasons. Two of the top reasons … poor cash flow planning and not enough capital resources.

So what other actions can a small business take to improve its success besides having more cash as a safety net? Consider these 44 small business success tips to use to improve your business:

It is always a good idea to have a helpful checklist for reminders of improvements for your business. Here is one of the several checklists that I find helpful:

Knowing, understanding, and caring about your customer is … Rule #1

Always put your people first …  they ARE your business

Be a talent hound … put a priority on finding the best people

Everyone is a marketer and … everything is marketing

Creating ‘WOW’ customer experiences … creates the best marketing

Establish and maintain clear value propositions

Be social and create conversations with customer … it’s all about customer relationships

Be adaptable … be a change agent … anticipate and embrace change

Make listening, observing, and continuous learning the centerpieces … your team’s core competencies

Keep it simple … in everything you do

Ideal customers

 

You can’t be a business that is all things to all people. Do you know who you target customers are? Your ideal customers? If not, you need to get busy.

 

Customer value

 

Look for customer value in places you might not expect to find it. Have you thought about building synergistic alliance and relationships with other businesses? Relationships that create customer value that neither business could create on their own?

 

Consistency

 

Look to provide customer service that stands out consistently. Deliver that consistency always.

 

Customer follow-up

 

Promptly follow up with your customers will be noticed. Go the extra mile. And always, always, always keep your promises.

 

Little things

 

How many times have you surprised customers by doing little things that were not expected?

Here is a customer success story as an example. My favorite florist always insists on taking my vase of flowers out to my car and setting it up so it won’t get knocked over. Consistently. A little thing, yes. But it makes a difference to me.

Remember, the more you engage with customers, the more you can own the moment. And the better your understanding of their needs and from these insights the easier it is for you to win new customers.

Focused business plan

 

It’s not clear to us why business plans are the way they are, but they’re often focused on too many things. If you want to maximize success, the key is to focus on five topics. We recommend dividing the business plan into these five sections:

  • Competitive analysis
  • Market research and analysis
  • Marketing plan
  • Financial plan and cash flow
  • Short versus long term

Creator of change

 

Be a creator of change. Watch for trends in the market and what your customers are doing. Stay ahead of the change curve by adapting before you have to. Remember the status quo is usually your worst enemy.

Network for support 

 

Find local business leaders that can exchange ideas and support your thinking on a day to day activities. Activities like being a sounding board, idea generation, and offering lessons learned. They often see solutions that you can’t see. You can do the same for them. Create a large network and make it social … like a casual advisory board.

Work on right things 

 

Sounds trivial, doesn’t it? But you would be amazed at how many of our clients have their priority lists inverted. Or work on things that should be ignored.

Trust your intuition 

 

Tackle real problems on behalf of your customers, many of which may challenge the status quo. Be curious. Experiment on a small scale often and learn. Place lots of small bets to see what will work best. Don’t be afraid of unconventional paths.

Don’t get totally consumed

 

Be a team player … caring about your employees. Delegate and empower them to act on your behalf. Remember that you can’t do everything or be everywhere. Learn to back away occasionally. Maybe an afternoon … sometimes for a day. Find a balance between work and life that works for you.

Gain customer insights

 

Unlike big companies, a small business gives you the opportunity to interact with customers on a daily basis. Make use of these interactions by gaining a better knowledge of their wants and needs. Ask good questions, listen carefully, and take notes. You will be amazed at how eager many are to help and assist you in learning. Customer insights are one of your most valuable assets.

Build on these enablers, and you will find success … status quo is most often your greatest danger.

Need some help in finding ways to grow your customers?  Such as creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers? Or perhaps finding ways to work with other businesses?

Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.

Call Mike at 607-725-8240.

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of collaborative innovation. And put it to good use in adapting to changes in your business environment.

It’s up to you to keep improving your learning and experience with innovation and creativity efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.

Check out these additional articles on business and its performance from our library:

The Business Intelligence Process Part 3 Competitive Analysis

Competitive Growth Strategy … the Story of In-N-Out Burger

10 Entrepreneur Lessons You Need to Know

Collaboration and Partnerships Are Key to Business Growth

4 Common Mistakes That Lead to Bad Hires

Hiring the wrong person costs your agency more than you might think. Especially very bad hires.

According to Jörgen Sundberg, founder of Undercover Recruiter, a bad hire can end up costing your business around $840,000. That’s not a number to take lightly.

Sundberg’s team based their calculations on the cost of a second-level manager who makes $62,000 a year and is terminated after two and a half years. They considered the cost of hiring, onboarding, and retaining the employee, as well as the overall revenue loss associated with mistakes, failures, and missed business opportunities caused during the employee’s doomed tenure.

If you work at a small agency, losing that amount of money over a single bad hire can cause unthinkable damage to your bottom line. There’s simply no room for hiring mistakes.

To ensure your next hiring decision isn’t a major pitfall for your business, we’ve compiled a list of common reasons behind poor hiring choices. Avoid these at all costs to make sure your next new hire succeeds. 

4 Common Mistakes That Lead to Bad Hires

1) You fall victim to “The halo effect.”

Imagine you’re a hiring manager conducting interviews for an account manager position. After a long day of mediocre and disappointing candidates, your next interviewee turns out to be eloquent, positive, and friendly — a welcome combination of traits that impress you immediately. On top of his enjoyable presence, he has a pretty solid resume. You hire him right away.

A few months after he’s been onboarded, you hear word from his manager that his performance has been disappointing so far, and he shows no signs of improvement. So what went wrong? How could the candidate who impressed you so much in the interview turn out to be a total dud?

This is a perfect example of the halo effect: a type of cognitive bias that occurs when we overlook obvious faults when someone impresses us in one particular area. In this case, you were impressed by the candidate’s sociable demeanor, and assumed he’d be equally impressive in other areas. His resume might not have been stellar, but since you were already sold on his sociability, you didn’t even notice you were overlooking potential issues.

Beating the halo effect starts with being aware of its impact, and developing a straightforward hiring system to offset its effect. Melvin Sorcher and James Brant — partners with Sorcher Associates, a management consulting firm — recommend putting an evaluation process in place which requires candidates to be assessed by a group of people from different levels and areas of the company.

“The process enables the group to probe a wide range of leadership criteria and obtain balanced and complete information,” Sorcher and Brant wrote in Harvard Business Review. When a candidate is reviewed by a wide range of people, it exposes them to varying sets of opinions and biases, minimizing the potential impact the halo effect can have on the hiring decision.

2) You don’t know what the position really requires.

Most job requirements come in list format: a neat index of basic skills, recommended experience, and personal traits that somehow combine to describe the ideal person for the job.

Unfortunately, succeeding in most roles requires more than a laundry list of vague qualities — particularly in the fast-paced, ever-evolving agency landscape. Hiring managers seeking candidates for a new position should set aside time before the interviews to dig a little deeper and discover “the pivot” — the elusive set of qualities that tips the scale towards one candidate over another.

“The pivot” is a term coined by Ram Charan, a business advisor and author of Boards That Lead. As Charan describes it, the pivot is “a strand of two or three capabilities that are tightly interwoven and required for the new leader to succeed.” In other words, the pivot is what separates someone who will be an average performer in the role from someone who will truly flourish and exceed your biggest expectations.

For example, when hiring a new business development manager, the pivot might be a background in economics, an adaptive nature, and a unique ability to remain calm and collected in stressful situations.

“Directors who choose the right CEOs do a lot of work before arriving at the pivot,” Charan writes. “They take the time to fully understand the company’s current challenges and how the external context is changing. They read analyst reports, talk to insiders, and consult outside experts to expand their thinking.”

Although Charan uses “the pivot” as a way to help companies hire CEOs and other major leadership positions, it’s useful for all hiring managers to think about what specific abilities really put a candidate over the edge.

3) You focus too heavily on technical skills and not enough on intangibles.

Technical skills are important — don’t get me wrong — but they hardly ever make up for larger issues with an employee’s disposition, attitude, and work ethic. Hiring an employee primarily on the merit of their technical skills could cause you to overlook other major red flags — and might lead to a wasted investment in an unfit employee.

According to a study conducted by Leadership IQ — a leadership training and development company — new employees rarely fail due to issues with their job competence or technical skills. In fact, of the new hires that were terminated within 18 months of being hired, only 11% failed due to technical shortcomings.

So what were the top reasons new hires didn’t succeed in their new roles? Issues taking feedback, inadequate emotional intelligence, and a lack of motivation caused more employees to fail than gaps in technical job competency.

Check out the full breakdown of the survey below:

 
Image Credit: Leadership IQ

“The typical job interview process fixates on ensuring that new hires are technically competent,” explained Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ, on their company blog. “But coachability, emotional intelligence, motivation and temperament are much more predictive of a new hire’s success or failure. Do technical skills really matter if the employee isn’t open to improving, alienates their coworkers, lacks emotional intelligence and has the wrong personality for the job?”

It’s easy to get blinded by an employee’s impressive technical skill set, but hiring managers need to look beyond the resume and make sure candidates have the right attitude, disposition, and mindset for the role as well.

4) You treat every open position like an emergency hire.

Sometimes it’s necessary to get someone hired and onboarded as quickly as possible for the overall stability of the agency — but most of the time, you can afford to take enough time with the hiring process to find someone who will bring the right energy to the role.

In periods of rapid growth, agencies often feel the need to acquire talent expeditiously, without much thought to the hiring framework or time line. With this attitude, it’s easy for unfit hires to slip through the cracks when they wouldn’t have otherwise been considered.

Linda Brenner, a coauthor of Talent Valuation and the CEO of Talent Growth Advisors, emphasizes the importance of prioritizing hiring for open roles according to long-term business needs.

“Start by identifying which roles are most essential to delivering on future growth commitments — not just to continuing your operations right now,” Brenner writes in Fast Company. “Finding and hiring top talent in those areas is most essential.”

Once you’ve identified which roles to prioritize, develop a hiring time line that allows your team adequate time to select ideal candidates. If you start hiring now for roles that will be essential in the coming months or years, you’ll be able to conduct a more thorough process that yields better candidates.

How does you agency approach hiring top talent? Let us know in the comments.

7 Essential Keys to Run an Effective Meeting

Can you think of anything more destructive to time management than a poorly run meeting? We can’t … and have spent many a meeting wasting precious time. We have spent years of experience to define the critical elements of running an effective meeting.

I am always doing that which I cannot do so that I may learn how to do it.

  • Pablo Picasso

There have been many, many articles written on how to run an effective meeting. We will not repeat the essence of those articles here.

Through more than 35 years of business experience, I have identified these critical keys to an effective, focused meeting. We believe these keys are as follows:

Decision-maker is required.

Every meeting must have one clear decision maker. If there’s no decision maker — or no decision to be made … the meeting shouldn’t happen.

Number of attendees

No more than ten people should attend … desirably fewer.

Limit the number of people attending the meeting. The purpose of meetings is to make decisions and get work done. For the most part, meetings are not the best way to simply share information (exception: meetings are helpful to share sensitive information)

Attendee input

Every person should give input … otherwise, they shouldn’t be there.

Making decisions

No decision should ever wait for a meeting. If a meeting has to happen before a decision should be made … then the meeting should be scheduled immediately.

Define and manage to an agenda written in advance

Vague intentions to have a discussion on a topic rarely end on a productive note. If you are just getting started with agendas, start with a point from the list of topics to be discussed and make sure that material is provided to attendees at least one day before the meeting. For better results, provide background information on the agenda so that everyone attending has the same information.

What about when you are asked to attend a meeting without an agenda? Ask, “Can you please send me an agenda for the meeting so that I can prepare?”

 

Manage the Meeting Time

 

Watching the clock is important for an effective meeting. When nobody takes charge of managing time, it is easy to become careless and unfocused. Remember – when people attend a meeting, they cannot do anything else. Make the time count!

Starting the meeting on time and ending on time (or a few minutes early!) will quickly enhance your reputation as an organized person. If you are running a large or complex meeting, consider asking a colleague to serve as timekeeper. If managing meetings to the clock are challenging for you, the parking lot habit (see below) will be a game changer!

 

Manage Off Topic Discussions

The first time I saw a meeting facilitator use a parking lot, I was impressed. This helpful device performs two useful functions. First, it serves to keep the meeting focused on the stated agenda. Second, the parking lot acknowledges important points raised by attendees.

Note: The Parking Lot habit must be combined with the Follow Up habit if you wish to be truly effective. Otherwise, you are likely to gain a reputation for simply making a show of acknowledging other people.

Here are a few steps to use the parking lot concept.

At the beginning of the meeting, explain you expect everyone to focus their discussions on the agenda. Further, explain that this rule will help the meeting stay productive and end on time.

Keep the meeting agenda document in front of you as a guide.

Go through each agenda item

Monitor and contribute to the discussion

When someone raises an interesting point that does not relate to the agenda, say the following: “Thank you for that point, Tim. However, Microsoft Visual Studio tools go beyond the purpose of this meeting. Let me write down that item in the parking lot, and I will include it in the meeting notes that I will send out by email so we can explore that point at the right time.”

 

Take notes

 

Taking notes in meetings is an essential skill, yet I am often struck by how often people forget to do it. The key reason to take notes in a meeting is to record any questions or assignments that have been directed to you. Let’s look at how attendees and organizers can act on notes.

Take notes in a paper notebook rather than using a computer, tablet or another device. Even if you have fantastic abilities to focus on the meeting, other people may assume that you are “catching up on email” instead of paying attention to the meeting if you take notes on a computer.

If you plan to send minutes or a summary of the meeting to attendees, say this at the start of the meeting and explain what you will include. Sending out meeting minutes, even a few paragraphs or bullet points is a best practice.

These rules sound like common sense, but they often disappear as companies get larger and leadership less decisive.

What do you think about these key elements of a meeting? Have any pointers to add? Have any experiences to share with this community?  

Need some help in finding ways to grow your customers?  Such as creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers? Or perhaps finding ways to work with other businesses?

Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.

Call Mike at 607-725-8240.

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of collaborative innovation. And put it to good use in adapting to changes in your business environment.

It’s up to you to keep improving your learning and experience with innovation and creativity efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.

Check out these additional articles on business and its performance from our library:

The Business Intelligence Process Part 3 Competitive Analysis

Competitive Growth Strategy … the Story of In-N-Out Burger

10 Entrepreneur Lessons You Need to Know

Collaboration and Partnerships Are Key to Business Growth

Do You Know Your Business Rules?

Every business has a set of business rules that influence (maybe dictate?) how the business should operate. Sometimes they are written, sometimes just implied as a culture. Here are ones we at Digital Spark Marketing live by … at least, most of the time:

Survive in the short term, plan for the long term

Adapt as the rules sometimes change

Learn by trying new things; nothing replaces experience

To be really good, live it and breathe it … dive in

Go for positive expected value, not least risky

Those with most resilience and stamina usually win

Never stop learning things from life all around you

Have principles and stick with them

Hope is not a plan

Be nice, make friends, and have fun

Remember the terms “a burr under the saddle” or a “stone in your shoe.”  The principle is the same.  These small things that cause irritation or discomfort also lead to action—to alleviate the source of the discomfort. Even for a pearl to form in an oyster, a small grain of sand—an impurity—is required.  If the current products have small irritating flaws, that can lead to new, innovative products that address those flaws. 

One relatively recent example is a new measuring cup from Pyrex.  Pyrex has made measuring cups for decades. They have been largely the same, made of glass to withstand the rigors of hot liquids and more recently with a useful innovation of flexible lids for use in microwave heating.  In the past, it has been necessary to raise the cup to eye level or bend over to see if the contents were at the desired level, even with markings read from the outside of the cup. 

Now the new Pyrex measuring cups have tapered walls and measuring lines that are visible/readable from the inside.  Looking down directly into the cup without the need to raise it or to bend over, allows the user to see the level directly and much more conveniently. Incorporating this simple innovation in a glass measuring cup is an example of looking at things in a different way.  (Prior “direct view” measuring cups have been made of plastic and incorporated irregular shapes to accomplish the design.  Plastic is a much less desirable material in both heat resistance and microwave use.)  

The new tapered measuring cups are a result of deciding to change the shape and reading measurements from what has traditionally been the “wrong place”—but from a user standpoint, is clearly the “right place.”  The result is a simple innovation that creates a much more useful measuring cup for your kitchen needs. 

Here is another thought on business rules:

Thomas J. Watson, the iconic CEO of IBM, is often pilloried for observing in 1943 that “there is a world market for maybe five computers.” It’s a remark so foolish that PC World ranked it #1 on its list of the seven worst tech predictions of all time. The magazine implies that he failed to see the future because he didn’t imagine that computers would move beyond vacuum tubes.

It is a puzzling comment to be sure. What makes the observation even more curious was that he was supposed to have made it in 1943, three years before the first digital computer was introduced in 1946. How could Watson predict a market for five computers when none yet existed? To envision a market of any size would have been strange at the time.

Other facts make a comment seem out of character as well. Watson took a major risk when he established IBM Research in the depths of the Great Depression to ensure that his firm would be on the forefront of computing technology. He also went to the trouble to hire the legendary John von Neumann to help develop digital computing in the 50’s. IBM then went on to dominate the technology for decades.

The truth, as Kevin Maney points out in his definitive biography of Watson, is that he never said it. The source of the confusion is probably a comment that Watson made to his board in 1953 about a sales trip he took for one of IBM’s early computers, the 701. “As a result of our trip,” he said, “on which we expected to get orders for five machines, we came home with orders for 18.”

So the truth is vastly different than the myth that has been so widely peddled and the facts are easy to check. Why does the false story persist?

Need some help in finding ways to grow your customers?  Such as creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers? Or perhaps finding ways to work with other businesses?

Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.

Call Mike at 607-725-8240.

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of collaborative innovation. And put it to good use in adapting to changes in your business environment.

It’s up to you to keep improving your learning and experience with innovation and creativity efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.

Check out these additional articles on business and its performance from our library:

The Business Intelligence Process Part 3 Competitive Analysis

Competitive Growth Strategy … the Story of In-N-Out Burger

10 Entrepreneur Lessons You Need to Know

Collaboration and Partnerships Are Key to Business Growth