Small Business Revitalization Blog

Antique shop doorknocker... a perfect match for first impressions?
(Flickr: Dominic's Pics)

Your impact on potential clients, customers and team members starts with their first impressions.  Those first few moments of communication are driven by your culture and your brand... how does your business meet expectations?

I like to think of culture as the internal representation of your brand.  It's the intangible stuff that people actually feel when they deal with your business.  Many business owners spend little time thinking about culture... they think they are too busy making money! 

Here's a little food for thought... Zappos is a US based retailer that has built a business from zero to $1billion!  And they think culture is really really really important.  They even have a culture book - it's a huge 450 insightful, fascinating pages long!  If you are wondering whether you need to think more deeply about culture in your business here's a few questions you might want to ask...

1. Did I start my business because I hated who/where I worked for before?  (If so, then culture is important to you... what sort of culture are you building? What sort of leader are you choosing to be?)
2. Do I wake up in the morning and get really excited about going to work?  (If not then your business culture isn't working for you!)
3. Do I have a long line of people wanting to work for me, even though I haven't got any job vacancies right now?  (If not then no-one knows how amazing your culture or your company is... you might need to build your brand!)
4. Do I look at other companies and wish I could work for them instead?  (If so you need to develop your culture and your brand to be more appealing to yourself right now!)
5. Do I keep wondering how to have my team take more ownership in their roles? (If so, you may want to consider the role the right culture could play in developing productivity!)

Culture permeates every area of your business.  How your customers are treated.  How your team treat each other.  How productive your business is.  How much happiness there is in your daily working environment.  How much money you make.... You can't afford to forget about culture!

Is it time to reconsider your culture and your brand and how they can enhance each other in making your business even more phenomenal?  Book your place at the REVIVE Coaching October Playshop "Use Your Creativity to Build A Remarkable Brand"  We're going to explore new perspectives on culture and branding!

I hope to see you there!
Lisa

(Creative Commons Image:  www.flickr.com)

As a small business owner, once you ‘shut up shop’ for the day do you also shut off thinking about your business?  I find my best ideas come when I’m not doing anything connected with work… I went to Riverfire and the Brisbane Writers Festival on the weekend – a few hours chilling out and five new and amazing business ideas landed in my ideas notebook!  

So, how exactly does that happen?  Most essentially, I am a keen observer, always looking for creative opportunities in unexpected places.  When I see a possible opportunity, I start asking questions… lots of them… until I find an idea that gives me tingles.  Here’s a few questions you can ask when you are out and about…

• Is anyone here in my target audience?  If so, what would it take for my business to get access to them at an event like this?
• What would make this audience want to know more about my business?
• Are there any unmet needs here that my business could fulfil?
• Are there any existing but underutilized resources here that I could leverage?
• What business ideas are beyond what I can imagine is possible? What would it take to make these ideas possible?

What other questions do you use to discover creative and  profitable ideas for your business?

Creative spaces can help you think differently!
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/osterwalder/

Many business owners spend exactly zero minutes per year on creativity and innovation.  Richard Branson spends, oh, probably around half of every week!  How many multi-zillion dollar businesses do you run? Do you think creativity and innovation could be worth just a little of your precious time?

So what can you do to make your business more creative and more profitable?  One technique I love for its simple but highly effective profit-generating capacity is to expand your product or service offering.

When I was 14 my parents bought a business in a beachside tourist village.  The bloke who previously owned it quietly said to my Dad… “I reckon you could add another 10 – 15 product lines, but that would be about the limit.”  The shop had around 50 product lines at the time.  My parents added another 500!!  Profits skyrocketed...It allowed us all to live very comfortably for many years…and it enabled my parents to sell the business for substantially more than they bought it for.

Are you limiting your thinking on how many product lines your business can offer?  Are you too tired to think of more?  Here’s three ways you can find new product lines with ease:

1. Research your (international) competitors online.  Often the US market is 1 – 2 years ahead of Australia, and developing nations are much more creative than we are because they have to be!  There are profitable ideas everywhere… you just have to look!
2. Research business trends and apply them to your industry.  Start with www.springwise.com and www.trendwatching.com and your ideas will flow.
3. Get out!  Listen to your clients – what other problems can you solve for them?  Go to trade shows – what’s new? Make networking events fun – do your research with people who are potential customers – what other products or services could solve their challenges?

Today's business coaching challenge:  Invest 20 minutes researching and find at least one new product or service idea that has the potential to add at least 10% to your turnover this year.

Want to know more about using creativity to generate profits?  Enjoy our FREE Teleseminar on Tuesday 15 September at 7pm (Brisbane) time.  Bookings Essential!

Internationally renowned local fashion brand Easton Pearson are celebrating their 20 year anniversary with a stunning exhibition at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art.  The exhibition was amazing, but being the business coach that I am, what struck me most was the immense marketing value to the Easton Pearson brand.  

As well as the talks, tours and events for the exhibition, there were foyer and gallery displays, a children’s art activity centre (joyfully frequented by lots of ‘big’ kids who love playing dress-ups too!), extensive advertising of the exhibition by the Gallery, merchandising in the Gallery Shop and additional promotion everywhere you looked (even in the Gallery Café!).

Unless you pay big bucks, it is almost impossible to buy promotion, credibility and visibility like that!  Mediocre ‘me too’ brands never attract these types of showcase opportunities. The good news is that whilst you can't buy that type of exposure, you sure can build a brand that will attract it! 

So what needs to happen in your business for your brand to attract such opportunities?  Here’s my top 5 business coaching tips on building a phenomenal brand:

1. Your vision must be bold.
2. Your brand must be remarkable, original and desirable.
3. Your brand influence must impact your industry in unexpected ways.
4. Your brand must be sustainable and successful.
5. You must know the value of your brand and protect it – whatever it takes!

What will you do differently to build your brand from now on?  Share your inspiration in the comments below…

All businesses have rules – some are simple, smart and understood by everyone; others are stupid, senseless and resisted by everyone.  Simple rules make you efficient, they make you money and they make your team and customers happy.  Stupid rules ensure you and your brand will be talked about for all of the wrong reasons…

Let me give you an example.  On the weekend I went to the Queensland Art Gallery. My sweetheart was carrying a bottle of water.  At the entrance we were informed that the water could not be carried around – it would have to be put into a bag.  Not only that, they would supply a bag if we didn’t have one!

Further discussion with the staff member revealed that you could not drink water whilst in the gallery – for reasons which are still mostly unclear, but seemed to relate to the risk of spillage.  Less than 20 metres away, inside the gallery is a lovely water feature that is easy to splash in if you feel like it… This ‘water in a bag’ rule is illogical, inconsiderate of visitors and makes the gallery look insane.

I’ve been to some of the best art galleries in the world, and never has anyone suggested I could not have a drink of water or carry around a water bottle. Australia is one of the hottest countries in the world. Does QAG really think that people will visit for hours on end without sustenance? (And no, don’t suggest the Café – sadly it was overpriced and the service underwhelming…)

I don’t know what their marketing cost of acquisition per visitor is, but it seems to me that the benefits arising from having a staff member mop up a spill if the unlikely was to occur would far outweigh the costs. Does this rule create a thirst for art or thirsty visitors?

What crazy rules are ruining your business? What written or unwritten rules are enforced in your business that annoy your customers or staff and create virtually no value except a sense of satisfaction for the bureaucratic bore who invented them?  What would happen if you expected the best of your customers and staff instead of the worst?

Today’s task is to go find a few stupid rules and get rid of them – it is so easy to create happiness in business… why do so many make it so difficult?

Has it ever occurred to you that what you think is great service is actually only the ‘entry level’ activities which allow your clients to put you on the list of possible suppliers? If not, you may be in for a rude shock!

Recently I listened to a senior manager from a large transport company talk about the new improvements to their tracking technology and delivery service. The transport company thought they had delivered an exciting groundbreaking service.  

My business coaching client who uses this company was scratching his head wondering what was so special – these were things he’d been requesting for years!   All they’d done was fix the bugs in their systems and provide service basics that should have already been available!

Sadly this amazing new service was at best the ‘point of entry’ from my client’s perspective – so instead of being ecstatic about this news, my client took it as ‘done, thanks, what’s next…’.  

Imagine if this transport company had taken a little time to talk to their clients and include some ‘extras’ which would offer their clients genuine and extraordinary value based on their knowledge of the transport industry and their clients businesses.

What if they invited the top 10 fastest growing clients (yes there are plenty out there even in the GFC!) and took them away for a business building weekend…   Any business owner who has double digit growth in this market would jump at the chance to meet others with similar experiences… who knows what business opportunities could arise from such an event! Most importantly, the transport company would be positioned as the really smart operators who created further growth in their clients business…

Think about this for one second.  If these businesses grow even faster, the transport company grows too -  each of these businesses rely on transport for customer deliveries… it is a total win-win! Why wouldn’t you do it?

What extraordinary experiences and ideas can you offer your clients for mutual benefit?  Take 10 minutes to think of 5 'A List' clients and 5 phenomenal ways to add value to both of your businesses.  Then action at least one and measure your results!  My business coaching tip for this post? You may want to work ON your business more often!!!

This morning I was on the BRW site and saw a banner advertisement proclaiming 'Win a chance to meet Warren Buffett!"  All you had to do was subscribe to the Australian Financial Review.  It sounded great, but in the small print it actually stated that there was no guarantee the winner would actually get to meet Mr Buffett!!  Imagine that - you win the prize, but actually it's only the "chance" that you might run into him!  How disappointed would you be!!

AFR is a publication whose reputation and brand has been built on its high level of credibility and integrity of reporting.  What brand manager would let a promotion like that out the door?  Is the AFR so desperate for subscriptions that they're willing to ruin the credibility of their brand by being a little too 'smart' with their competition wording?  Technically they are not misleading their subscribers, but most people would not take the time to read the competition headline literally - 'meet Warren Buffett' would be the message that sinks in.

How often do you run a promotion or other marketing activity which is ever so slightly misleading for your customers?  Wouldn't you rather be a brand which values integrity in its communications? It is never the reality that matters but the perception.  Whether we like it or not, reputations are built on perception not reality.  The next time you put together a promotion, make sure you check what perceptions you are creating!

Now, at this point, many hard-nosed business owners will be thinking, "What do you mean creativity? Have you forgotten we're in a recession? Got better things to do with my time and resources!"  So, this is the moment when I’m going to ask you to forget your tunnel vision, and focus with total laser vision instead! I promise you won’t be sorry!

Marketing Guru Seth Godin says that “Ideas That Spread, Win”.  Now I bet you are thinking, yes, but my product isn’t interesting enough, isn’t innovative, isn’t new, isn’t….. whatever!

Just because what you are selling may be “boring”, does not mean you or your company should be! So, if your business was offering something boring, say a blender, what could you do to make people take notice of your offer? Take a look at this...



Is it cheesy?  Sure!   Is it cheap advertising? Well how would you like to spend $50 on props, make 5 ‘homegrown’ videos and get over six million views on YouTube within one week? BlendTec make the world’s best blenders, but until they thought creatively about their marketing, no-one knew! 

Is it worth starting a creative revolution in your business? Well, as business owners and managers, you know that results are where the rubber meets the road.  Since the introduction of the videos:

• Overall sales increased 43% in the first six months;
• Blendtec's consumer sales increased 500% in 2007;
• Website traffic increased 650%;
• The extended ‘Will It Blend’ campaign has received over 100 million views on YouTube;
• The campaign provided a breakthrough in market segmentation – previously the company was primarily a commercial blender manufacturer;
• Marketing department is now a profit centre for BlendTec!

So, what can we learn about combining creativity and marketing?

1. Be compelling, be quirky, be different.
2. Be entertaining, be surprising.
3. Be willing to experiment.
4. Solve a problem or provide proof your product works.
5. Create a personality for your business.
6. Be prepared to leverage your success.
7. Use social media to your advantage!

Creativity is about culture.  What can you do to encourage creativity in your organization?

For most of us, dealing with unhappy customers is something we'd rather avoid.  Until the advent of social media, the ramifications of NOT 'doing the right thing' were relatively manageable. Not anymore!  In just ten days, Canadian band Sons of Maxwell have had more than 3 million people view their YouTube video "United Breaks Guitars" and 15000 people comment!!! And that's not counting the media coverage the song is getting... CNN, Fox News and more... 

What a customer service and public relations fiasco for United!  And what a great marketing opportunity for Sons of Maxwell!  After 50,000 YouTube views, United Airlines finally got the picture and started talking to the guy with the broken guitar.  Here's a few business lessons that any business owner can take away from United's very expensive mistake...

1. If a customer with a complaint has to talk to more than 2 people to resolve their issue, think about the wages you are paying out whilst they struggle to get a resolution.  Wouldn't you rather create goodwill with that money?  I'm pretty sure that United spent more on wages than the guitar repairs would have cost them...

2. Are your customer service systems designed to make your customers love your business or hate it?  Organise to have your business mystery shopped by 'customers' with complaints - you'll soon find the twitchy bits!  Solve problems before they become a problem - it's often cheaper!

3. Never underestimate the power of an unhappy customer... whether they can sing, gossip, pull strings, share on social media or are just very determined to get 'justice' whatever it takes, you cannot predict what an unhappy customer will do.  What can your staff do to ensure every situation is turned around in a way that is satisfactory for the customer?

Now, of course there are some people that will complain about anything, just to see what they can get.  I am certainly not suggesting that you give money back willy nilly without the situation being genuine and justifiable.  Design an effective customer service strategy which can:

• Ascertain the real facts surrounding the situation.
• Provide a timely and simple response from the customer perspective.
• Minimise damage to your business - word of mouth is both the best publicity and the worst... which one is up to you!!

On my desk is a small flyer from a local cleaning company.  I receive a promotional flyer in my letterbox every few weeks from the same company.  My prediction is that this business will never be particularly successful for one small but significant reason… the owner of the company leaves all responsibility for service delivery to the contract cleaning staff. Not only that, the owner does not respond in a meaningful way to customer complaints!  

How do I know this?  Until this week I was a regular client… at least I was trying to be… there seemed to be a small problem for the contractor in turning up at the prearranged time every fortnight.  It was a small problem for the contractor, unfortunately it was a big problem for me if they didn’t arrive – I see clients in my home and I don’t have time to clean if the cleaner doesn’t turn up! After the third ‘no show’ in less than 4 months, I found a new cleaner!!

Why couldn’t the business owner solve this problem?  It’s probably because of the way that business is (mis)managed…  Here’s three ways any service business owner can exceed client expectations and win a customer for life…

1.    Take responsibility for delivering what you promised… no matter what!  If you are unresponsive to a customer, then expect to lose that customer sooner rather than later… Take the time to understand WHY this customer needs your services so much – it will enable you to be creative and responsive in meeting and exceeding their expectations.

2.    Ask for feedback regularly and take genuine action to resolve any twitchy issues.  I had already raised the service issue with the cleaning company however it was clear they were not interested in resolving my problem effectively. A professional, responsive approach could have turned me into a long term (ie very profitable…) client instead of a lost client!  Knowing the ‘make or break’ issues from the clients perspective will ensure decisions go your way…

3.    Listen closely to the client requirements, ask lots of questions and then plan to exceed their expectations in one small area.  For example, I’d asked the cleaner to let me know when cleaning products were almost empty so that I could ensure a ready supply… instead of forgetting to tell me at all, she could have recommended an eco-friendly brand that works really well… sharing your ‘insider’ industry knowledge should never be underestimated as a way of building a relationship!!

Lastly, don't push your ideas of what constitutes  'exceeding expectations' onto your clients...I don't require a sexy cleaner... just one that turns up regularly and on time...  (of course there may be some clients who require an attractive cleaner... what would it take to make them happy too??)

What do you think?  Have you experienced service that has exceeded your expectations lately?  Tell us about what was so amazing (or so underwhelming!!)...