Posted by Michael Gunther on Wed, Jun 10, 2009 @ 01:30 PM
By Michael Gunther, President of Collaboration LLC, Business Growth Specialists
Who is your client?
In today's business climate, there are more hurdles and challenges to obtaining and keeping clients than ever. In an effort of self-preservation, more companies are cutting back. They are reducing costs where they didn't think possible, they are outsourcing less work, and they are tentative to make decisions involving capital. To obtain and keep clients in this market, businesses need to get "back to basics." And there's nothing more basic than your client: no client, no business.
To get back to basics in regards to sales, we must re-establish the fundamental approach of selling. Sales Is a Science - there are methods and processes that if put into practice on a consistent basis will lead to increased business, even in the most challenging of economies.
Develop your Client Profile
Most businesses overlook this important first step of selling. They may feel that everyone can benefit from their products or services so they market, network, and promote their business to a myriad of audiences and therefore waste money and time chasing unsuitable prospects and marketing to uninterested parties. Developing a solid client profile, even creating different profiles for different products or services, is a critical piece to building a solid sales system.
A simple method to determine your ideal client profile is to first identify your top 10-20 clients. Then analyze: What do they have in common? Do they drive comparable cars? Do they have similar jobs or hobbies? What are their demographics (age, sex, income, education, geographic reach) and psychographics (buying behaviors, hobbies, beliefs, values)?
You can look at established companies for examples of how they've defined their client profile. For instance, you probably won't see an ad for a Lexus in Reader's Digest, but you will see their ad in Business Week. Wal Mart and Target sell similar products, but have built their client profiles based on different niches: price (Wal Mart) and trend (Target). If you can understand the demographics and psychographics of your targeted clients like these established companies do, you will fully understand your clients buying behaviors, provide products and services more efficiently and quickly, and effectively market to your ideal prospective clients.
Locate New Prospects
Once you've created your client profile, you can begin to strategize how to generate new prospects. Ask yourself questions, such as: What publications do my clients read? What community events are they involved in? Who else knows these clients or sells to these clients? By answering strategic questions such as these, you can begin channeling your sales time and marketing dollars in a more direct fashion.
A client of ours recently created their client profile and realized that their ideal client typically had high school aged children and lived in specific neighborhoods around town. Based on this information, they were able to target their marketing dollars by sponsoring various high school sporting events and sending direct mail pieces to these precise neighborhoods, and they were also able to adjust their messaging to match the needs of their audience. By making a few strategy changes based on their client profile, they saved money and increased the number of prospective clients.
Bottom Line: A strong sales foundation starts with a strong client profile. Otherwise, you will waste both dollars and time trying to grow your business. And for most business owners and managers, neither of these is in abundant supply.
Michael Gunther is the President of Collaboration LLC, business growth specialists based in San Luis Obispo, California.
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Posted by Michael Gunther on Tue, Jun 09, 2009 @ 05:11 PM
By Michael Gunther, President of Collaboration, Business Growth
Specialists
Over the last 14 years of consulting small businesses, I have had the privilege of working with many partnerships. In fact, over 60% of our consulting clients have been partnerships - whether they were family partnerships, married partners or friends. Almost 100% of the time the company has come to us because the partnership was now hindering the growth and the success of the business.
These partnerships could have prevented the pain, lost opportunity and profit if they would have defined some clear partnership parameters at the beginning of their working relationship. Often these partners who were once good friends or had strong family bonds, are now operating their business without speaking to one another, or working with a veil of suspicion and with no clear direction or purpose other than to protect themselves.
Here are some key areas that typically are missing from these organizations:
No Clear Communication Structures
What is required for partners in terms of meetings and types of communications that need to be shared with partners?
What are the steps to resolve conflicts?
No Methodology for Business Decisions
How compensation is determined for each partner's role verses their level of ownership?
How are financial decisions made within the organization?
Are roles & responsibilities clearly defined for partners? What are the consequences for non-performance?
No Clear Legal/Financial Documents
What legal documents exist to support the partnership?
What is the financial commitment of each partner?
What happens if one partner does not want to participant in a financial outlay?
No Exit Strategies Clearly Identified
How can the termination of the partnership happen?
What behaviors or actions constitute a mandatory leave or termination?
What does each partner want from this business besides a financial gain?
Partnerships can be highly successful. They can also be a huge impediment to the success of the company if the partners have different agendas and are headed in different directions.
By sitting down with your potential partner or current partner and answering the questions above, you will begin the necessary communication process and structures to build a solid partnership and thus, a solid business. To download an expanded version of these tips, please click here.
Posted by Michael Gunther on Thu, Jun 04, 2009 @ 02:36 PM
By Michael Gunther
As originally published in The Tolosa Press
Let's face it: some days it's hard for employees to be productive. This is true even in the best of times. Their coworker just got engaged, they had a fight with their significant other, someone in their family lost their job, maybe they just can't find the motivation to start (or finish) a project.
Add the stress of wondering whether the company they work for is financially stable, if they are next on the chopping block, or if their benefits and payroll will be decreased, and it's not hard to see why this Great Recession is taking a toll on workplace productivity.
So, how can businesses maintain productivity? The best place to start is with manager and employee relationships followed by a little inspiration and a lot of communication. Next thing you know, you'll see productivity on the rise.
BUILD POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
As stated by Marcus Buckingham in First, Break all the Rules, one of the key factors behind productive work environments is the manager/employee relationship. Managers who recognize and praise employees for their good work, every seven days at a minimum, create much more productive work environments. Now, think back to the last time you recognized each of your employees. If it's been more than seven days (and statistics show that it probably has), put down this article and go praise them for their good work.
INSPIRE
The other role you have as a business leader is to inspire, and with inspiration comes innovation.
While it's common knowledge that more millionaires were made during The Great Depression than at any other time in history, it's not so common to reflect on the reason behind those gains: innovation. The Great Depression Millionaires weren't focusing on their own woes or the negative possibilities - they were focusing on innovation and creating positive solutions.
One way to create inspiration in the workplace is to bring in guest speakers: a money manager, a creative facilitator, a finance manager, an expert on health and wellness. You'll not only be addressing your employees' concerns that are distracting them from working productively, you'll be helping promote other professionals in your community. Now that is innovation!
COMMUNICATE
Communication is a skill that has faded in some of our organizations. But as we know, people tend to assume the worst, and that includes our employees. As business owners and managers, it is up to us to step out of our comfort zone and communicate the happenings of our business: the good, the bad, and the ugly, and then focus on what the company is doing to get out of the bad and the ugly. Focus on innovation and inspiration to transition from stress mode to productivity mode.
In the early 1990's, the business model shifted from "don't tell them about the bad news" to one that created support groups for employees. And that's because people return to productive levels more quickly if they can talk about what's going on.
One way to communicate to employees is to provide ongoing, consistently scheduled updates that inform employees on the status of business and its initiatives. Another option is to determine key measures such as sales goals or target clients and report consistently on the achievement of these measurements.
Bottom line: Have the employees become part of the solution. The more employees understand the business and their role in making business happen, the more likely you will see increased productivity. And remember to celebrate the successes, even the small ones!