New Resource for Small Businesses

Just a quick post announcing there’s a short presentation* available now for any small or micro business owners/executives asking:

1. Why should my company be concerned with process?
2. How should we develop processes for our business?

*A version of this can also be presented to your organization’s leadership upon request.

Comments, questions, and feedback welcomed here!

Why I Write Boring Stuff

To some, it might be utterly shameful to have someone call your writing boring.  It happened to me twice in the last six months.  Am I completely ashamed to admit it? Not really.  (Warning: I can be feisty as evidenced by #tracysfeistytweets and this previous post.  Not scared? Read on about why I wrote boring content.)

Scenario #1: “I want to do an e-newsletter article on X,” says the Entrepreneur.

Even the best writers have been there. Whether an independent contractor for an agency, a solo practitioner, or a freelance writer, the client (in this case an entrepreneur) uses the two dreaded words, emphatically, “I want.”  The decision has been made.  The idea has been handed to you to make real. There’s little you—as the grunt writer—can do to influence the topic decision.  You are not paid or contracted to advise, guide, educate, or instruct. Maybe you tried before and it fell on deaf ears. Maybe you have not been brought on as a trusted advisor.  Someone else in the organization might be expressing concern about the topic as dangerously close to becoming a technical dissertation.  (But isn’t heard.) In this scenario, you are paid to put words together that make sense under the buyer’s (Mr. Entrepreneur’s) direction.

[So I mumble to myself, and blog about it later] Against my better judgment to ask your readers (aka target market) what interests them, I will write your topic.  While normally I would advise that we at least brainstorm to develop content topics according to your audience (based on where they fall on the continuum Unaware>Aware>Understand>Believe>Act), I will write your topic.  Although I think your staff has valid concerns, I will ignore them and write your topic.

The Comment: “It’s not very exciting (translation: it’s boring) and it’s not going to win any Pulitzers.”

The Downfall:  It’s an educational e-newsletter article based on a particular topic that the audience probably does not care about in the first place.  Sure, it positions the company as an expert on technical execution concerning X.  But there is little marketing value in that if prospects don’t value having an understanding of X.  In fact, they may opt-out and therefore cease to be part of your reachable target market.

The Saving Grace:  Some readers might find it endearing that YOU are interested in and passionate enough about your field’s technical details enough to want to share them.  You probably won’t lose a sale for lack of passion for what you do.  Even if they opt out, they may remember your name because of your expertise. 

The Take-Away: Approach your writing project (whether marketing or any kind of communications) as a means to deliver value and quality as defined by your market, not you, based on research and input.

Scenario #2:  Web Page Content for a Small Business

I’m working with the ideal small business client.  She has the basics—a logo, a sparse but professionally built website, business cards, and a brochure. She also has a combination of factors I admire—past technical expertise in her field, curiosity, a willingness to understand marketing options, open to a variety of solutions, good decision-making skills, and an appreciation for the value of marketing and her hired marketing professional, whom she treats as a trusted advisor.

We agreed developing web page content for a specific service she’d like to promote was a top priority for the first phase of our work.  Three things are in short supply, however: time, money, and general awareness about the importance of the service.  Whereas PR and other efforts might help with the latter, more well-rounded communications efforts are hindered by the former.  The result was a more educational web page vs. a sales-y web page.  A call to action and rationale for choosing her small business as the service provider were included, of course, but much of the content was value justification.

The Comment: “It might be just me, but is it, er, kinda boring?”

The Downfall: It’s true that with a small budget and a lot of ground to cover, our communications sometimes have to do “double-duty”—informative and persuasive—at first. 

The Saving Grace:  Once we have a better sense of  key metrics (e.g., impressions, bounce rates, referring sites, keywords used, SERPs, etc.) and we expand content development across media and touchpoints (e.g., published  online articles, stories produced and covered by appropriate media, press releases, etc.), we can refine the content for a sales focus and off-load the “educational” stuff to more suitable venues.  In the meantime, the page serves as an awareness-generator about the problem you solve—which is not a bad thing!

The Take-Away: Having the means to produce and distribute multiple content types is ideal.  Get together with your marketing person to plan a communications strategy with the right messaging, collateral, and media and put a good budget behind it.  Reserve some investment for public relations, especially if awareness-building and community involvement are needed.

E-Newsletter Title of the Week

It’s only Wednesday but—Stop the Presses!—I have found it. The best subject line (aka title) from my email inbox comes from Fastcompany.com’s newsletter and article by Ariel Schwartz:

Would You Live in an Abandoned Mental Hospital?

You’d have to be crazy not to open that email.  Of course, I expected the article to be about micro-businesses or small businesses who allow their “houses” to run amuck—from a lack of process, leadership, time management, or strategic planning. 

Not so! (Although I will have to add that to the list of future blog topics because the metaphor is too pertinent to ignore.) The article really is about the renovation of these old mental institutions into modern living quarters. Check it out . . .

The Alternative to Firing Your Clients: Better Screening

In my earlier post Firing Customers: Why and How,  I referenced Collapse of Distinction: Stand Out and Move Up While Your Competition Fails. This is a book by Scott McKain and although I haven’t read it yet, he has published an informative article on MarketingProfs.com: Why You Should Fire (Some of) Your Customers.  Herein, he recommends who to keep and who to discard by category (very helpful!) and  smartly states: “We spend more time than we really have to give pleasing a customer we never should have solicited in the first place.” (Emphasis mine.)

This last bit by Mr. McKain leads me to the crux of this post: Better screening.  I admit that I have fallen victim to a big name, a glowing referral from a colleague, and a market underdog with potential (if only they’d been open to change), but I am trying—and encouraging my marketing strategy clients to try—to do a better job of what I call “selective engagement.” 

With a little process development and strategic thinking, small businesses can establish criteria for selectively engaging clients who are well-suited to their business models and financial goals. This includes ideal client persona development as well as the means to attract them and the process of identifying them.  With this type of planning and supporting processes in place, you can prevent the firing mentality or  “culling phase” and instead be more exclusive with building your client base upfront.  Yes, this takes great effort, bravery, and budget, but given the alternative—having to gracefully back out of an engagement—it might just be worth it. 

Today I came across an excellent example from a marketing person I respect, Allan Starr. In his Marketing Monthly newsletter,  he states his criteria, including this specific requirement, “If a client doesn't at least believe they are better than their competitors, we don't take them on (we are opportunity agents, not turnaround artists).”  Starr makes a bold statement about what his company does and what they need from potential clients, which will allow prospects to identify or walk away.  (Bravo Marketing Partners, and feel free to refer those who need more confidence to Tracy Diziere & Associates.)

As many marketing colleagues acknowledge, it can be hard to walk away from prospective business, especially when you know you can help them and see how much they need help—and given this economy. But you will SPEND more money in terms of  time and energy trying to please them than you will MAKE. 

Not only should small businesses have a defined process in place (as well as the means to communicate that to the market), they should also seek to improve upon it.  I have a process for lead qualification, but it is constantly being refined based on experience.  Practicing continuous improvement is key, not only in manufacturing but also in your sales cycle.  I advise clients to create and refine their lead generation and client acquisition strategies (as well as client education efforts).   In my experience, it is easier to do this for others than to do it for one’s self—due to perspective-taking abilities, the need for thick skin, and the ever-illusive time for  working on the business as opposed to delivering client results. 

Here’s another supporting tidbit from the 1to1 Media Blog which asks the question “When Is It OK to Fire Your Customers?”  Ginger Conlon notes, “Others say: Don't acquire potentially unprofitable customers in the first place.” That’s what TDA helps micro and small service businesses do—with the process and tools to support such a customer acquisition strategy. 

Lean Services Marketing

Just a quick post here for small businesses in B-to-B services.  Regardless of your knowledge of (or initial interest in) Lean, you can use some key questions to tighten up your service delivery. Why is this important? On-target marketing and delivery of services translates to less costs, increased revenue via more focus on the customer, and more fulfilled employees.  That’s what I’ll help you with here.

First, a brief intro to the concept of waste.  Waste is defined as “any activity that uses resources, but creates no value for the customer” by Natalie J. Sayer and Bruce Williams* in Lean for Dummies.  There are 7 ways that waste manifests in manufacturing companies: transportation, waiting, overproduction, defects, inventory, movement, and extra processing.  Here, we’ll just look at preventing the types of waste that relate to marketing and delivering  services, primarily overproduction, extra processing, and inventory.

To deliver and market B-to-B services efficiently, the small business owner should ask the following questions to reduce waste:

1. Am I producing more (volume) or more options than my clients want? (Even at the proposal stage.)

2. Am I producing deliverables sooner than they need them?

3. What quality levels are required by the clients/customers?

4. What quantity of deliverables/materials do they require? 

5. What materials/deliverables can be re-purposed into something that clients value?

6. Is there anything that needs packaging/promoting to create value in the clients’ minds? 

With the answers to these questions, you can begin to plan with greater efficiency and make better use of your time and resources while ensuring you are meeting client needs.   That, after all, is the benefit and goal of eliminating waste.   

 

*Bruce spoke last month at an ABPMP-Phoenix event.  This link contains his bio and information about Business Transformation Through IT, co-sponsored by ASU’s WP Carey School of Business’ MSIM Department.  To learn more about our local chapter of the Association for Business Process Management Professionals, visit our website.

Whether to Outsource and How to Value Your Marketing Efforts

Here is a quick guide to help the small business owner determine whether to outsource specific marketing tasks and how to decide what his/her marketing efforts are worth.

Should I Outsource?

1. Try the classic litmus test for delegating: “If someone else can perform this task at least 75% as well as you can, delegate it.”
2. Do I have the necessary expertise to get it done at the desired level of quality? This is particularly important if more than 75% is desired.
3. Is my time best spent on this or something else?
4. Do I have the necessary raw materials sitting around (e.g., notes, samples, drafts, etc.) but can never find time to get it done?
5. Do I have all the ideas in my head but no one to share them with who can run with them?
6. Will it take more time for me to find someone to do this task or do it myself?

What Is It Worth?

1. What are the potential results (i.e., what do I stand to gain) from having this marketing task complete? Assign a dollar value to that. It could be a percentage of sales, a number of new leads, etc. Find a metric that will mean something financially to your business.
2. What is the value of my time (and my staff’s time) and how long would it take us to do this? Assign everyone an hourly rate and estimate the time it would take.
3. Given our schedules, is the duration of the task appropriate/acceptable? For example, you may have determined that a task will take you 8 hours to complete, but it may take you a month to carve out those hours and complete the task. Is that going to work for you? If not, to have this solution expedited, what does mean for your business (in dollars, if possible)?
4. If there is an impending deadline associated with the task, will we be able to meet it working regular hours and without sacrificing our client work? What would eliminating the stress be worth to us?
5. What is it worth to me to have someone transform my raw materials and ideas into a finished product in a measurable and valuable way?
6. If someone could provide me with the tools to perform this function better/faster/cheaper in the future, what would I be willing to invest in my future?
7. If I were to hire a part-time employee to perform this task or block of tasks, what would the expected annual salary be and what percentage of that would be dedicated to it? Consider that dollar figure as a potential gauge for incoming proposals.

Your comments, thoughts, suggestions, and questions on this post are welcomed.

What are your thoughts on social media for companies and their brands?

This question was posed by my colleague Jen. Before I launch into the answer, a few words about blogging on this subject:

1. I’m going to respond within the context of micro and small businesses. My assumptions are that the brand is undefined, formative, or MIA.

2. I could write a whole article/white paper on this subject (and I might just do that!) but for today I am going to shoot from the hip and also try to keep it brief.

3. For brevity, and because you’ve introduced the B word, I’m going to limit my discussion of “social media” to what’s available and typically undertaken by this audience—not custom platform development or integrated marketing campaigns. Also, my comments will be highly generalized. And I will use sentence fragments.

Now, my thoughts on social media for companies and their brands.

If your company does not have an established brand or brand guidelines, does not have a brand strategy, or has not organized internal branding efforts, whatever you do/say “socially” will build your brand for you. It sounds simple and a given, right? Without a brand to align communications with or to test your tone against, you are not doing much to “shape” the impressions of your intended audience.

SIDEBAR: We assume that this is possible or we would not invest in any marketing, packaging, advertising, research, etc. (although not necessarily in that order) and yours truly along with 167,463 other people with the title Marketing Manager in the U.S. plus who knows how many others would not have a job (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections, 2006).

But it’s easier to go off and do the social media thing, jump on the bandwagon and just participate, than it is to do the hard work of creating a brand. It’s seemingly cheaper, too—a fact that is not lost on small business owners. It’s when we ask questions of effectiveness that social media, when conducted in this manner, falls apart. That’s why I say “seemingly.” Building on Econ 101, if there’s no such thing as a free lunch, how much does a cheap lunch actually cost? Which leads to the question of who’s managing those impressions at what hourly rate. Or at least monitoring.

At the heart of social media is a conversation, and someone has to take the pulse. We have to listen and speak. We have to do both to connect with people, although some marketers will insist that you be a spokesperson. I think there are important usage decisions to be made. It will depend on your business and your relationships with others (and how that gets played out). I like to put it this way: Are you a megaphone, a two-way radio, or an antenna?

If you’re a megaphone, you’d better be (a) pointing in the right direction and (b) saying something worth listening to—as defined by your listeners, which really means you have to do some sort of listening, even if it’s not via social media channels. There are too many broken records, especially on Twitter. If u tweet about the same thing over & over & I don’t care about it, reverse marketing happens: Unfollow & boycott. (That’s 116 characters, BTW, and you can RT @tracydiziere.)

If you’re a two-way radio, you have to be comfortable with whatever comes back. And gracious. And accepting. When you open up the discussion for feedback, and readers use the opportunity to knock your service or product, you have to be able to respond positively. Unfortunately for micro or small business owners, who feel like they ARE the product/service, this isn’t easy. In the best case scenario, you have a process in place for capturing that valuable feedback, which would otherwise be very costly to obtain. Of course, it may not be representative of the entire market and it will trickle in vs. be conveniently culled, but it’s your data and you know how to use it to your advantage, thanks to your process. If you don’t have a process, don’t bother with social media. Community members, consumers, and would-be customers can (a) spot a faker a mile away and (b) will be even more disappointed if you don’t have an honest response that attempts to fix the problem.

If you’re an antenna, you’re picking up on what’s being said in social media circles that apply to your business, but you’re not contributing or launching anything. This is a good place to start. Listening can make your marketing efforts uber-effective, not to mention make you a more tuned-in friend, family member, boss, co-worker, consumer, voter, etc. Even as an antenna, you can acknowledge you’re receiving a signal on occasion. What you do with the information is important too. Use it to spark internal discussions, to understand consumer views, to track the competition, etc. Again, have a process for what you’re doing and a way of transforming content into data.

Finally, the question most people want to have an answer to: Should we do it at my company? Some marketers convince every client that they all have to be megaphones in all the usual suspects of social media—Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, Ning, YouTube, etc.—and create their own communities or be left behind to die in the desert of traditional media. There is no question that mainstream media is freaking out, is in trouble, is still too silo’ed, lacks freshness, and has to change. To tell you to ignore that and go ahead with business as usual would be beyond foolish. But social media efforts are not one size fits all and I’m not selling you some elaborate plan for social media domination either (as if it were possible, duh, it’s democratic). I’m just saying small businesses need to consider all the factors that come into play when designing (that means professionally constructing an organized and creative effort) their communications strategy—regardless of media. Those factors include not only larger issues of who are we trying to reach and WWMBD (MB=my brand) but also who is going to do what, how often, how long, at what expense, and the most important considerations of all: What if, what if, and what if?

If you need an extra head to think those things through, mine is for rent. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. And why not post a comment acknowledging your feat, calling me out, or lending your support for something I’ve said? Tracy Diziere & Associates is a two-way radio, but it’s awful quiet out there! Feel free to post your burning marketing questions as response to this or my previous post "Can We Talk?"

Worth a Look: Process Development & Improvement

Many small business owners are much too busy running their businesses to look at how they're doing it. With all the clamoring for marketing and social media, you'd be surprised to learn how effective process development or process improvement can be instead. All you need is a little time to invest, a place to start, a little direction, and a reason to do it. (For a quick intro, view the presentation "Process Development for Small Business & Microbusiness")

1. The Reason. BPTrends has an excellent summary of why companies might look at their processes . . . “In good times, . . . to create new processes and expand organizational capabilities. In bad times, . . . . [to] focus on eliminating unnecessary activities and on saving money." (Wolf & Harmon, Volume 7. No. 2 of BPTrends' email newsletter)

2. The Starting Place. What keeps you awake at night? What's your company's biggest barrier to success? What's your customers' biggest complaint? What's the hardest thing for you to achieve right now? What do they have that you don't?

3. Time. Carve out time to explore the questions and choose one area of focus. Promise yourself that you will schedule time over the next month to resolve this issue.

4. Direction. Beginning with your question, ask what you do and why and continue to ask what and why until you determine (at each stage) whether you are doing something because it is: (a) required by law, (b) needed by management for the daily operation and oversight of the company, (c) needed for product quality and/or production, (d) needed by distribution channels and/or customers. Everything except (a) is negotiable so look for areas of elasticity and potential change that would result in streamlined processes or cost savings. Define desired outcomes. If you need more direction, call in reinforcements.


(NOTE: BPM is a huge field; this post only attempts to make certain aspects of it accessible to small business owners and microbusiness owners. Expert posts are welcome in order to achieve this goal.)

Learning from Failure

While there are many resources out there to tell the small business owner how to be successful as well as chronicles of success, we don't hear as much about failures in order to learn from them. (Unless of course they are huge in terms of impact and/or scandalous, such as Enron.) But what about the downward spiral of the off-the-radar businesses who make simple mistakes we can all avoid just by being aware of them? As I attempt to compile these, I was happy to find in my inbox today that someone has at least published a soundbyte about this called Five Dumb Mistakes. It is the Reach Group who has developed a "Free Agent Formula," and while I'm not a big fan of this type of thing usually, the article is worth reading at http://www.marketingprofs.com/small-business/index.asp?nlid=545&cd=dmo121&adref=NsbW398.

Although chasing rabbits (see previous post) didn't make the list, I can say that the first item--which I imagine happens when folks go into business just to escape the 9-to-5 by opening a franchise or buying into some MLM or affiliate marketing without loving what they do--is just as dangerous.

The Rabbit Hole

There's an article worth noting in Jacksonville's Business Journal by Ray Attiyah. His premise is that managers should not chase more than one "rabbit" at a time and he offers a very clear analysis based on experience of why organizations lose focus. I like that he draws to the surface a substantial list of contributing factors but wish he offered a clear-cut systematic plan to avoid chasing two rabbits—or even chasing one down its hole, only to disappear. So, here is the systematic plan that I'd like to offer to small business owners and executives who feel overwhelmed by frequent changes in direction and its compounding problems:

Step 1: Be willing to look squarely at the state of affairs. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to admit errors, bad decisions, barriers to success, market challenges, and customer complaints. If you can silence the ego long enough to examine the environment without blame or judgement, you can overcome any obstacles.

Step 2: Identify root causes (as hard as they may be to admit), again in a way that rises above finger-pointing and blame-laying. However, do not shy away from crucial conversations. Be honest with yourself and others.

Step 3: Make gradual steps toward improvement by eliminating root causes. Enlist support where you need it and focus on what contributing factors must be minimized to foment change.

Sometimes this all of this is easier with the help of an outside, objective observer and facilitator, particularly in organizations rife with political battles. Scary as it may seem, the rewards of these steps are well worth it for those who truly want to lead a successful company.

***
Visit my site for upcoming events and additional resources: www.tracydiziere.com/learn

A Note on “Doing” and “Doing Well”

Issues of quality are a common concern for me, and there have been some lonely times when I was the sole champion of a high standard for professional outcomes, even if it meant more work for myself and others. As the leader of your own enterprise, you might also have that tireless commitment to quality, but we both know that not all things can be done as well as we’d like in a small business environment, where being nimble, responsive, and accountable to clients must come first--with fewer resources. If you're not putting out immediate fires, the pressures can be just as great to do things that drive client satisfaction and sales—from product development to promotions. And typically these things, because client-facing, also need to be “done well” vs. just “done.” What's the exception? Procrastinating because a task MUST be done well, when, in the meantime, doing nothing means losing a greater potential return. So as a microbusiness or small business owner, next time you’re faced with an almost scary expectation for quality, ask with these simple test questions to determine your course:

--What is the cost of doing nothing?
--What do I stand to lose by just doing it and making it better later?
--How much do I stand to gain from doing it well now?

This is an overly simplified strategy, of course, but one that I hope to build on to acheive a more robust model. To help this along, please post your comments!