The 80-Hour Week

7 Steps Plus 1 to Success in Your Small Business

Last week we talked about Red Flags which is actually step 1 to Success in Your Small Business.  Here's step 2.

Find Your Core Difference

When you talk about your business at a party, do people respond, "Wow! Tell me more about that?" Or do they escape and run to the shrimp dip?

If they don't say 'Wow! Tell me more', you need a powerful short phrase that lets them know you offer something unique and different - and don't worry, this doesn't mean you have to spend lots of money.

If your Core Difference reflects their single biggest frustration, you'll find they absolutely want to know more.

"I show small business owners how to save thousands on their IT costs."

"We create systems that make money for our clients while they sleep."

"We help business owners predict cash flow accurately."

"We make accountants absolutely indispensable to their clients."

Does your core difference make the impact you are looking for?  Tell us your stories.

Red Flags: When Your eyes Are Deceiving you

When we do the Duct Tape Marketing Kick Start Scorecard (the first step in creating an Ultimate Marketing Plan), we keep our eyes out of these Red Flags.

What’s a Red Flag? It’s a belief our client is basing decisions on, which we have learned time and time again may not be accurate.

In other words, we are tricked into believing something that is not true. And therefore, we don’t get the results we want, or, at worst, we fail spectacularly!

When we hear this, the Red Flags start waving in our minds:

Red Flag: I need to spend time with all our customers
We’ve had clients where only 2% of their customers match their Ideal Customer profile. In another case, 31% of a client’s business came from 1% of their customers. In yet another, 1/3 of their customers were worth 300% more than the other 2/3. In these examples, 33% to 98% of executive time was actually being wasted.

Red Flag: We don’t track our advertising response.
When we look at the actual numbers and return on investment, we find some interesting observations. Here are some examples: You spent $3,000 to get one new client. 99% of the people you sent flyers to did not respond to them in any way. Your newsletter advertising got no responses. On other words, why don’t you take your advertising budget and buy yourself a boat; it’s way more fun and will do your business just as much good.

Red Flag: Word of mouth is our best business-builder.
Oh come on! Your referral sources only generated 15% of your total income. And you haven’t spoken to any customers once you’ve closed the sale.

Heard any Red Flags at your business lately?