Using Partnerships to Expand Your Business
Lately, I’ve had lots of opportunities to tap the passion and energy of those around me. It’s a great feeling, because I know I definitely don’t have all the knowledge and time to do everything myself.
Here’s some great examples:
• I’ve been working with some others who can expand the visibility of my marketing. They know people I don’t, and vice versa.
• I’m working with a group of people on a charitable project. Each of us brings unique skills, and we’ll be able to impact the community so much more as a group!
• My telemarketing team has been kicking into high gear and delivering great results for me.
• I work in partnership with another Small Fish coach – we deliver mentoring for each other and it helps me keep focused.
• I’ve been exploring a particular partnership idea with the local Chamber of Commerce.
When I look at all these, and many more, I start to realize that I’m not just a one-person coaching business. I wouldn’t be able to succeed with all these friends, supporters, and colleagues.
Who’s around who has been helping you? Have you given them a “thank you” lately?
And who else could you tap? Who has expertise and connections that would be useful? Who has energy to help you rocket forward in your success?
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.us
Business Planning - Why Is It So Huge?
Your standard business plan is something on the order of 20-50 pages, and can take months of effort to complete. But is it really worth all that trouble?
It really depends on how you plan to use it. If you need to get a bank loan, then you pretty much have to follow their rules. The bank is asking all those questions because they want to know that they’re not putting their money at too much risk, so they want evidence that you’ve thought through everything. They had a business owner who lost his business ten years ago because he couldn’t hire the right kind of people, so now you have to answer questions about how you’re going to address that. It may not seem fair to you, but if you’re taking their money, it comes with these strings attached.
Many advisors will tell you to create an extensive business plan before you start launching a new company. They’re doing this because they’ve seen how many people have failed by not thinking through fifty key areas of risk. The theory is that if you think through the issues in advance, you’re more likely to notice and fix small issues before they blow up, perhaps even avoid and prevent problems. And this mostly works.
But there’s two problems with the huge business plan: First, you may spend too much time and money in the planning stage, and never get to delivering value to customers. Second, a large plan tends to be so hard to update that you never actually get around to fixing the plan to reflect what you’re actually doing in the business.
In reaction to this, there’s the “ready-fire-aim” school of thought, which posits that it’s better to DO something – almost anything – than to get stuck in planning. This actually can work pretty well when your gut feel is in sync with the state of the market, and where you have enough resources to absorb the mistakes you’re going to make. A small example might be where you spend $200 to join up with a Direct Marketing company that you are passionate about. You didn’t take much risk, and hopefully your passion and knowledge will get you through your learning process. But, in fact, the vast majority of Direct Marketers fall away from their companies, after spending a few hundred dollars and then finding out that the work was quite different than they envisioned.
A big example, perhaps, is when a company like Apple comes out with the iPod or iPhone. If they waited for the market to stabilize and be crystal clear, they’d be too late. But you can bet that Apple did indeed create extensive businesses plans for these Big Bets – they just recognized that certain parts of the plan would start to emerge after the products were introduced. And that’s exactly why versions 2 and 3 of these products were so crucial.
The “one page business plan” that we use in Small Fish is something quite different. It’s actually a tool to help someone achieve focused forward action in their business. It concentrates on a few key strategic areas – as defined by the client – and then puts a structure in place to achieve progress in those areas. It’s quite powerful, which is why we’ve made it a core of the Small Fish process.
But, unfortunately, a one page plan isn’t likely to get you a bank loan.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.us
Is It Time To Break Your Marketing Plan?
I did a re-examination of my marketing plan recently, and ended up changing my approach a bit. It’s not that it WASN’T working, but that it had … maybe gone a bit stale. It’s great to reach the same people over and over again with a consistent message, but I also need to connect with some new people I haven’t met before.
Here’s the question for you today: Where in your business have you become a bit complacent? You haven’t challenged anything lately, because it seems to be mostly working?
The danger is that you might not be taking advantage of opportunities, because you’re just tackling the daily emergencies. What will happen is that your customers, employees, partners, and you yourself may start losing energy.
I’m not saying that consistency is a bad thing. It’s what has built up great brands like McDonald’s. But notice that they continually innovate within the scope of their core vision, adding new products, innovative marketing, and great employee systems.
That’s what keeps them alive and moving ahead.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.us
The Silver Lining Around This Financial Cloud
I’ve been meeting with a lot of very interesting business owners lately. People are dealing with all kinds of challenges, but of course the economy is hanging over every decision. It’s increased pressures on many dimensions, both personally and in business.
But there’s some key things we need to remember about these times. First, EVERYONE has to deal with the economy. It’s not like the planet is beating you up personally, even though it feels it sometimes. Your competitors are dealing with the same situation, as are your partners, suppliers, and customers. So don’t take the entire weight of the world on your shoulders.
Second, customers are more price-sensitive than they were 5 or 10 years ago. They’ve always been sensitive to the tradeoff between price and value, it’s just that the balance has shifted towards price. That doesn’t mean people don’t care about quality and value anymore – in fact, I’ve spoken with many quality-oriented businesses that are starting to see the balance shift back a little. It will change slowly, so make sure that you have some good deals for those customers who have to pinch pennies. There’s lots of them. If you develop a good relationship now, they’ll continue buying from you as things recover.
Third, recognise that a time of turmoil always rewards creativity. It’s quite exciting to talk with so many people who are trying innovative things – switching over to cheaper digital media for their marketing and customer service, or combining products into new bundles and packages, or restructuring their services. What these people are discovering is that these ideas would have had great value ANYWAY, it’s just that the economic stress forced them to ask the tough questions and get creative. They’re doing things which are different, which make them stand out from the competition.
And remember to take time to work ON your business. This stressful situation can cause you to try to work 24/7 – yes, even while you’re sleeping. But take some time to think about the larger picture, what will sustain you for the long term.
Car Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.com.us
Creative Marketing
I had a chance to go to the inaugural meeting of the local Executive Center Roundtable this morning. It was a good example of taking some good ideas in marketing and adding a creative twist.
On the face of it, this group looks a little like many of the networking and leads groups that have grown like weeds here in northern Colorado. From what I’ve seen, this is a huge trend all over the globe as small business owners discover the power of marketing via referrals and personal connections.
What’s interesting about this particular group is that it’s not sponsored by a networking and business-building services company, nor was it started by an individual who was struggling in their business development. That covers most of the other networking groups I’ve seen. Instead, this is sponsored by The Executive Center, which provides office space for startup and very small businesses, as a way to provide professional, productive office space.
Why would such a company want to sponsor a networking group? It’s actually a carefully considered strategy. First, value is given to clients of the Center when they interact with each other and with other similar small businesses in the community. Second, new clients for the Center could very well stem from people who participate in the Roundtable and see the value that the Center can provide. Third, this will probably result in referrals for new clients for the Center.
Kudos to Amanda, who took an idea that has great energy in the local market, and added some unique aspects which serve her target customers to bring in new business.
As an extra bonus, I saw this morning that the waiting list to get into this meeting was as large as the people who came – the limit stemming from the size of the room. This shows that a buzz has been created in the community, something that we all strive for but often find so elusive. Just a few hours after the meeting, the next one is nearly full, and will no doubt have a waiting list by the time you see this. It’s quite possible that a second similar group will be able to start, thus expanding TEC’s marketing reach to a whole new set of entrepreneurs.
This is a great lesson in marketing creatively!
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coach Fort Collins
www.smallfish.us
The External Point Of View
I’ve worked with a number of business leaders who struggle to have the time to connect up with others outside their business. There’s a tremendous amount of activity going on; who has enough hours in the day to go out and form new relationships?
But it’s critical to do just that. Here’s the problem with your existing relationships: They each exist for a purpose, and that’s not to help you look at your business in a more holistic way. Your managers and employees depend on you for direction and income, so they’re not likely to raise issues that expose their weakness or nervousness. Your customers depend on you for products and services, and don’t want to rock the boat. Your suppliers, likewise, get their income from you, and don’t want to do anything that might jeopardise that. Your family focuses on harmony and other values not related to the business, and will avoid things that create disharmony.
Who’s going to ask you the tough questions that will help you to change your perspective and think through your business issues? Well, that’s what a business coach does, but there’s other people who can fill this role as well. I always encourage people to look for experienced mentors, especially those who have already experienced the kinds of stresses they’re under. Even if the mentor didn’t fully succeed, he or she certainly learned a great deal through the process.
Another alternative that I’ve had success with is mastermind groups. This is a concept first introduced by Napoleon Hill back in the 1930s. In the business context, you can think of it as a bit of a “virtual board of directors,” where each person in the group has an interest in helping the others to succeed. This can be quite valuable for a long period of time, especially after the members work with each other long enough to develop deep trust. I set up one of these groups myself, and found it to be quite useful for each participant.
Just don’t think that you have to figure out every tough business problem totally on your own. There are plenty of people who can help, and different kinds of relationships which will help you work through those issues.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.com.au
Marketing On A Shoestring Budget
I was reading a great article on Marketing on a Shoestring Budget, which had some ideas I thought I’d share with everyone.
The first step – this should be obvious – is to develop a marketing
plan. But many business owners’ plan is essentially “get our name in front of potential customers,” which is much too simple. First, you have to decide who your target customers are. It’s not just anybody with money in their pocket, it’s people who have a specific need that you can help them solve. What’s that specific need? What’s so compelling about your product or service that they would happily part with their money in exchange?
These are not easy questions. If you think they are, you’re not digging deep enough.
Now that you have your plan in order, you can start looking for the most effective ways to reach your prospects. It’s surprising how many new free and cheap tools have emerged – not only because of the internet itself, but also because people are connected in so many ways. That article lists seven lead generation activities that have been shown to be highly effective:
1. Trading (bartering) services
2. Offer free information
3. Share customers
4. Ask for referrals
5. Cold calling
6. Writing
7. Creating an event
Companies that I work with often look first at POA – Plain Old Advertising in the mass media, phone books, and so on. These can be quite expensive, and honestly, are ignored by many people. We no longer subscribe to magazines and newspapers, we zip through television commercials, and I’ve used a phone book exactly once in the last year.
If you’re looking for smarter ways to use your precious money, there’s a lot of alternate channels which can more quickly establish your brand position and create customer relationships. We’ve seen an explosion of networking groups, both online and in person. Websites and other publications are always looking for people who can write compellingly and convey useful information. And in businesses which are based on referrals and word of mouth, there are plenty of other companies with complementary products and services which might help you to get in front of qualified customers.
I’ve often seen small businesses struggle with the tradeoff between trying new things and sticking with something long enough that it can actually be effective. A classic example is print advertising – if you just stick one ad in the paper, it will never make an impression. If you print the same ad for a week, people will start to actually notice. If you do it for a month, people will begin to understand your message.
This is why a plan is so important. Understand your strategic priorities, pick a few things that appear to have the most value, and then stick with them long enough to make a difference. In general this will be a year or more for a general brand image, and a month or more (but with greater intensity) to promote a specific event. Give your marketing investment a chance to work.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins CO
www.smallfish.us
New Year, New Energy
As we kick off 2011, it’s a great time to take advantage of the sense of renewal that comes with this yearly cycle. Sure, it’s artificial. There’s not much that actually changes just because we’ve changed the year to a new number.
Then again, your customers and employees are a part of the larger society. As a whole, we do focus on different things at different times of year. In the US, there’s an increased focus on health, we’re hunkering down for the winter, and we’re starting to think about summer vacations in a few months. The stress of the holidays has mostly passed, perhaps replaced by some anxiety around finances.
In your business, how can you build on this attention? Would it be helpful to link your company’s attention to finances to what employees are thinking about? Can you connect customers’ attention to wellness to how you’re marketing your products and services?
People may also have a bit more willingness to look at new ideas. It’s a new year, and there’s a new energy that builds up around that. So is it a good time to start a discussion around a change to your business that you were putting off because of all the pressures around the end of 2010?
2011 may just be the best year yet for your business!
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins CO
www.smallfish.us
A Business Plan You Will Use
I was reading an article today about common mistakes people make when writing business plans. It wasn’t bad, but it reinforced my assertion that there’s different kinds of business plans. The ones the article referred to were for getting funding, and they expected to be on the order of 30+ pages.
Fine, I suppose, but you’re never going to USE it.
Here’s where the one-page business plan comes in useful. The key is simplicity and focus, which includes:
• What your business does, and why it does it
• The tangible goals and objectives
• The key things you need to focus on to succeed
• The actions you’re going to take to ensure those areas of focus are achieved
This can fit on a single page. That’s quite important, because you’ll only be able to remember this plan and focus on it if it’s simple, straightforward, and addresses the critical decisions. This is also why it’s crucial that you, the owner of the business, write it in your own words.
If I were to add anything to this, it would be the key business metrics. Some people might prefer to have that in a different place, though, because it’s not strictly a PLAN.
But the 30 page plan? Use that to wow your investors. Just don’t expect people inside your organization to get much motivation out of it.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins CO
www.smallfish.us
Five Reasons Why You Don't Want Other People's Money
It’s tempting to want to look to others for money to fund your business, to get more investors on board and give you some cash to maneuver with. But I thought I’d highlight a few reasons why you might want to think twice about this:
1. Money always comes with strings attached: Despite your best intentions, there are always expectations and conditions to receiving money. If you’re borrowing, that’s pretty clear: You have to pay it back, with interest, in the required timeframe. If you’re borrowing from a relative, often people will do this with a less rigorous contract. That’s dangerous, because then the emotional ties start taking over as time goes on and enthusiasm wanes. It’s easy to do permanent damage to family relationships because of borrowed – or even gifted – money. If you get an outside investor, you might have to relinquish some control of your company to them. Or there might be less structured ways that they could make your life miserable.
2. It creates another stakeholder to worry about: In addition to your customers, your suppliers, your vendors, and your partners, now you have an additional party who brings a different set of needs to bear. The broader your attentions, the less focused you’ll be.
3. It obscures the true state of your business: Outside money can appear as an asset or even masquerade as revenue, but that’s not the reality. You can easily fool yourself into thinking that you’re more profitable than you really are, which can cause you to make unbalanced decisions.
4. It weakens your core purpose: Assuming that your primary business isn’t to take money from investors, you should probably spend the bulk of your time worrying about how to deliver value to CUSTOMERS and build your revenue stream from that. Adding other work doesn’t help, and it confuses your employees to have to add another requirement to the list that usually doesn’t contribute to the purpose of the company.
5. It tends to make you greedy: Using others’ money seems to be an easy path to short term profit, and as you get better at it, it becomes more attractive. But you’re really sacrificing the long term growth of a healthy, customer-sustained business. “More businesses die from overeating than from starvation.” – as retold by David Packard
Now, assuming that you understand the implications of these points, and you’re still considering looking for outside money, think carefully. Only accept obligations for the amount of money that you really, truly need, and will have a profound impact on the survival of your business. No more.
Carl Diershow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins CO
www.smallfish.us
