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Are you hurting for business, right now? 10 things you can do to amp up this month

Filed in: Quick Tips |  Exercises |  warm-up |  READY | 
Posted on Fri, Jan 23, 2009, by Akira Morita

As a small business owner, I realize finding and keeping customers is something I should be working on continuously, whether the economy is doing well or not.

But this new year brings a lot of hand-wringing about what’s to come. If chats with other business owners are anything to go by, that is.

The pressure is on
People are asking: Will I be able to grow my business as much as I hope to, and will I be able to make a difference in more people’s lives? How do I reach more people? Will anyone care?

Sound familiar?

Yet we all know there’s no silver bullet if we want to do marketing right.

That doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do right now that will make a difference. There are for sure things that will help in the short-term, as well as contribute to the long-term sustainability of your brand.

Lots of things.

And a great brand is built in small steps. We can start by doing what we can do now.

So, here’s a list of things I will be doing to grow Design Kompany. I will be reporting on my results at lightfootbranding.com, which DK launches this week.

1. Think about yourself.  Again.
Seems elementary?  But it’s always essential that you start with you and your business.  What is it that you do, really? Why are you in the business of doing that, exactly? And who cares?  These are questions that should ALWAYS be in the back of your mind. Consider your passion, your vision.

And: is there a story?

Businesses with a compelling (and concise!) story to tell are going to succeed. Think Stumptown (great coffee, indigenous farmers), Tom Douglas (local food, worldly dishes), or Patagonia (performance clothes, sustainably made and sold).

Everything you do, including marketing, should flow naturally from that story.

2. Picture yourself. Two months at a time.
This one came to me via a video blog that I stumbled on (yes, it’s in Japanese).

Everyone knows visualization is powerful. But the thing I liked about this is how chopping the year into bite-sized two-month blocks made it really easy to come up with specific pictures for “goals.”

Here’s how it works.

Write down each two-month milestone on six pieces of paper. Place them, from furthest in the future to the nearest, on your office floor, two actual walking steps apart. Walk around. Consider the whole. Then, step towards the “future,” and envision yourself achieving what you’ve written.

It will amaze you how much this helps with everything from motivating yourself and your employees, to telling prospects about your business. Promise yourself you will look at these again in a few months.

3. Think about your customers.  Again.
If we all just thought about ourselves, our businesses would go nowhere. Not to mention life becoming arid and meaningless. Relationships make the world go ‘round.

So, your customers: What ails them that you cure? Who are they? What do they care about?  Have you talked to them lately?

4. Add value to your offerings.
Keep thinking about your customers’ needs. Is there anything extra you can do for your customers right now? It should be something that you can easily deliver. Think recipes or how-to’s, tasters/samples, reports/tips. What would your customers find useful?

Be generous! It’s good for your karma, and it’s good business.

5. Talk to people.
Customers, employees, associates, sales reps. Anyone you do business with. Take them out for a coffee and talk to them. Are they happy? Do they have a story to tell? Sounds basic again, but we often forget to talk to people and appreciate them. Thank for their time, act on the insights gained, and keep in touch!

6. Meet someone new.
Just because you haven’t done business with him doesn’t mean you won’t. Buy them coffee, ask them what they are looking for, and keep in touch.

7. Start a business log/diary.
If you haven’t already got one. Write down thoughts, troubles, ideas, everything that comes to your mind during the course of the day. If you are thinking about starting a blog (and haven’t gotten around to it), this is a great way to start collecting ideas for your material (what, you didn’t think writers _just_ come up with all the stuff they write without any preparation, did you?).

8. Put yourself out there.
I know some people have hard time with this, but you are really the best advocate your business’s got. Even if your strategy isn’t quite like Uli’s Famous Sausage, your personality can be a big part of your brand (think Microsoft and Apple, for better or worse). So flaunt it, as much as you can stand! You can start by putting your picture on your web site, linking to your personal Facebook/LinkedIn/etc. profile, or posting your picture in your storefront/office. Attending networking events is also a good starting point for “putting yourself out there.”  Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right?

9. Realize it’s not about what you sell, it’s what people buy.
If you could start all over right now, what would you change? Then, try and find a way to make that change. What you took for granted yesterday might not be true today, and will certainly not be true in a few years/decades. In these turbulent times, we all have to adjust, and stay ahead of the curve, to keep thriving. Reinventing yourself every few years might become not only the norm, but prerequisite soon!

10. Smile!
Seriously. It cost nothing but a little bit of self control to be nice to people around you, and it really makes a huge difference. I was talking to Chris Smith, an entrepreneur with years of experience in leading Amazon’s buying teams about this (I see him at a local bakery fairly often.  See, I _am_ practicing these tips!), and here’s what he said:

...while we are all driving relentlessly on delivering meaningful results, measuring the processes and interpreting the metrics, a lot of people miss the simple, free things that truly make people happy—often more than money. A simple “thank you” ... really makes a difference to people - sometimes it is the most important thing in retention and positive outcomes.

Putting all of these into practice might take a lot of effort, but we can start with one or two right away. I will also be talking about some of these in more details in my future articles. Feel free to leave comments if you have anything to add or stories to share!