How has your business held up? Do you have a new interactive customer website, new product brochures, inspired and unapologetic talent, a technologically up-to-date plant, or a professionally designed interior and merchandise store? If I did an analysis of your business, would you clearly identify a strong brand that represents your organization?
Today’s competitive market for small businesses can be local, regional, national, or even global. Being a business owner or even a team leader continues to present many challenges. Everything from the cell phone to marketing techniques has advanced exponentially two or three times in the past few years due to one innovation or another. And with respect to competition, the branding and marketing of all products and services continue to transition, being reimagined or repackaged to grow or even simply to maintain market share.
To address these issues, I have used and benefited from the following action points in my previous business and with clients to launch people and products.
1. What is your “Brand”: If your organization’s brand is unclear or needs to be changed, this is a great use of the recall below. Whatever the ‘brand’… the fastest service, the largest inventory, the best price, or hopefully something more exciting, the ‘brand’ must permeate every pore of the organization’s being. Every decision and action must be determined by the ‘brand’. The ‘mark’ is the path of the talk and once you’re on a path, it can be almost impossible to reverse direction.
Ex: Joe. R. Bank partners have had a defined quality niche. Stores are in good neighborhoods, quality fixtures and furnishings, good service, and their staff are above the mall retail clerk. I saw them as an alternative to Brooks Bros., with quality clothing, a wide selection, not as expensive, and their corporate program offered a reasonable discount.
Today I feel like a fool for purchases made at the price of the corporate program. For nearly two years, JAB has inundated customers in the mail and over the airwaves with a half-price or 2-for-1 sales offer on an almost weekly basis. Your brand today; whether they want to admit it or not, “discounter”, ‘I guarantee it’.
A client of mine who is a distributor of certain Procter & Gamble products notices a constant reintroduction of products that have been redesigned or repackaged. And when talking to a McDonald’s restaurant owner a few months ago, he told me that he completely revamps his 10-year-old restaurants with more updated designs and increased efficiency. Unless the product or service was incorrect to begin with, higher sales can be expected from repackaging or revamping. Please note that these reimaginings or repackaging are not based on price.
2. Improve “talent”: First, do whatever it takes to ensure you have the right talent on board in the first place (see my ‘Hire Slow, Fire Fast’ article).
Invest in training programs and make them mandatory, but only programs that take job performance to the next level, moving your team forward and leading the market. It has been my experience that professional training will inspire employees and provide ample return on investment.
3. Develop “Business Development”: Efforts to drive sales in these times through reduced prices, an added touch, a higher commission rate, or trips to the beach will be short-lived, if at all, and they could certainly hurt any future sales program. And if it doesn’t work, what carrot do you offer?
A leading research group surveyed more than 15,000 salespeople, within every major industry segment and in various sales roles; in an effort to understand the main areas that salespeople would focus on most during this sales cycle. Reflecting on the above results, survey participants located these challenges; deal generation, negotiations, deal closing, relationship management and relationship expansion.
Well, excuse me (I was thinking of Steve Martin), but aren’t those the same challenges in the good old days or any other time?
And out of that list, the top two hurdles were 1) Account Management – Finding additional ways to add value, and 2) Expanding Relationships – Becoming a ‘Trusted Advisor’. The survey does not reveal the size of the company, but I have found that many operations are unaware of its unique strength; the ability to build relationships and charge for customization.
Closing the sale is usually not a competition for resources (unless you allow it); It is a competition of priorities. A buyer’s time and money is being given to someone, right? So, you have to manifest more courage to win that competition.
4. Conduct a 4 hour “retreat”: The purpose; to pinpoint the specific needs of the organization in regards to increasing net profit through better sales and better customer relationships. It is from these two specific areas that everything else must build.
Too often we think that selling more stuff will solve all our problems. By experience; I don’t care if your annual sales are 2MM, 20MM or 200MM, if the net profit is weak, more sales won’t fix the problem. First, make it profitable at existing levels, so that when sales increase, net profit also increases proportionally.
Hire a professional meeting planner: For a very modest investment, your retreat can be an experience, not your usual meeting or party, strictly business but enjoyable. There are no speeches or anything other than what will be fit for purpose. You want everyone (or at least that important 80%) to agree that ‘we’ve done things’.
I used to send out personal invites to all employees a minimum of 3 weeks in advance, which included a schedule, and made it optional instead of required. When everyone watched the show, they all ‘wanted’ to be there. The retreat was held on a Thursday (Saturday is an alternative) morning, beginning at 8 am sharp and ending at exactly noon. Food and drink were ready by 7am, but nothing was served that would trigger a mid-morning nap (ask a nutritionist). These types of events are often used by the big ones, such as IBM, Coca-Cola, etc.
In closing, I’ve read that there are fewer repeat buyers of auto brands today compared to any time in recent history. The result of competing models, international competition, environmental and financial concerns are creating highly individualistic buyers.
What is your organization doing to reinvent or repackage products and services? [Brand]and in being prepared to deliver added value and become the trusted advisor [Talent]so that your past, present and future client will continue to love you?