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I read a great article on marketing for small business owners the other day which got me to wondering.  The author did a really good job providing practical advice on gaining attention and getting prospects to take action.  However, in the teaser for the article, he felt compelled to state that business owners were fooling themselves if they relied on building their business through referral.  Referrals were unpredictable and inconsistent.  I thought his advice was valuable enough without diminishing the value of referrals. 

Which led me to the recent battle that erupted amongst a small group of friends who share articles and insights through email.  Seems a difference of opinion occurred and someone had to win and someone had to lose.  Of course, this “Us vs. Them”, winners and losers philosophy overwhelms the political world, radio and television news, and talk radio.  No discussion anymore; just rebut and refute whatever the other guy is saying, regardless of merit.  Just look for any way to attack them: misused word, misplaced comma, minor factual error. 

So all this animosity and adversarial activity got me to thinking about how we perceive our business competition.  Being in the world of small business, we are very close to customers and competitors.  And if your market is “anyone who…”, then you probably feel like you have a lot of competition.  So in order for you to get business, people must recognize your worth and the shortcomings of your competition, right?  But your value is not valuable to everybody. 

Thus the importance of clearly defining your target market.  Taking the time to do so is essential in helping you determine your value (your USP.)  How do you differentiate your product and yourself from the competition? 

But beyond differentiation, another value of knowing your competition is in identifying how you might be able to work together with them.  My friend, Carol Shepherd, likes to talk about “coopitition.”  Identifying what you do well and areas of strength and weakness in your competitors may offer opportunities for you to gain business from those that appear to be competitors.  This opportunity may result from a specialty, qualifications, geography/location, capacity, or a host of other differences.  A small IT outsource firm I know grew their business by sub contracting out jobs to competitors until they had the capacity to do them themselves.  They hired engineers only after obtaining enough new business to consistently employ an addition to their staff.    

Taking a close look at your competition can be helpful to your business in a number of ways.  Do you know your competition?    

It’s a soft snow, but more than enough to block the view I expected this morning: the ridge across the valley and the White Mountains behind that. Wanted to see the snow on Mt. Washington but don’t have to look that far to see snow this morning. Yesterday was dark, rainy, and cool but we got the full view, with clouds just bumping the tops of the hills. This 2-3 inches would paralyze us back in Atlanta. Ah Spring! I asked my nephew if he knew the guy who was responsible for this and he allowed as he did and he’d be talking to Him today, as he always does.

Mexico, Maine-Welcome To Town

All 4 Fast Forward Main Street communities share the common issue of dealing with economic stress. But the Androscoggin Valley’s struggle has been a long one, not the result of a sudden event like a hurricane or severe economic down-turn. The other areas are urban while this is rural, the combined population of the 3 towns less than 12, 000. These folks are the tough, quiet types you’d expect to find in Maine; hard working, honest, and generous. They’re also hard people, handling what comes their way, kind but slow to befriend. They want to know who you are and why you’re here and they ask some hard, direct questions. They’ve seen my kind before and they don’t want to be disappointed again. They’ve had enough of that. Just want a chance to work, take care of their families and enjoy God’s blessings.

Rumford Falls, Androscoggin River

So FF Main Street is off and running in Rumford, Mexico, and Dixfield, Maine. We’re honored to be able to work alongside our new friends. Looking forward to the hard work ahead.

If there is one lesson we all should have learned over the past year or two, it is that the world is not what it used to be. The pace of change accelerates constantly. In our fathers’ times, businesses could come up with a model and stick with it for a long time. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “Dance with the one what brung ya.” Good advice when the environment is static for extended periods of time.

However, as we have seen, things are changing rapidly. For anyone who hadn’t accepted that, 2009 had to have been a rude awakening. Today’s great idea may be a phenomenal innovation. But with today’s open source reality, lots of bright people are moving the ball forward quickly. If your forward thinking extends only to the end of the block, you’re in trouble.

What does that mean for us small business types, immersed in the day-to-day chaos of getting the job done? How do we fit strategic planning (Yoicks!!!) into our day?

This is a great place for me to offer a business coach as the solution. And while that may be one of the solutions, networking is another. When we think of networking, we think of referral networks. But there are two others, as defined by Ivan Misner (Business By Referral): Information Networks and Support Networks.

Information Networks are those sources we turn to that help us with the technical aspects of our work and business. They are the professional associations we belong to, the mentor we have, our friend the CPA, the maven (a la The Tipping Point) we drink beer with. These folks help us keep pace with the broad range of information required in order for us do business.

Support networks are made up of people who have an interest in us and our success. They are there when we need them for moral support and encouragement, maybe to jump in at a time of need, or to just generally be there for us. They celebrate with us and help us to keep going when things are tough.

So where do you find these other networks?

I belong to a mastermind group and am fortunate to have a number of business coaches and consultants as friends and acquaintances. I read daily, both history and the current news. A lot of my social conversation is in the realm of the strategic. That is important because in your business the day-to-day pull is to the tactical. Tactics are the ways we go about doing our work; the processes and systems we follow. Generally, strategy is “the carefully devised plan of action that guides us in the achievement of our long term goals.” In biology, strategy is “a behavior, structure, or other adaptation that improves viability.” Hmmm. That sounds necessary if we want to stay in business.

So looking ahead, as we all do at this time of year, what do we see? Is the terrain changing? Will your business remain as it is, or are there changes that you can see coming? And how about the ones you can’t see?

Had a great conversation today with Graham Wickham, President and CEO of the Wickham Financial Group in Marietta, GA. Graham mentioned one of his agents, a new guy, made comment on a book he was reading. It brought to mind part of the definition of a good client for me: a life long learner. I’ve always enjoyed learning new things and reading. That pleasure seems to grow as I get older but I wish I had been more diligent about it when I was young. One of the best bits of wisdom ever imparted to me was by my old mentor and friend, Fred Yeager, of Met Life in New Orleans.  Fred once told me that “We don’t know what we don’t know.”  Kind of the premise of the book I was moaning about some months back, The Black Swan.

As we near the milestone of December 31 and prepare to cross into 2010, we hear the usual wisdom about getting your plan for next year complete. We all nod our heads and our hearts fill with good intensions but, ultimately, some of us will plan and most of us won’t.

I’m not sure what works for you. I do know that one needs to pause and reflect occassionally on what you are doing. Because as a business owner or independent sales person, you are sliding behind if you are not learning and adapting. The pace of change keeps increasing.

Discussions regarding the economy break out at the drop of a hat these days. Are we still struggling in recession? Are we in recovery? If we’re in recovery, what is the pace of it, how long will it last, is it temporary? And on and on. While staying current with all that, the most important question to consider is, “What does it all mean to my business and what do I need to be doing every day?”

With all this change and upheaval, it might be a good time to consider your business anew. Is your message (USP, Elevator Pitch, tag line) still relevant? Have customer/prospect needs changed? What are their current concerns and am I speaking to them? Am I providing the right products or services?

We will probably be attending various Holiday parties and functions; good networking opportunities, all. However, while meeting with clients, friends, colleagues, and prospects, this might be a good time to conduct a little market research and find out people’s concerns in the areas you provide solutions. A little Q & A could provide you some valuable information regarding who is in real need of what you provide and what their main concerns are. Maybe it’s time for some chages.

Besides, they will be impressed with what a good conversationalist you are if you let them do most of the talking.

I have the great pleasure of eating breakfast most Tuesday mornings at Matt Capozzi’s NY Deli on Roswell Road over here in East Cobb. The group is an ad hoc group of business people who meet because…they want to. That occurred to me today. And as it occurred to me, it also occurred to me that this unique group results from the culture established by a couple of folks in the group. You see, this group, like many around the Metro area, sprang up fairly spontaneously, not as part of a larger organized network. They wanted to create a group that attracted people who wanted to help each other. Not so unique; that’s what all these network/referral groups aspire to. However, not all achieve it.

At this point, I need to embarrass one of the founding members, Bob Zartarian. Those who know Bob, know him as a very outward looking fellow. He’s always looking for the benefit he can bring to other people. Bob’s attitude is representative of the group and is apparent to everyone who visits and, as a result, we have grown from 5-6 people to over 20. We have few rules but things run smoothly. And, most importantly, connections are made, business referrals are passed. There certainly are others in the group who add to the culture, Cliff, Tim, Peg, Larry, Bill, Ruthe, Eric and other regulars. All there regularly. All there to help each other. We call ourselves TONIC and the group truly is.

When I’m in town, I make it a point to attend. Not just for the business opportunity, but for the camaraderie of truly good people. For those of us who are “Lone Rangers”, working our businesses mostly alone, such company is essential for success. Look around for such groups, whether they are part of a larger organization or a neighborhood group like TONIC. Become a part of one. Contribute.

The good thing about our world is that there is an abundance of opportunity, in every sense. And that includes good people creating good networks.

“The conventional definition (of business): “an organization that makes a profit,” says (Peter) Drucker, “is not just wrong but irrelevant. Profit-making is not the purpose of management decisions, but a test of whether they work.” “There is only one valid definition of business purpose – namely to create a customer.” “The result of a business is a satisfied customer.”

This customer focus is found more and more in business literature, making headway against the traditional sales approach of “interruption” marketing, controlling the sales call and overcoming objections. I won’t say that the internet has led the charge in this change of attitude, but it has certainly played a large role in demonstrating that a customer-focused approach is required these days. Marketing media is ubiquitous, causing more and more of us to tune out. So discovering customer needs and meeting them is essential. Finding a powerful and interesting way to convey this all can be tricky, though.

It’s harder and harder to distinguish yourself in the marketplace and increasingly difficult to get people to pay attention. Becoming a resource for potential buyers is one way to be heard. Having people seek you out because they trust and value your opinions seems the ideal way to position yourself. With creating customers, and satisfied ones at that, as the central focus of your business, it is a natural progression to build business through relationships and positive word-of-mouth.

It is easy to get distracted by objectives and loose site of the ultimate goal. Satisfied customers as your holy grail affects every aspect of your business, from customer acquisition, to product/service delivery, to customer service and follow up.

Drucker’s quotes can be controversial and should stimulate thought and conversation. Maybe even push us into a chicken and egg argument. But the point of it all is that by focusing on satisfied customers, you may have taken the biggest step toward profit.

It seems to me that one of my biggest challenges is to remain consistent in my new business development activities. It appears to be the case with many of my clients, as well. Most of us have a good idea about what we should be doing; we just don’t have a good method for staying on track. So other than accepting that we’re doomed to the surges and droughts that result from lack of consistency, what can we do?

Much of the problem results from not having a process we stick with, nor an environment that helps us to stick with that process. Yeah, I know, you may not like too much structure. I’m with you in that department. However, without a process, you’re bounced from one activity to another without necessarily progressing closer to your goals.

There are many approaches to marketing but they all start with a well thought out plan. There are many forms your plan can take. I recommend a few to choose from: Appendix B of Business By Referral by Dr. Ivan Misner, “7 Sentence Marketing Plan”, article by Al Lautenslager or the OpPlan format used by the military (aka SMEAC or the 5 Paragraph Order.)

The second key element to making this work is having an implementation system. Solutions here include hiring a Business/Marketing Coach, joining a Master Mind Group, creating a peer coach relationship with a colleague, or hiring a Trunk Monkey, Marketing Coaching Edition Trunk Monkey. Having accountability to someone other than ourselves has a way of motivating us to get things done. And having to declare what we will do and then report on what we actually did makes a big difference. We tend to let ourselves off the hook but hate to come up short in the eyes of others.

I’m wondering what works for everyone to get and keep you on track. It’s a constant effort that is worth investing thought and effort into.

Getting your message in front of people has turned into a real cat and mouse game for some.  Seems like those boxes with the letters and numbers used for web site security to thwart those evil spammers isn’t enough to stop ‘em.  Reminds me of when I lived in the woods in Maine.  The mice were always figuring out whatever trap, bait or other contraption we could come up with.  The only thing that worked consistently was a cat: the personal touch. 

Other forms of leads acquisition are spokes in your marketing wheel, but for most of us the personal touch is the way to go.  So building a diverse network and creating key relationships is the best path for new business. 

I’ve been chained to my computer a lot this week, doing proposals.  Getting out has been tough but the shame of having to report my networking score card results in my coaching group drives me out.  Had a lunch with a group of folks yesterday (points) and will be going to a mixer tonight (more points.)  Watch out!  I’m looking for referrals for my “P’s”.  (Really big points!)  And I need the points. 

“ Strategy without tactics is the slow road to victory but tactics without strategy is merely the noise before defeat.”   

                                                                                                                            Sun Tzu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

It seems that the idea of developing a business strategy is gaining more attention all the time.  I’ve often related my favorite quote, above, to business people I know.  And the theme is showing up more and more in books, articles and seminars.  Good stuff, all, and certainly important to business success.  But it’s one thing to articulate a good strategy and another to implement it.  In military circles, things like the fog of war are recognized as disruptions to even the best strategies. 

This fog of war shows up in our business world as the day-to-day execution of the “thing” we do. In fact, the biggest challenge that we may have is executing well on a consistent basis while maintain focus on our longer range strategic intent.  Strategy has more to do with competitive advantage while tactics are about delivering the goods.  Not easy when you’re wearing many different hats on the organizational chart, like most of us do. 

Lately, I have been in a few discussions about “networking”, what it means, what works, and what does not work so well.  Seems like every event, political, social, business or otherwise is a must-do because of the great networking opportunity.  Makes me wonder what this networking thing is all about.  We used to get together on occasion for the purpose of just getting together.  Of course, we “networked” in the sense that we developed relationships by spending time together and learning more about each other. 

It seems to me that “networking” has run amuck, gone wild, is out of control, taking on a life and purpose of its own.  We’ve got to attend all these events because they are networking opportunities and you can’t afford to miss one of those now, can you? 

Which brings me to the thought of broad vs. deep in building your network.  Broad is good, even necessary but deep is better. 

I know that broad vs. deep can spark great discussions, with the deep thinkers coming down on both sides of the fence.  Creating a diverse network gives access to a wide range of contacts, both numerically as well and from the perspective of variety.  This is good but not entirely for the reason we think: getting referrals for us.  While there are a number of things that can result from wild networking (spaghetti-on-the-wall theory), it is random and not a good use of your time.  And it doesn’t necessarily work well in getting to your target market.  However, broad may be  valuable as a way of developing referrals for your referral partners.  Some people are good at broad and that is why you want them in your well-rounded network. Remember Gladwell’s Connectors.

But to me deep deserves more attention.  Barring the person locked in their office all day, most business people get out reasonably enough and know enough people to be valuable referral partners.  If fact, they may know all the people you’d  ever need to keep you in business for years.  But we’re not tapping into that resource because we are not purposeful in our networking as a tool to building referral relationships. 

I’d like to hear a bit about “broad vs. deep”  and  your take on networking as we know it today.