Without further adieu, here are the 10 takeaways for small business owners (and marketers) from the panel:
1. All failures don’t have a valuable lesson to teach you.
We are taught to hold onto our failures to try and glean some wisdom out of them, but often times there is nothing you could have done to change the outcome. Lesson: stop trying to figure out what you could have done better in the past and move on. Resilience is more important. If you get up from the failure and start looking at what happens next you are actually giving yourself the opportunity to succeed again. Too many people get stuck trying to learn from their mistakes when they should be focusing on the next steps.
2. You need to have a local online presence.
Here’s a nice nugget from Google: 97% of searchers are making local searches, but more than 50% of small-to-medium size businesses don’t have a local online presence. A “local search” is any search with a local modifier included such as city, state, address and zip codes. Why do you think Google created an amazing free map tool that everyone uses today (for the greater good of mankind…maybe)? People do business with people near them, and people search on Google (and Google Maps) to find who is closest to them. There is tons of opportunity to stake your claim on your local area via PPC ads (how Google can afford making Maps), local SEO, Places pages (or now Google+), local directories, etc. Figure out how to make your business appear in local searches now!
3. Bartering for business services is common during tough times.
You need help getting your salon and spa website to appear for local searches, and the digital marketing firm down the street is looking for a fun company outing for its employees… invite them over for a free spa day in exchange for some free consulting! Small businesses need to get creative and embrace the bartering culture.
4. Return on Ego (ROE) wastes valuable time.
We like doing flashy things that make us look and feel good, but they don’t add to the bottom line. Hiring a designer to make a fancy looking website doesn’t mean anything if your clients can’t find the website. People are especially guilty of chasing ROE on social media (How many followers do you have on Twitter? How many likes do you have on Facebook? etc.). The 80-20 rule holds true in a lot of cases: 20% of your products/clients will bring you 80% of your revenue. Focus on your existing clients and find out how to make them happier. One happy evangelist on a social media platform can influence others to try your product/service better than 1,000 followers who don’t do business with you.
5. You shouldn't be in love with any of your ideas.
Instead, love the data that your clients give you. You may have heard of the “aspirin vs. vitamin” example and how you should be trying to make your business an aspirin because that solves an existing problem (instead of a “nice to have” vitamin). You should be listening your clients’ problems so you can adjust your business to best solve those problems. Sometimes we get caught up on our own ideas because we have become emotionally invested in them so we refuse to change directions if it means abandoning our precious vitamins.
You’re in business to make money, so if the client isn’t asking for the nicer 100% ring-spun cotton (it really is very soft and nice to touch), don’t be upset when they won’t pay you the extra $10 per shirt that you wanted them to. Yes, that was a note to my past self ha. I learned the hard way and ended up putting most of my inventory on clearance to sell it.
6. If you want capital you have to ask for it.
Banks aren’t lending as much as they used to so we have to find other means of funding. If you don’t ask for it, no one will ever know you want it. There are high net-worth individuals who are always interested in investing in businesses and some of those people are bound to be in your network (or in the networks of your friends, family and colleagues). Let everyone know what you’re looking for so you can get connected to the people who are interested.
Another great way to ask for funding is “crowd funding,” and the most popular site for that right now is www.kickstarter.com. This site lets your clients buy your products before they even exist so that you can use the money to go build them after you have reached a monetary goal that you set. As soon as you hit that goal the money is yours, and you come out with a list of customers eagerly waiting to receive your products in the mail. It’s a pretty sweet deal!
7. Focus on making your first few clients reference-able (not profitable).
If you’re starting a new service business such as an HVAC company or graduate school entrance exam tutoring class, it will make your life a lot easier if your first few clients leave you smiling and happy. Do everything you can to satisfy their needs and to solve their problems. Then when they tell you they’re happy with what you provided, ask them for the testimonial. Then you can start using that testimonial on your website, social media profile, marketing materials and anywhere else you can think of. Most people will read reviews before buying a product or service, so having positive reviews and testimonials might help you get more business when your clients are shopping around.
Another reason to do this: People take advice from their friends and family about which products and services to try because they trust them. Having your satisfied clients referring business from their networks will have much better results than cold calls. You can encourage referrals by rewarding your existing clients with a small gift. Promotional calendars with your logo and contact information on them are great for this purpose. Your clients will be happy to receive something of value and they will remember your company because it’s right on the product!
8. Partner up with similar or complimentary businesses.
Combining the last takeaway with #3 can be a great way to grow your business. The example the speaker gave at the small business summit was about a hair salon. They pitched the idea of partnering up with a massage parlor for mutual benefit. Both business most likely have some of the same clients and target similar demographics. The idea was to setup massage tables in the hair salon and invite existing clients to come in for a free massage if they brought a [paying] friend with them who has never been to that salon. This way both businesses would get to increase their reach and find new clients.
An online marketing company I used to work for partnered up with Website design companies to offer services to each other’s clients. This made it easier to find clients for both companies and simpler for the clients because they didn’t have to go through the process of finding two companies to build their sites in the best way possible. That’s what you call a win-win-win!
9. Understand who your clients are and target them everywhere.
Do you know who your customers are, like really know them? Do you know what they do when they leave your store/website? Do you know where they spend most of their time during the week? Start learning the answers to these types of questions and develop client personas. Here is some help to get you started: How to create marketing personas.
10. Businesses don't fail from having too many good ideas.
They fail because they don't focus on one or two of those good ideas and execute. Multi-tasking is a myth - the people who are actually good at "multi-tasking" are good at focusing in on a few tasks and completing them before moving onto the next. Pick one or two goals and make an actionable plan that you can stick to for the next few months. There will be many distractions, but you have to remember that they will detract you from your success.
I have suffered from the lack of focus many times and paid the consequences. Fortunately I have carried on and continue to find more success now as I learn to focus on a few things at a time. Most recently I realized the importance of the GMAT and my B-school applications and decided to put aside my business aspirations for now and that paid off in the form of a good score and admissions into two of the best MBA schools for marketing - Booth (Chicago) and Kelley (Indiana). Good things will happen if you pick a goal and stick to it. BTW, I chose Kelley, more about that in a future post coming up soon...
I would love to hear your stories about how you have successfully implemented any of these idea into your own business or life. Please share in the comments below!