Planning for Success: Business Re-Visioning

Ask Questions to Re-vision your business

If I talk to you about “strategic planning,” you might nod your head sagely and admit that it seems like a good thing for big businesses to attempt. But many of my clients also believe that they can’t afford the time or money for such a process.  So when I talk to clients about “business planning,” I call it “Business Re-Visioning” because it sounds more affordable in time and money . . . and actually it is. The process I recommend can be completed by most business owners over several days in about four 1-hr sessions.

No one has a crystal ball, but at least once a year everyone should take the time to review assumptions, align resources, and communicate goals. A process that I like to use with my professional services clients is sparing of their time; helps them size opportunities, risks, needed investment and marketing campaigns; and positions them well for success. I have put together a presentation on this process. 

Taking Stock

When I went out for Chinese food today with friends, my “fortune” in the dessert cookie was an interesting piece of wisdom:  “The keys to a successful future lie in the past.”  Sometimes those slips of paper in the cookies are silly; this one was right on.

How did the previous period—year, quarter, whatever—turn out? What revenue, profit, or unit production/sales did you experience? What segments accounted for that “market activity”—who are you selling to? If you invested in your business (or spent money), how did you spend it? When?

A SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) analysis is useful for pulling together information on the status quo and for organizing all bits of information in a single place. We’ve already written about the utility and value of SWOT for business planning   

Positioning and Segmentation

Who are you currently selling to? Why are they buying from you?  Answering these questions will tell you how you are positioned in the minds of your customers. Is this the positioning you want?  Do you need to tweak your message or how you’re delivering it to create a better impression in the minds of your customers? How does your product or service compare with similar product or services offered by your competition?  Are there unique aspects to your offerings that distinguish them from your competition? 

One of my clients told me about his recent process in selecting a caterer for an event. Three vendors were identified that had similar offerings and pricing, and the vendor was selected on the basis of its superior food,  which my client felt would make a positive lasting impression at his event. Do you know what criteria your customers will use to evaluate you and other service providers in the year ahead?  Are you sure your differentiating elements are ones your customers truly care about?

Are there additional services/products that your existing customers would buy from you if you offered them? Are there some services/products you could offer that would help you acquire NEW customers, who might then also become customers for your existing products and services?  Keep in mind that you don’t have to make or originate the service or product you sell. 

Setting Goals

This is the most important step of your re-visioning process. Everything you do going forward is driven off your goals for the future of your enterprise. What is your vision for the future of your business? How do you want to grow it or change it in the months ahead? What is your vision for what you will sell, to whom and for what price? Who will you partner with, and from whom will you buy services and products? How will you become more efficient, more profitable, and better known in the months ahead?

Your thinking process may begin with identifying some trends, but to be able to determine if you successfully achieve your goals, those goals must be measurable, specific, and achievable and linked to a timeframe.  I like to discuss my business goals with my colleagues, business mentors, and even my family. They all have contributed to helping me refine my goals and avoid “pot holes” en-route.  

Market Intervention

“Wishing doesn’t make it so.” I think that might be a song lyric, but it is certainly a truism in marketing. If you want to change the status quo, you must intervene in the market in some way. Now that you have goals and a clear idea of the directions you want to move in, how will you effect the changes you want to make in your business and its market?

I look at the mix of marketing interventions as being particularly relevant for service marketers. Again, we have written about the importance of planning for and investing in a mix of marketing interventions.

Scheduling, Measuring, and Tracking

You have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish in the next year. You have completed a marketing plan and have confirmed that you have the financial and staff resources necessary to move forward.  Now it is important to create a unified “marketing and Business calendar “that will function as the central place where you book all of your planned initiatives. Since you will be engaging in many simultaneous activities, coordination is essential. 

And everything will perform as expected, right?  Nah. There are bound to be hiccups and problems.  I recently redid my website .  We used data collected from Google Analytics   to refine our key words and adjust many features.  When I do email marketing, my provider, www.swiftpage.com can tell me what phrases used in headlines or subject lines are more effective in getting readers to click on the content and read it. They can even tell me which “targeted readers” interacted with the content more than others, and which ones I should call to follow up with.  

If you invest in some kind of marketing interventions—email marketing, new website, postcards, telemarketing—carefully consider and set up a process for measuring what works and what doesn’t.

You’ll need this information next year when you take stock of your business and “Re-vision” your future.

Do you know the way to San Jose…and How’s the Traffic?

Palo Alto offices of Waze.com

A few years ago while on my way on foot from the Palo Alto City Hall to a local breakfast hangout, I noticed a small, unassuming storefront office. People were working inside but there was no name on the door. When I stopped in and asked about the business (I’m always looking for customers!), I got an earful about traffic apps and was offered a “gizmo” with a suction cup to hold my “new” i-Phone upright in my car. Just think,  I could get rid of my GPS and just use my phone! The new service, Waze.com, was free, and it derived traffic reports from users, like me.

Now fast forward to 2012. That same humble start-up now has over 30-million users, in 35 counties. Waze.com remains in the same location, but it seems to have come of age as a reliable, useful, and ubiquitous service. Major news outlets use Waze.com-produced “virtual reports” as substitutes for traffic reporters in helicopters.  Indeed, Waze.com was recently mentioned in the Apple CEO’s apology as a substitute for Apple’s own less-than-successful mapping application.

What explains the amazing growth of this upstart venture, initially funded (Series A & B Rounds) at less than $50-million? Crowdsourcing. Yes, crowdsourcing to passively collect traffic data from millions of users who also share road reports on accidents, police traps, or other hazards, helping to give all users in the area a ‘heads-up’ about what’s to come.

Is Waze.com a service? Most definitely!  Some cite it is a great example of how to deliver a massively scalable service that is high value and low cost. “Our users spend an average on 440 minutes a month on the app,” said Waze Communications Director Michal Habdank-Kolczoski. “That reflects  their high level of commitment to using the service.“ 

  

How do users pay for the service? They use their own cell phones run the Waze.com app while driving, which passively allows Waze.com servers to track their speed on various roads. Collectively, this provides a high level of confidence about road conditions.

Crowdsourcing is a hot new idea that is well represented on Google. A search on the term yielded 3.3 million results. Enterprising companies today use crowdsourcing  to manage projects, sell illustrations and stock photos, and even design footwear.  But is it the service delivery platform of the future or just a fad? 

Waze.com has just launched a program to sell ad space to businesses that you and I pass on the way to work and that targets ads only to the users who typically pass by often.  Sounds like a neat way to monetize the service and stay in the game as concept of crowdsourced traffic reporting continues to take hold.

You can’t squeeze the melons—selling yourself in the marketplace

I recently visited the Palo Alto Farmers’ Market. It was an amazing experience. On a Sunday morning, growers of produce from all over the region converge on one street and frantically arrange their booths and wares with an eye to curb appeal and easy access. 

“Aside from the set up and tear down, the hard work is done by the product,” said one vendor. “People like to squeeze the melons and choose from lots of samples. I just let them and take the cash.”

I wish it were as easy to sell professional services in today’s marketplace.  Helping clients choose me over the other guy for their marketing plan or branding campaign involves my doing something that makes me feel uncomfortable: I have to toot my own horn. 

Oh, I use my LinkedIn page  and other pages  to post reviews and testimonials.  But inevitably, at some point I have to tell someone why I think I’m better than the other guy.  To me, that whole conversation feels uncomfortable. 

I’ve discovered that I am not alone and that one of my favorite sales thought leaders, Carol Costello, has written a new book about the subject with advice for professional service providers like me. Her eBook, Sell Yourself without Feeling Pushy, Creepy, or Weird!  It is available on Amazon. Not only does Carol zero in on the reasons why some of us have problems selling our own services, she also offers some strategies for surmounting these problems. Spend the $2.99 and get your copy. It’s worth it.

Sometimes we need to sell our services through proxies. Have you ever had a client say, “I like working with you, but I have to present you to The Group, and they make the decision.”  Selling my service indirectly is easier for me, but sometimes the outcome is unpredictable. Sales training notable Anthony Iannarino says that success results from arming your proxy with the information or talking points they need to make your point for you. You also need to protect your in-client champions by anticipating any possible objections they may encounter, say about solution differences and price, and providing them in advance with justifications that they can deploy if challenged. They need to look smart; if they don’t, their decision to recommend your solution could reflect poorly on them.

“When you know that differences in your solution and your competitors’ could raise eyebrows, then you have to provide your prospective buyer with the reasons to choose you,” according to Iannario. The bottom line for me is that I can overcome my squeamishness about selling myself if I hold onto a few key ideas:

1.       I may not be the only choice, but I know I will work harder to deliver value for my client than anyone else. Loyalty and commitment count.

2.       I know my clients and their needs very well. I know that I am recommending a service (provided by me) that can improve their business.

3.       In today’s marketplace, it is important to share the sandbox. Companies that succeed are able to blend good ideas and services from a number of providers. Knowledge worker integration is the key to measurable success. I know that I work well in that kind of setting and my client will benefit.

Selling professional services is not like selling fruit. After all, a vendor needn’t rave about his fruit but just lets customers tap a melon, sample a strawberry or a grape.  So unless what you’re selling is strictly your looks, unless you’re a model, you’re going to need to speak up to stimulate an appetite in prospects to give you the chance you need to prove your worth.

Nothing says “We Love you, Mr. Customer!” like 31 years of Onions

Onions for distribution

I walked into my local bank the other day and by the window I found a huge pile of produce.  Turns out that these 10 lb. bags of Walla Walla onions are this year’s supply to continue a customer gift tradition begun 31 years ago by the then-owner of this small bank in Silicon Valley, University Bank and Trust. Carl J. Schmitt, who attended college at Whitman in Walla Walla, hit on the idea of gifting his customers with something unique. Each year his customers left each one of the three bank branches with a bag of onions personally conveyed to them with thanks and a handshake from a bank employee.  Although Schmitt’s UniversityBank and Trust was acquired in 1995 by the far larger, multi-branch Comerica Bank, Comerica decided to continue giving away onions at the former University Bank branches. 

Since 1996, one 10 lb bag at a time, Comerica Bank has sent out its doors more than 370,000 pounds of onions. 

“Comerica is committed to our customers,” said J. Michael Fulton, President, ComericaBank--Western Market. “By giving away Walla Walla sweet onions, we can thank our customers for their patronage.”

Other customer “courting” tips from University Bank

Onion love offerings may seem an unusual way to honor customers, but, as a customer myself, I can tell you that they build brand loyalty and strengthen personal relationships between the bank and its customers. I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Schmitt, but he seemed to think like me with regards to customer delight. I did some research on some of other practices he employed that helped triple the stock price of the old bank within its first 4 years of operation:

• ·         Free shoe shines provided at a stand in the bank lobby
• ·         Pens not chained down and easy for everyone to use
• ·         Oriental rugs and fresh flowers in the vault of safe deposit boxes
• ·         Stamps sold by tellers and all statements mailed on the second day of the month
• ·         Non-cash deposits picked up from some customers’ office by drivers of vans humorously decorated with lifelike paintings of safe-crackers at work.  Customers appreciated the wit and not having waste time going to the bank.
• ·         Free traveler's and cashiers checks
• ·         Free photocopies of papers and signature verification

What about your service business? 

Should you be doing more to court your customer and let them know you value and appreciate them? It seems to me that Schmitt had some great ideas about making it easy to do business with University Bank. Is there more you can do to make it easy and enjoyable for customers to do business with you?

If you’re interested, I know where you can get a good, bulk deal on some onions.