Lessons in business and marketing come from all kinds of places and sources. A recent goldmine I discovered came in the form of a TV show, The Shark Tank. Although The Shark Tank is considered a Reality Show it shouldn’t and in my opinion doesn’t have the same negative connotation that so many of the Reality shows have. The reason is what is real in this REALity show is the many business lessons that come out of each and every episode. What I realized after watching just a couple of episodes is the magic of the show is the “light bulbs” that each business owner receives from feedback they receive from the Shark panel. For those who haven’t seen it, the premise of the show is that each participant (business owner) gets a chance to pitch their product or company to the panel of Sharks which consist of 5 very successful business experts in a variety of industries. Their goal is to take their business to the next level by selling their product/company to one or more of these sharks for money and more importantly additional resources including their expertise and the business relationships/partnerships these experts’ posses. Along the way here are some business lessons that can be learned. The good lessons: 1. The passion or drive these owners have for their product or company. You can’t expect your customers to have passion for what you are selling if you first don’t have it yourself. It is no coincidence that many of the most successful business owners posses the most passion. 2 Where their business idea originated. It is amazing how many business owners have capitalized by turning their own personal experience into a product or business. 3. New Ideas. Contrary to the popular saying, there are new ideas under the sun. It is amazing to see the ideas that people continue to come up with and how it can change or enhance our everyday lives. 4. A dream realized. How motivating it is to see someone who has crawled, scratched and clawed their way into making a dream a reality. The bad lessons: 1. Not being willing or open to constructive criticism. These business owners are coming to these experts because they need help to get to the next level but sadly many of them are not willing to take what the experts tell them to heart and admit they have either made mistakes or are not on the right path. Are you open to feedback even if it’s something you don’t want to hear or admit? 2. Spending more time talking than listening. Sometimes you just need to shut up and listen to those who are trying to help you. 3. Being inflexible or not willing to step outside the box. These business owners have reached a certain level of success but are often not willing to change to get to the next level. 4. Not diversifying. Having a single idea and being unwilling to diversify how it came be used or promoted. It’s hard to imagine what the business landscape would look like these days without the ability to utilize email. It can be a very useful tool while at the same time leave you completely frustrated when you don’t get a response. The reality is that most inbox’s are being inundated on a daily basis, making your chances of getting through the “email barrier” to a new contact or customer, a delicate dance. This dance is constantly changing so you need to be creative if you want to keep your emails from going directly into the trash. To truly understand how to bust through the email barrier it is helpful to first understand what a recipient is thinking when he or she receives a new email. The four main questions are: 1. Do I have to respond right now? 2. Can I delete it? 3. Do I need to hold onto it? 4. What am I being asked to do? The goal then is to get the recipient to take action on your email now, not later. We all know how easy it is to hit the delete button or throw it into a folder, which often ends up in the same fatal destination. The next question becomes then how can we compose our emails to get the recipient to act right away? Here are a few suggestions you might try: 1. Compose an email that feels like a quick read. Avoid composing an email that would rival a War and Peace novel. 2. Draw the recipient in with compelling info (The goal of the subject line is to try to hook them) 3. Make the email easy to act on 4. Keep the email less than 200 words 5. Vary the paragraph lengths 6. Use a compelling first sentence 7. Make sure the email is not about you 8. Get conversational (instead of merely focused on the proper grammar) 9. Use a triggering event to catch the recipient’s attention The use of email is a communication cornerstone in today’s business world but if you hope to break through the email barrier, you must avoid sending mundane or monotonous emails. Take one or more of the suggestions mentioned above and see if you can bust through. Happy composing! It is no secret that mobile shopping is the newest ecommerce trend. According to a recent stat by Forrester Research, 16% of consumers purchased via their mobile device over last year’s Thanksgiving Weekend. What you may not know is how companies are capitalizing on this latest trend. It wasn’t very long ago that most people would never think of shopping, doing their taxes, etc with their mobile device. The sheer amount of information now available at your fingertips or should I say on your smart phone is truly amazing. Now there are mobile companies out there that can not only tell you where to get the lowest price but when you should make the purchase! Yes, you heard that right. Don’t ask me how this technology works but let’s just say there are companies out there that have built some incredible algorithms. Decide (decide.com) is one of those companies that are taking Mobile shopping to the next level. Their company mission is to be a service dedicated to helping consumers buy electronics with no regrets. Their mission sounds simple but the technology behind it is anything but. The free app that is available for both the iPhone and Android phones helps you decide when to buy. Decide advises you to buy or wait depending on their proprietary price and model predictions. They state that their predictions are right 77% of the time. Here is how it operates on your smart phone: when you are in a store, you would scan the UPC barcode on the product and the Decide App will then give you a green “thumbs up” saying you should buy or it will give you a red “hand” telling you to wait and purchase later. They also have the ability to send you alerts on future product purchases so you can be alerted about price changes, product releases or even rumors! In this economy more than ever consumers are looking for ways of saving money and this is just one potential ways companies are helping consumers do just that. Go here to download their free app: http://www.decide.com/mobile A few minutes a day is all it will take. Yet most of us will use the excuse that we just don’t have any more time to cram into our daily schedules or we have other pressing issues that need our “immediate” attention. The problem is that we have made every issue a pressing issue and of the utmost important that as a result, we spend too much time working in our business instead of on our business. The downside to the instant flow of information in the business world we now live and work in have giving us the perception that the busier we are the more effective and successful our business will become. When is the last time you silenced your phone, closed your email, sat with a pen and paper (or Word doc if you so choose) and really thought about your business. What is going well and what needs improvement? Where do you want your business to be in the next 3-5 years? It can be a daunting task to say the least if you are trying to cram all of your thinking and planning into one brainstorming session. Instead, why not try the following exercise: Take 10 uninterrupted minutes (no email, phone) every day to focus on your present and future business by doing one or more of the following exercises: 1. Analyze your web site to see if there are any areas that can be altered to be more attractive to both your potential customers and search engines. 2. Focus on your social media presence by sending out one quality Tweet, Facebook post or YouTube video each and every day. The goal is to use the social media platform to expand your brand. 3. Research your competitors to find out how they are attracting and keeping their customers. What is their go to market strategy? 4. Spend the time reading an industry specific article or book to gain further insight on your industry. Even if you are not the industry leader, the goal is to be a resource for your customers to turn to. 5. Focus on personal development by reading an article or book on leadership, sales or marketing. The reality is there will always be more work that needs to be done, issues that come up and the pressure to squeeze more activities into the work day. We often fool ourselves by letting every issue, task, and deadline blow up and become a “hair on fire” crisis. We need to always remember, our goal each and every day is to work on our business and not just in our business. The placement of your branding is just as important as the design. Take a look at the example below to see that the old adage rings true even with branding, "location, location, location." 
Being in the service industry myself I know all too well how difficult it can be to satisfy every customer, every time. When consumers are loyal to a company’s brand they are voting with their heart not just with their head. They feel strongly enough that the company will take care of them if something happens that they often will stay loyal to the brand even at a higher price. The consumer these days has a plethora of options at their disposal that it’s even more important than ever for companies to ensure to continue to focus on building brand loyalty each and every day. Studies show the total cost of securing a new customer is far more expensive than having a repeat customer so companies that build brand loyalty also often have an advantage to their bottom line. Another advantage of brand loyalty is the consumer will usually be more than willing to give referrals to their friends and family which helps these companies continue to expand their customer base. As a consumer though, it’s not which company will never make a mistake but rather how the company responds to the mistake that makes all the difference for me. I recently was in the position of needing to buy a new set of tires for my car and given how insanely expensive tires are these days, you can imagine that I did my due diligence on getting price quotes from different tire centers. Truth be told I have been a loyal Les Schwab for many years and in the back of my mind, I knew I would probably purchase from them this time. However, they are not the lowest cost so I wanted to keep them honest by checking out their competitors. Even more importantly I have always had good service with Les Schwab and didn’t know what kind of service or lack thereof I may receive from their competitors. I decided to go with my gut and go with brand that I have been loyal to over the years. I received a competitive price and sat down in their waiting room to get some work done while I waited. I was glad to see the serviceman approach me in anticipation of telling me my vehicle was all ready to go. However, instead what I heard was the following “I apologize Mr. Schneider we have a new employee working today and he accidentally put the wrong size tires on your car. I will get “all hands on deck” and have it done for you in the next 20 minutes and again I am sorry about the mix up.” As I was paying the cashier, he had heard about the little snafu and told me not to worry, he would take care of me. It really wasn’t that big of an inconvenience as I was not running late but I appreciated the fact that he wanted to make sure I was completely satisfied and would return again. He did just that by giving me an additional discount of $60 to make up for this error. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect but all I know is that not only did I feel satisfied but I realized that I received another confirmation of why I am loyal to the Les Schwab brand. What are you doing today to build brand loyalty with your customers? The next generation for the ever growing ecommerce business for many retailers is Mobile Business. This is a dynamic segment as it allows companies to expand their brand and build customer loyalty by allowing their consumers to take them wherever they go. There is no better time for companies to launch a Mobile Business segment as the numbers of consumer Smart Phones are rapidly increasing. In fact, we are at a place in the US where the number of cell phones is outnumbering the US population. Just like when companies starting doing business online, there of course will be the naysayers who can’t believe consumers would buy certain products from their Smartphone, iPod, iPad or other device. If there is ever a company that is use to these naysayers it would most likely be an online Jewelry company. Some old school consumers may have a hard time believing a person could buy a piece of Jewelry off the internet while not have the privilege of touching or holding it in an actual Jewelry store. One such company has not only helped disintegrate those fears but has taking buying Jewelry to the next level through their Mobile Applications. Click on the link below to find out more: http://www.bluenile.com/mobile_applications.jsp | ArchivesMay 2012 CategoriesAll  |
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