Posted by kboon on March 17, 2010 under Business Building Strategies | 
For the better part of March, my focus has been on the Art of Listening. Chris Brogan defines listening as one of the key ingredients for any business committed to success. He recommends companies set up listening posts on the web. The purpose is to find ways to interact and talk directly to customers and build better relationships, establish trust and increase sales.
In the last two weeks I have interviewed a number of entrepreneurs and small business owners from a variety of professions. I have asked a lot of questions. My goal has been to get to know the individual, learn about their business and understand as much as I can about the opportunities and challenges they face.
Here are some of the lessons I have learned.
1. Every entrepreneur and business owner has unique challenges and opportunities
Like the business consultant I recently started working with, who wants to rebuild his network after a few years off.
His challenge: to find new clients in a world that has changed radically in the last 5 years.
Another contact, a financial consultant who has a great website, a newsletter with over 5000 subscribers, does workshops around the country, and has no problems finding consulting work.
His challenge: time management, prioritization and finding the time to create a subscription based website that will add a new revenue stream for his business.
Or here is another contact, a bookstore owner who wants to expand her business and add new services, but her top priority is to focus on the parts of her business that generate income.
Her challenge: Although she knows networking, social media and newsletters are important, she finds it difficult to find the time for these projects.
2. Solutions must fit the business, the person and their customers
Like the old saying, you can’t push a square peg into a round hole. Many times you hear a large chorus chanting “TWITTER!! FACEBOOK!! BLOGS!!” Unfortunately, if you jump in without understanding the value, how to use the technologies, or worse yet, if you can’t find your customers, then your efforts can be a big waste of time.
When working with small businesses it’s critical to step back and understand their day-to-day priorities. Look for opportunities to teach and have the patience to integrate new technologies if and when the company is ready.
This takes me to the next lesson.
3. Change for any small business must be managable
There might be 100 things a business can do to improve, but the real question becomes, where do you start? How do you prioritize and introduce change without jeopardizing the current business or revenue streams?
Change must be managable for the owner, gradual if resources are limited, have agreed objectives and the ability to test results.
4. Trust, Integrity and a focus on the clients needs are essential for success
Trust and integrity require listening, understanding a clients needs and delivering solutions that show you were listening. Results are good too! They both take time to build and are worth the effort for building long-term client relationships.
Posted by kboon on March 1, 2010 under Business Building Strategies |
Companies both large and small, are grapling with how to use social technologies within their business. Some have made the mistake of jumping off the cliff too early, only to realize there are no sales and there are rocks at the bottom. For this reason, some companies stay away like the plague, frustrated by this mysterious technology which seems to threaten their business.
Yet there are a growing number of companies (large and small) using social technologies to build their brand, their business reputation and increase sales.
The two main challenges for any business are bandwidth and relevancy. Most business owners will say, our employees are already maxed to the limit. We don’t have time, or the bandwidth to support a blog or Twitter. The other challenge is relevancy. Do these technologies really help my business or are they time wasters?
Let’s talk about each of these challenges and how to work through them.
Bandwidth
Companies exist in fast paced, highly competitive marketplace. Most employees seem to work harder than ever, and from layoffs and cutbacks they have seen their workloads increase. If you’re a manager, executive or employee, how do you incorporate a blog, Twitter or Linkedin if you are so busy handling the other demands of your job?
Relevancy
The other question is relevancy. How is Twitter really going to help my business? Laying it out for employees without a policy or strategy can be disasterous. For small businesses you can waste a lot of time (time taken away from earning money) if not thought out effectively.
Here are 4 Tips for Getting through the Bandwidth and Relevancy Issues
Learning & Research – Read up on those who are using social tools and getting results. Better yet look for examples in your industry. Be careful of not getting caught up in the hype, but look for clear examples of people who are getting results. If you can, make connections and ask lots of questions. What strategies do they use? How do they manage their time? What can you learn? Here is an example of a chiropractor, Dr. Patrick MacNamara, using social tools to build his business. I’ll guarantee you will find someone or some company in your industry using these tools.
Develop a Listening Strategy First – Although this is part of research I feel it’s an important point on its own. Chris Brogan, who consults for many fortune 500 companies says, developing a listening strategy first. He says it better than I can in these two posts. (Starting a Social Media Strategy & Five Tools I Use for Listening)
Develop a Business Strategy – For larger companies, developing a good corporate policy is important. Defining your goals for social media are critical. For small businesses it’s about defining your goals and being smart with your time. Plan your day and give your self a few hours per day (or per week) to learn some of the social tools.
Play Smart – Through your research and testing you can start to make decisions where to play in the social space. With thousands of social networks, you can’t be everywhere at once. Spend some time, find out where your customers are and go to them. Focus on one or two platforms, especially if your time is limited. Later you can find ways to automate or be in multiple places at once.
I will talk about those tools in a future post.
For the better part of March, my focus has been on the Art of Listening. Chris Brogan defines listening as one of the key ingredients for any business committed to success. He recommends companies set up listening posts on the web. The purpose is to find ways to interact and talk directly to customers and build better relationships, establish trust and increase sales.
