2011 – Your Best Year in Business

Over the past week, I was looking at what I would do to get 2011 off to a great start. What could I do to generate the momentum needed tokick start my business after the holiday period?

Forget the doom and gloom from the media. The flu virus,cold weather / travel chaos and VAT increase are really nothing more thandistractions that sell newspapers. Keep your focus. You are interested in yourbusiness succeeding so that you can live your life the way you want to andsupport your family the way you want to and create the financial independenceyou desire. It will not happen fretting over the headlines.

I wanted to analyse the past 12 months and work out someclear goals for 2011. Below is my eleven point plan (It was going to be 10, butas we are in 2011 I thought 11 would be better!) I hope you can find the timeto do the same for your business.

1.      Ask: What went well over the last 12 months?Take the emotion away and just be subjective. Measure your sales / profitagainst your budget, but also go deeper and look at how you have ended the yearwhere you did. What did you do that went well? Could you replicate it againnow? How many new clients did you win? How will they become better clients inthe future? By analysing what you have achieved in a positive way, you will seethat overall you have done very well. The last two years have not been kind tosmall businesses so we must take all the positives that we can.

2.      Ask: What could have gone better? Again try notto become too emotive with this one. So long as you can learn from yourmistakes and you don’t make the same one twice, the lessons from last year willhelp you in 2011. Where did you waste money? Who didn’t pay you? Why did youpay for that advert in the local paper that generated zero business? Make it agoal to be extra careful with money over the next 12 months. Prudence will payoff. Come 2012 the cameras of the world will be upon us because of theOlympics. So the powers that be a have a year to get our finances in orderbefore we all smile for the media. That means many people will excise cautionwhen it comes to spending. You may want these people as customers but untilthey are confident in spending, you will have to be as sensible as the rest ofus.

3.      What will you do in 2011? From the previous twoquestions the answers to the third question should appear. Doing more of whatreally worked for you and avoiding what cost you in 2010 is your startingpoint. The rest of this blog are ways to help you achieve a lot more this year.

4.      Only spend your marketing budget on DirectResponse Marketing – Unless you are a global brand (E.G. Nike, Gillette,Nissan, HSBC) there is no point in spending on an advert just because it looksnice. It may appeal to your ego to see your company name on a big billboard onthe way to the town centre or to see your logo sponsoring a busy roundabout,but can you honestly measure the ROI to your business? The answer is no – sodon’t do it. Only spend on direct response marketing where you can measure yourtime and money invested against what you get back. Be firm when people contactyou wanting you to sponsor events, advertise in the newspaper or take out asubscription to marketing information that may or may not work. Your brand isspecial and unique to you. No doubt you will feel passionate about it (I dowith my business) but that is not what makes people buy from you. They buy fromyou because they know / like / trust you. Finding more people like that is intip numbers five and six.

5.      Test Drive new ways of Marketing – I do not wishto be paradoxical – do not spend on brand advertising. All that does it makedirectories rich and their sales people commission. The consumer has changed.We now get on average 3000 marketing messages a day. You will only attract newclients if you position yourself where they can find you when they need you. Somy advice is to test some new ways of marketing your company. Set a budget, atime frame and your expectations for the following: pay per click marketing,email marketing, direct mail, telesales and loyalty schemes. By looking at newways to find your clients you will soon see what works and doesn’t. Drop whatdidn’t work and then invest your time and money in what does.

6.      Attend networking events – in the hierarchy ofbuying, new customers are often the ones where you make the least amount ofprofit. To win a new client through direct mail or telesales it is usually adecision based on price. To ensure you also encourage better quality / highermargin business, you need to build a network of contacts that not only knowyou, but like and trust you too. Networking is the most fun way to do this. Itdoes take time and effort you will not make your fortune overnight. But it isan activity I promise you that brings results. Networking is cheap (sometimeseven free!), easy to do (remember that everyone is there for the same reasonsyou are – do not be afraid to sit with new people and get in a conversationwith them – most people in this country feel as uncomfortable as you will inthe first 20-30 seconds. Go through it and you will be glad you did)and a greatway of meeting new people.  Find out whatnetworking groups happen in your area. Then find the ones that work for you.Some are breakfast meetings, others are a coffee break and others are social inbars after “work” has finished. Some are formal where name badges are worn andpresentations are made. Others are less formal where people just startconversations with each other and see how things go. You may not be able to dobusiness with everyone in the room, but that is NOT your goal. Your goal is tobecome the “go to guy / girl” within your industry. When someone has a need foryour product or service, those in your networking group will point to you asthe person that will help! If you are not doing it already sign up to some faceto face networking events today. This more than anything is going to put you intouch with the customers you really want to deal with.

7.      Social media and blogging – Again this is freebut does take time. However if you are not already utilising social media andblogs to win new business you are missing a trick. Earlier I mentioned that wereceive 3000 marketing messages a day. Interestingly, buying decisions areinfluenced as much as or in some cases more than advertising alone by socialmedia web sites. Consumers “listen” to non biased comments from people thathave experienced a product or service and make decisions from these commentsand opinions. You need to be interacting with this potential client base. Shareyour ideas / offers and information with as many people as you can. The easiestway to do this is via Twitter (www.twitter.com). If you are still unsure, Ioffer a 30 minute one on one quick start guide to using Twitter for business.Email me and I will help you for free!

8.      Spend the minimum – sounds obvious but as statedbefore, we are facing a tough year with cuts and public sector jobs being lost.Talk to suppliers – reduce costs, renegotiate prices and buying terms. Yourclients are going to expect more from you so you need to do the same!

9.      Look in to Mobile Marketing – we touched on newtesting new marketing earlier, but I really wanted to highlight this one. Asyou are aware, smart phones outsell computers and laptops by thousands to one.More importantly, most of us are never more than a metre away from our phones, soare always available to market to. Text marketing is already out there. Forexample you can get offers from hotels and restaurants and you also receivetexts when you use a telephone directory service from your mobile. Consumersdelete many emails before they are read, but there is an appeal of textmessages. We nearly always read them.  Make the effort to look in to this and may beuse it as part of your test marketing.

10.  Measure your results better – you need to have aquick and easy way to measure the results from you new marketing activity. Youshould also look at a good ROI of 20-30 times what you spend. A goal must besomething you can measure. E.G. goal is to have 50 followers on Twitter within6 weeks and a new client from a networking event in 6 months. Measure everythingyou test. Stop what fails and do more of what brings you the income you areaiming for.

11.  Overhaul your web site – if you still think thatyour web site is your on line brochure, you are really not benefitting from theinternet in a big way. You could be losing out on 100’s of new opportunitieseach week if your web site lacks fresh content and interactive functionality.To be a winner in 2011 your web site needs you blog on a weekly basis,  a video advert (placed in You Tube), audioclips – speeches / adverts / radio interview exerts / hints and tips etc. Datacapture: you need a way of obtaining names and email addresses automatically(if you offer a free news letter or free report in exchange for an emailaddress, many will take up your offer). You need to set up an auto responder torecognise and communicate with those who give you their contact details. Youneed accounts with Twitter, Face book and Linked in with the buttons on yourweb site so that people can start following / connecting with you from your home page.

Over the past couple of days I have gone through all theabove, changing things as required. I found it so beneficial that I decided toshare it with you. Setting yourself up for a great year now is far more productivethan worrying about things in March when you have gotten off to a shaky startbecause you failed to go through the above and get prepared.

Have a great 2011.

Best wishes

Mike