Tom Wechsler - Why I Recommend The Alternative Board

Customer Testimonial - Tom Wechsler

TAB Goes Social with YouTube Channel for Small Business Assistance and Advice

Recognizing the need to take the TAB message to a larger audience and one that is more than likely tuned into the social media channels, TAB recently launched its very own YouTube channel. This social media channel is now considered one of the most effective ways to reach target audiences and is becoming an ideal way to educate customers and peers on services, sharing knowledge and ideas.

To date, nine videos have been posted on various topics that will be covered in upcoming blog posts. All the video topics are geared toward compelling and relevant business issues that today’s small business owner needs to focus on or where they could benefit from the types of services that TAB offers. These include Business Coaching & Mentoring, Peer to Peer Advisory Boards, CEO Coaching and Strategic Planning.

Here are some of the video highlights:

• Listen to TAB members explain why they recommend TAB to other Atlanta area business leaders.  
• Gain insight into the effectiveness of participation in Peer to Peer Advisory Boards.
• Learn about the value of joining The Alternative Board.
• Hear about the value of the one-on-one CEO coaching assistance offered by TAB owner, Buddy Hall.

Each video spans only two to three minutes but provides key insights on how a small business owner can benefit from these types of resources usually only thought accessible to large companies or multinationals. The videos also include business owners who have used – and continue to partner with – TAB because they recognize the value of accessing the resources, expertise, and knowledge of the business people associated with this concept.

Check back for further blog posts this month about each of these videos, including other content and ideas now found in the videos.

Is Business Planning More Trouble than it’s Worth?

They say that you get out of something what you put into it. For the small business owner, though, who is often short on time because they lack the staff and resources to do as much as they like, this may mean that they have to skip steps. 

One of these steps is often seen as only necessary for the big guys – the multinationals or corporate powerhouses – and that is business planning. This means that they not only skip quarterly planning, but they also simply ignore it altogether.

Defining Business Planning

Business planning is a formal process for setting goals for your business. It is a strategic process in which you state what you would like to achieve and then figure out what types of tools, skills, knowledge and resources you need to achieve these stated goals.

Often, people equate business planning to something that only happens when a business starts up and then do not give it a second thought once they are rolling. Business planning should be seen as an ongoing process to use to move the business forward to do more and make more.

Understanding the Benefits

To achieve the growth you desire in your business and achieve your goals, it is necessary to create a business plan – a roadmap, if you will – to how you will get to that desired point. If all it took was hoping for the best and working night and day seven days a week, there would be more successful businesses out there. However, just having good intentions does not cut it in a business environment that has become more demanding and more competitive.

Key Components of a Successful Business Plan

There are a number of key components that make up a successful business plan:

• Design a Compelling Competitive Advantage – Define what makes you different and unique in the marketplace. Focus on how your business can stand out to your target audience and select the tactics that will help you communicate this compelling competitive advantage.

• Describe Your Definition of Success – Success means different things to different people. You might think success means sustaining your business through all market cycles or you might believe it is all about growing your customer base. Whatever this definition of success may be, use it as the catalyst for everything you do in terms of strategy and tactics.

• Outline Solution Formula – The business plan is not simply about your success; it must also include that of your clients and prospective customers. Your business plan has to explain how you can alleviate the pain points for your customers and provide them with answers to their concerns. Planning should provide a strategy for solving customer and target market problems, which can tie into your definition of success and your compelling competitive advantage.

Ideas on Making it Work for You

Here are some ways to make business planning work for you:

• Work your way into quarterly planning sessions. Begin with a yearly review of your business and work toward more sessions that get you to stop and think about what you are doing and what you could do better.
• Generate reports that track results on a 90-day timeframe through using business planning software that walks you through the steps and ways to look at your results.
• Post your action plan targets in your office where you can see them to remind yourself that you have certain requirements and assignments that need to be fulfilled and checked on. You would do the same for what you give any of your staff, so make yourself just as accountable.
• Do not focus on how long the business plan needs to be – just hone in on what you need to accomplish. While some may take 20 pages, you may only need a one page outline to state what you need to do.

A Business Planning Partner

While these tips are intended to help you get started and on the right path, it is never easy and still may be confusing. That’s why the GPS market took off – more than one person lacked a sense of direction. And, so it goes with business planning. You do not have to go it along but can look to a GPS, or rather a BPP – business planning partner – who can help you get from Point A to Point B by working with you on establishing – and sticking to – a business plan that is unique to your business and goals. A business planning partner can point you in the right direction and also keep the planning at the top of your mind by working with you on a quarterly basis to review metrics and revamp strategies.

What’s your experience with business planning? Have you found strategies that help you start and stick to business planning? Do you have questions on how to get started? Share your thoughts here.

Excel at the Basics

When it comes to setting business expectations on what customers need or want is overcomplicated when what is really needed is to excel at the basics of business. In an attempt to offer the fanciest product or latest technology – essentially aiming to be everything to everybody – business owners forget that what customers really want is to just receive consistent and honest service.

Think about some of today’s best companies: Zappos.com, Amazon.com, In-N-Out Burger, and Apple. Sure, they have some amazing products and a great experience. But, what they do that is even better is they focus on keeping it basic when it comes to their core business and what they are good at.

Simple is the New Black

You don’t have to be big box brands to practice and succeed at their keep it simple formula. What tends to happen no matter what size of business you run is that it becomes easier to over think what customers want. Instead, focus on those things that many businesses don’t often even think about:

• It’s Simple to Smile: Customers are often taken aback when a business owner or their staff stop and genuinely smile back warmly when you interact with them. How many times have you gone to a store and not even had the person behind the register look at you let alone make eye contact and smile back. In the virtual world, it may be hard to send a smile through an online transaction but you can consider calling your customers. After all, it is possible to hear a smile on the phone.
• It’s Simple to Say Thank You: Thank you along with other polite mannerisms seem old-fashioned and rarely used. That’s why when a customer hears a thank you or gets a thank you email or note, it can make a real difference. It means that you are letting the customer know you took extra effort to show your appreciation. Just recently, a golf course sent an email thank you within 24 hours of my visit to their course. I had enjoyed the experience with my colleagues, but I had already moved on to my next work day. However, when I opened my email, there was a short and personal note from the golf course, thanking me by my first name and time of visit and offering their gratitude for my patronage. It brought them to mind again and made a mental note for me to stop by soon to play that course over any other one in my local area.
• It’s Simple to Listen: In our fast-paced world, listening is another action that doesn’t keep up but should do. When customers see a business is clearly not listening, they feel unimportant and unnecessary to that business, so they keep searching for a similar business until they hit upon one that takes the time to stop and listen…maybe even ask questions of their customers. Listening can involve verbal action or it can be asking for their opinion on a social media site.
• It’s Simple to be Honest: The lack of integrity and ethics in today’s business world is shocking and very discouraging. However, as corporate social responsibility gains traction, it is becoming “fashionable” again to be honest and trustworthy in all your dealings. It not only presents a way to leverage a brand built on good practices, but it is also simply the right thing to do.

Make that with an Extra Helping of Consistency

Beyond sticking to these seemingly simple, but truly effective, strategies as a core philosophy for your business, the true work involved is the effort it takes to remain consistent. It can be difficult to remain consistent when market cycles change for the worst or competitive pressures tend to create panic. This is when companies let go of the simple things and assume they have to “up their game” and do something more complex. In actual fact, what they need to do is stick to the basics – the principles – of good business and customers will be happy, be engaged, and be loyal.

When challenges arise and you may feel like veering toward a new game plan that is much more complex, stop and consider the help of a business coach who can help you stay on the right course and help you practice – and excel at – the basics. What is your experience? Tell us what you have found good or challenging about excelling at the basics.

The Keys to Customer Loyalty: Service and Gratitude

While it makes sense that customers want to feel treasured and be made to feel like VIPs, there are very few companies that actually deliver the goods. 

Very often, customers experience treatment that makes them believe they are just a number or a dollar sign to the companies they buy from.

The problem with this kind of treatment is that there is way too much competition in today’s global and online marketplace for any company to think that customer service can make it as an afterthought. If anything, the current economy where customers are scaling back with their discretionary spending means that playing nice actually needs to become being nice and grateful for their business at all times.

Service Expressions

There are many ways that you can express a higher level of service as Customer Service Expert Lisa Ford has noted:

• Service Their Way: Like Burger King, you should deliver service the way the customer likes it – hot, fresh, and unique. There is no way that homogenized service delivery is going to speak to every customer. This means you must use different channels to reach out to people on their terms as well as change your service offering for each demographic in your customer base.
• Service on Time: Being fast yet efficient with a dash of quality should be part of every service recipe. Customers want you to answer them quickly, they want quality service, and they want you to deliver what they asked for rather than what was convenient or on hand for you.
• Service with Style: Nobody wants to do business with a robot – at least not yet! Even if you are an online company or virtual business, all customers want a human and personable touch to their transactions and purchases. Be present in the service delivery by acknowledging customers, picking up the phone once in awhile and talking to them, or sending personal notes that point out something unique about them as your individual customer.

Gratitude Delivery

Gratitude is so much more than just saying “thanks and have a nice day.” And, it goes beyond common courtesy and prompt attention.  It is a much deeper and more emotional way of expressing how much you appreciate your customers and their decision to select you for their product or service.  

Academic research has concluded that gratitude in service delivery goes a long way to cementing customer loyalty across many purchase decisions. Here are some tips on showing gratitude:

• Be Genuine: Customers are not dumb. They know when and if a company is genuinely thankful for their business, so it doesn’t pay to try to come off as thankful if the messages are not genuine and backed up by actions.
• Be Empathetic: Illustrate to customers that you relate to their ‘pain points’ or their problems by connecting your own experiences to theirs and offering a solution that benefits them in a way to make that pain go away. After all, gratitude is an action where you illustrate just how much you want to help them and appreciate them as individuals.
• Be Consistent: With so much fickle attitudes that customers get hit with on a daily basis, a winning strategy is to ensure that each and every time there is customer interaction that they get the same level of appreciation and interaction. This is especially the case when they may interact but not buy at that particular time. It’s not about showing gratitude that they bought from you. Instead, it means being grateful that they window-shopped or even stopped by to ask a question.

Loyalty Strategy Planning

Delivering these two keys to customer loyalty does not happen overnight and takes a lot of practice. Whether you are a brick-and-mortar operation or an online small business, it is not easy to develop a winning loyalty strategy on your own. Consider working with experts who specialize in customer loyalty techniques or who can help hone your customer interaction actions and attitudes to win over your current and future customers.

The Rigors of a Business Owner

Sometimes, being at the top of a company is not what it is all cracked up to be. The title looks good: Owner, President, Founder, CEO. 

However, the responsibilities and rigors that come along with that second line on your business card can be lonely and challenging. Others in the same position feel your pain and have experienced some of the very same dilemmas.

 

Filling Very Big Shoes

It is easy for a business owner to second guess themselves or feel perplexed when it comes to decision making, especially if they are a small business and do not have a team of executives helping them sort out all the external and internal factors that have to be considered. Do these feelings sound familiar:

• It’s lonely at the top. There is often a sense of feeling alone and isolated, especially if you are a small business owner or operate a business from your home.
• I don’t know why it is so hard to stay focused. With no one above you or around to monitor your work habits, it may be hard to stick to the plan.
• I’m not sure I’m making the right decision. Not having anyone to bounce ideas off of or any other perspectives can make you feel like all decisions are made in a vacuum.
• I feel like there is something missing. The same goes with this impression. It’s hard to know and cover everything that comes up with a business. There could be unforeseen challenges and missed opportunities.
• My employees are not providing advice or feedback because I think they think I’m the boss and don’t need the help. Often, employees may feel that the leader simply knows what they are doing and should not speak up. While you might not have intended for this formal relationship to develop, employees rarely feel comfortable to just speak up.
• I think I might be procrastinating and can’t get motivated to do what I know I should. Along with losing focus, the lack of a higher power to get you moving means you may not get what you wanted done regardless of the little voices in your head telling you to hurry up.

Achieving Accountability and Proactive Decision Making

Being at the helm of a small business does not mean you have to go it alone and there are ways to get support from staff and outside experts in a way that helps you slip into those big shoes quite comfortably and enjoy your role as an accountable and proactive leader:

• Consider professional assistance in the form of a business coach or business counselor who can help you shape your business as well as your own habits, behaviors, and practices to become more disciplined and proactive.
• Call on and visit customers when you can to stay in touch with your audience and relevant issues.
• Interact with your staff and encourage them to share in decision making and idea generation.
• Join networking groups, industry associations, and local small business meet and greets to interact with colleagues and your peer group, gathering advice or simply commiserating.

Getting Answers

It is important to reach out to others – both within your business in terms of employee interaction and outside through customers, the community, experts, and business colleagues. Have you had similar feelings or concerns as a business owner? What have you done or what are you still struggling to overcome? Let us know.

How to Stimulate Sales during a Lackluster Economic Recovery

Sales is as much a science as an art. It can be challenging enough to find the right formula or set of ingredients during good economic times. 

However, when money is tight for consumers or for your business clientele, convincing anyone to buy becomes even harder. It’s not to say that it can’t be done and successfully. It is just a matter of asking yourself the right questions and taking a hard look at what you might be able to improve.

Questions to Ask

Before making any changes to your strategy with the objective of stimulating sales, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you know your market? That means can you describe your target audience, their unique needs, and what they value?
• Do you know who your sales team should be calling on? Is there a specific niche of your target audience that may not be as impacted by the recent economic downturn as others? Even if segments have been affected, could those groups be served by your product and service in a way that fills their need or heals their pain points?
• Do you have daily sales activity planned and do you track this activity with specific metrics and performance indicators?
• Do you have specific sales goals and targets and are you always reviewing them and adjusting as real results come in?

Tips on Stimulating Sales

To keep focused on opportunities rather than the challenges at hand, there are a number of tips to consider:

• Keep focused on what you do best and do not take the route that a new product or service will stimulate sales. It may only put you farther behind and put a dent in cash flow.
• Hone in on the customer. Service excellence is one of the most important things you can do. It lets customers know you care and are interested in them rather than in just making the sale. Be sure to listen to the customer and check in with them on what they need or what you could do better for them.
• Try new sales channels, especially low-cost options like those involving online prospects and business opportunities. Also use these channels, such as social media marketing and social networking, to gather more information on your target groups and intelligence on what they like and what they need.
• Spend time on activities that help enhance your reputation and brand, including socially responsible initiatives that not only illustrate your commitment to the environment or the community, but these strategies may also open up new opportunities for sales, lower your overhead costs through new green efficiencies, and expand your network of sales prospects.
• Don’t just think about stimulating sales now; have a long-term prospect and plan in place for the recovery. Measure progress and work on performance issues now so you are ready.

Sales Strategy Counseling

The good news is that you don’t have to go through this challenging market cycle alone. There are many ways to seek counseling and advice to help you over these hurdles and navigate through the choppy waters. Think about these potential partnerships:

• Local networking groups in your industry or community;
• Online networking groups through social media channels;
• Business coaches and counselors; and
• Organizations like TAB where you can tap into the expertise of seasoned business executives who have operated through all types of sales and market cycles.

Maybe you have some advice to share, so be sure to submit your ideas below. Or, if you are in need of support and assistance, feel free to post your question or comment below.