Friday, July 25th, 2008
Archive for the 'Business Acumen' Category
Friday, July 25th, 2008
Sunday, July 20th, 2008
The other day, a friend and I were chatting about accomplishments and how they impact people differently. They can either hold a person back, or help a person move forward. The choice is up to each of us.
If we focus on the accomplishment and judge future actions by its scale, the accomplishment can become an anchor that hold us back. It can prevent us from trying new things, things where we might fail.
At the other extreme, some say to “let it go.” It seems to my friend and me that, taken literally, they are forgetting to learn from experience.
Doesn’t it make more sense to learn from accomplishments (and failures) and to use the lessons learned in other areas? If so, accomplishments (and failures) can help us move forward and move in many different directions. At that point, it is just a matter of deciding on the opportunities that are of greatest interest to each of us.
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
When Connie Customer looks at a potential supplier, what does Connie want and need to know?
Reverse the roles for a minute and put yourself in Connie’s shoes. What would you want to know if you were looking at a potential supplier?
At the end of the day, the thing you want to know - the ONLY thing you want to know - is that, if you select the potential supplier, the potential supplier will help you meet your business goals.
In order to reach this conclusion, you will probably want to look at a variety of things such as:
- Does the potential supplier work with customers that are like you?
- What has the potential supplier helped these customers do?
- How has the potential supplier worked with these customers?
- When issues arose, how did the potential supplier deal with them?
- What results did the potential supplier help the customers achieve?
Past experience of a firm is not a guarantee of future results. A supplier may have been great in one context for one customer, but might be unable to help a different customer or the same customer achieve a different goal.
Now that you know what Connie needs to know, what can Connie do to make sure that the potential supplier helps Connie achieve her business objectives?
Saturday, June 21st, 2008
While talking with a friend the other day, I realized that he was seeing the situation as having a lot of obstacles, rather than looking for opportunities.
Business owners always want more money than what they have to work with. Speaking from experience, this is as true of a Fortune 100 company like AT&T as it is of a small established business like Illahe Lodge on the Rogue River or a new business like my friend wants to start.
Too often, people like my friend are held back because they don’t have the $X (whatever “X” may be in their case), the education, or the experience that they believe is required to start a business. Successful business people find ways to rethink the issue so that the obstacles are removed. They can do this in a variety of ways including:
- Finding alternate funding sources, perhaps including sources that will help provide assets the business needs
- Starting smaller and growing their business as their knowledge, skills, customer-base, and abilities grow
- Simplifying operations to a level that is sustainable and expanding into other areas over time
- Building alliances with competitors, customers, creditors, or complimentary firms
The next time that you are thinking about starting a business, perhaps these ideas will help you see ways to turn “obstacles” into “opportunities.”
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
The other day, a friend told me about a blog and asked for my ideas. The blog was intended to generate revenue or, at least, lead to business opportunities. It wasn’t working though, as far as he could tell.
I’d faced this issue a couple years ago, so I knew what the person was saying. You try and try to write things that will be of interest to others, yet you see no return on your investment. Why? What can you do about it? Are there better options? Let’s consider those three questions.
Why
Blogging can consume far more resources than it returns in revenue. This is particularly true when one is creating a general blog, rather than a blog that is limited to a single, narrow topic.
A few thoughts about the issues with blogging for business…
Time. It takes a lot of time to build a relationship and, until a relationship exists, customers are unlikely to buy. This is particularly true in an online environment where so many sites are competing for attention.
Offering. If a person is providing an inexpensive, low risk solution to a problem, a buyer may be comfortable making the purchase based on one or two articles. If the “product” is less tangible, the purchaser may want more information.
Prior experience. If everyone else does something in a way that doesn’t work, potential customers have great difficulty believing that you can do something in a way that will work.
Readers. Think about who is reading your blog. Do these people need the information that you are sharing? More importantly, do they believe that they need the information? Often times, the readers may not recognize themselves in the blog that you are writing. When they do recognize themselves in the blog, they may conclude that you will address the issue down the road or they may lack funding to buy the services and products you offer.
Time and contacts. A former student who specialized in telemarketing said that it takes an average of eight calls before a potential customer should be expected to purchase what the telemarketer is offering. Online, would this number be any less? How many blogs contain eight articles that would be of interest to the same person?
Expectations. A lot of information on the internet is available for free. This creates an expectation that all information can be obtained for free.
Resource limits. Speaking from personal experience, most of my clients and potential clients can find the information that I offer on the internet… Somewhere. If they go that route though, they will expend a lot of time and make a lot of mistakes. Looking at this from a client’s perspective, which is more important - time, absence of mistakes, or money? An established firm may conclude that time and absence of mistakes are most important. New businesses are more likely to conclude that money and saving it is the most important.
What can you do?
When faced with a challenge, it is important to find ways to turn that into an opportunity. A couple options that I considered with blogs were subscription-based blogs and growing readership.
One option that my friend tried was to create a subscription-based blog. I didn’t try this option so I can’t speak from experience on that. It seems to me that a subscription-based blog might be effective, if a person had a narrow focus. With a broad focus, it is harder to appeal to all people. Previously, I’d suggested that a group of us get together and create a subscription-based blog that would be a bit like an online magazine. Who knows if that approach would have worked…
A second option in this situation would be to focus on growing the readership. With regular, loyal readers, a blog is more likely to be discussed. From these discussions, some people (either readers or writers) may spot new opportunities. They may mention the blog or the author to others who will need the person’s help. Readership might be grown through marketing, public speaking, including the blog on business cards, presence in online communities, and a variety of other solutions.
In my case, there was a better option. For others, this may not be the case.
Better options?
When faced with a challenge, it helps me to focus on what has worked in the past. For me, that meant cutting down on my online efforts and beefing up my offline ones. This approach may be wrong for some, and that’s okay. Each of us has to use strategies that work for us.
When I talk with people about topics that matter to them, they often find value in what I am saying. Rather than throwing ideas out to see what sticks, I simply returned to that approach. For me, that takes the forms of face-to-face discussions, email, and telephone. Others may be able to carry on such discussions via a blog, and I accept this.
As I told my friend though, try a variety of options and choose the ones that work best for you.
Regardless of what this means for your business, I hope that you will take care and make it a great day.
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
A question that has helped me decide whether to accept jobs, consulting engagements, and purchase important products and services is “should I do business with this company.”
In today’s business environment, it is important for those of us who rely on long-term relationships to have appropriate relationships with suitable business partners. (And, I use the term “partner” very loosely here, rather than as a legal term. In other words, a “partner” is just another party with whom you do business in any capacity.)
The question is best answered by considering the “big picture.” Specific factors that have helped me answer the question over the years include:
- What is the nature of the relationship?
- What is the other party’s reputation?
- Are there other parties that can meet my needs?
- How important is the relationship to my core business?
- How will the outcome of this relationship (good or bad) impact my future activities?
If a person is buying stationery for an office, the supplier’s situation is likely to be assessed differently from a situation in which a person is looking for employment at the senior officer level or the situation in which a customer lies to a supplier.
At the end of the day, there are few absolute answers. We have to make the best decisions we can with incomplete information, learn from the experience, and deal with the consequences. There are risks for us, whether we pursue the relationship or walk away.
Sunday, April 20th, 2008
The other day, a potential vendor wanted me to participate in a discussion group. My guess is that the vendor was engaging in one of those ill-disguised attempts to market services and products. Either way though, my immediate reaction was, “when in the world do I have time to participate in a discussion group? In the last three months, I have been fully engaged with annual maintenance, planning menus, developing marketing material, starting vegetable plants so they can be put out when the weather warms up, and…”
On another note though, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the vendor had so little knowledge about my business. The firm has never asked or expressed a dime’s worth of interest in what I do. All of which made me wonder…
How well do most vendors know their customers? As I started thinking about this question, it seemed like some vendors may not need to know their customers very well.
I have to know my customers well. But, maybe my businesses are unique. I operate a small lodge on the Rogue River and help clients solve challenging business problems. Let’s talk about those two businesses a bit so that you can judge for yourself.
Illahe Lodge. Meals at Illahe Lodge are served family style and all members of a group typically eat at the same time. Our guests may be vegetarian, diabetic, practice certain religions, or have other food requirements. Their activities affect the time that meals need to be ready and the calories/content of the meals. Without talking with guests, we couldn’t meet their expectations.
Consulting. When I help clients solve the problems they are facing, I have to know what the problem is. One client may be trying to find a supplier who can provide a particular product or service. Another might be trying to find a way to reconcile its business needs with the needs of its customer or supplier. Some clients are trying to build internal relationships so that their employees can work together more effectively. Others are trying to develop processes. Imagine what would happen if I assumed that every person coming to me for advice had the same problem!
What does this mean for your business? How well do you need to know your customers? Also, consider what it means for your suppliers. Think about how well they need to know you in order to save time, provide meaningful suggestions, and help your business meet your objectives.
