Simon Ackland - Business Growth Blog

Business Planning And Setting Business Goals

The New Year is a traditional time for business planning and setting business goals...don't waste the effort.

Make 2011 The Year Of Taking Action
All the business planning in the world is a complete waste of time and money if it is not actioned. We strongly recommend you focus on this in your business planning during this time of business planning and business goal setting.

A good plan executed today is far better than a perfect plan implemented tomorrow...take action now and don't worry about getting it perfect.

Short On Resources? Consider Outsourcing
To grow your business regardless of how small or large it is requires the same degree of focus and commitment. Unfortunately, not every business has the ideal resources to get all their plans going. As a result, we have found a demand in our business for more and more implementation work resulting in many outsourced marketing department arrangements.

These vary from complete outsourcing of marketing and business development through to just providing monthly campaign management or a specific component or project where internal skills are perhaps lacking such as digital marketing.

This sort of thinking is important because you can't do everything yourself and it may not be appropriate to bring in full time personell until a new strategy is proven or volume demands it or makes it more economical to bring back in house.

New Strategies and Trends...Things To Think About
Have you worked out if and how social media might apply to your business? What about mobile internet and video? These are some of the strongest growth areas in marketing today and to be at the front of the wave instead of behind it means spending some time to see what your competitors are doing and plotting a strategy to stay ahead or get ahead of them. This is about innovation and differentiation, key new business winners.

We are introducing mobile web strategies for our clients in 2011...did you know that mobile internet connections are forecast to exceed desk top internet connections within a couple of years? You can't afford to ignore this trend.

Fresh Eyes To Look Over Your Business
I hope there are a few ideas in this note that will stimulate thinking for your business this coming year. If you would like to have someone external have a look over your business with fresh eyes, give us a call or complete the form on our website for a free Business Impact Analysis...we don't charge for an initial fact find meeting and can provide some ideas or thoughts on the spot, at least so you can decide if it is worth going further.

And yes, we can review a business over the web...just can't comment on the onsite business operations.

To your business and personal success in 2010 and best wishes for the festive season from the SMI Team

More Sales, Increased Conversion...Turning Features Into Sizzling Benefits

Article Written By: Simon Ackland | SMI Business Impact

Are you maximising sales? Do you want to increase your conversion rate from prospects to clients? Start here...Benefits sell, not Features.

A client of mine always said "This product is brilliant, if they hear about it, they will buy it!".

He firmly believed it and in his niche market, it was indeed a great product...BUT, it didn't sell itself. He came to me because he was struggling to get sales. The product was just too complicated (it was a new financial services based product) and he was telling prospects, investors and distributors about all the facts and not demonstrating how the buyer was actually going to benefit from it. Because they didn't understand it, they were sceptical...you know how the rest of the story goes.

The issue of handling features and benefits in marketing messages is critical to successful selling. This is an area where many sellers, even experienced sellers, are most likely to make a fatal blunder. And it doesn't matter what your business is or what you sell...household appliances, groceries, architect services, cars, houses, drilling rigs, engineering services.

Part of the problem usually involves confusing features with benefits. A feature and a benefit can be one and the same, but most often, they are not. As with my client, it is a mistake to assume that some wonderful aspect or feature of your product will do the selling. Most often, it will not.

Before we say more, let's clarify the difference between a feature and a benefit. A feature is most often some physical aspect of a product - its colour, the size of the engine, the thickness of the metal, the quality of material its made of and so on. Most often, a feature is a "thing".

A benefit on the other hand is something more subtle. A benefit is what the product or service can do for the prospect...

• How it can make his or her life better
• How it can save time
• How it can enhance prestige
• How it can make life fun and easy
• How it can save money or cut costs
• How it can reduce risk
• and more

So a beneift is not a thing - it is an aspect of the customer or client's life that is made better.

Benefits come from features which is why it confuses some people. For example, a car comes with a 200 kw engine. That's a feature. But what does this do for the person who buys the car? The size of the engine lets you accelerate easily to overtake other cars and trucks on a country highway. It gives the driver the power to pull a horse float or caravan with ease. It gives the feeling of pleasure at having all that mechanical power at the end of your foot. All of these are benefits. Something the client feels, gets or is satisfied by.

To maximise your sales, you need to be conscious of where to use features and benefits in both your face to face selling and in printed and digital media...your brochures, your website, annual reports, product profiles, tender documents. So many websites and brochures explain who "we" are and what "we" do and what "our" products or services are. But your website (and other printed documents) are or can be a 24/7 sales tool...so the content must sell. It must tell stories (how others used your service/product and what benefits they gained), have quotes from happy customers, demonstrate the features but also explain the corresponding benefits. Answer the question, "Why should I do business with you and your organisation over all the other options out there, including doing nothing!"

Its simple to start thinking about benefits. Get all your team together. Draw two columns on a white board or even on individual pieces of paper and list the features of your company, your product(s), your service(s) down the first column and then brainstorm the benefits that go with each feature down the other column.

The benefit is the result or what your product or service does for me...your customer or client.

And this is what you should sell - the benefits. Benefits are what people really care about. They want to know how their lives will be made better by your product or service more than what the product is made of or how you do the service. When you spend too much time talking features, you run the risk of "me oriented" selling rather than focusing on the customers needs. You will make more sales focusing on customer needs.

Its much smarter to focus on the customer - on his or her needs, desires, longings, problems, demands - and then paint a picture that clearly and vibrantly shows the customer how they can get all of the above if they buy your product. Its know as "selling the sizzle and not the steak".

There's no sizzle in features! Look at this example:

"Our premium chair is upolstered with the finest Merino lambs wool which is hand-made onto a fully imported cherrywood frame. The chair reclines to a 56 degree position, yet preserves a compact position that takes up less space than a normal recliner chair half its size..."

It sounds pretty good but its all features. Merino lamb's wool is great, imported cherry wood is nice - but how does the customer benefit? You can't assume the customer will know, so you have to spell it out by describing the benefits, as in:

"Our ergonomic chair is designed with your comfort in mind - the 56 degree reclining position gives strong support to your lower back, meaning you never experience back pain and are able to rest for hours on end without the need to fidget, adjust or change seats. Our fine Merino lamb's wool upolstery feels like heaven against your skin - you experience relaxation with a sense of luxury, and your guests will be impressed by the rich look and sense of style it adds to your living room..."

Here you can see the customer benefits - physical comfort, no back aches, gaining a feeling of pride or prestige from guests who admire your excellent choice of home furninshings.

Never list, use or describe a feature without also telling potential buyers just how that feature will affect them in their real lives, how it will improve their lives, how it will enhance personal comfort, deliver a feeling of pride, satisfaction, gain, saving and so on.

Another great way to discover what your products or services benefits are is to make a "You Get" list. Write down "You Get" 10 times on a piece of paper and name specific benefits to follow each "You Get". If you write, "You get a 200 kw engine..." you have just listed a feature. That's not enough. Complete the process by also saying, "You get a 200kw engine that never leaves you stuck or sluggish on a steep hill and thrills you when you take tight curves on a carefree drive in the country.

Just remember, a feature is most often some physical aspect of your products, but the benefit is all about the customer and what the customer gets, experiences, and is satisfied by. The latter - benefits - is what really sells.

To your business success....Simon

Are You Making It Hard For Customers To Do Business With You?

Article Written By: Simon Ackland | SMI Business Impact

Buying is as much an EXPERIENCE for customers as it is about the shopping (& don't think you are off the hook if you're not in retail, the same applies to any business!)

I called a prospective new client last week who had registered interest via our website. Quite a recognised brand name, so I thought "let's get straight on to them!".

Well, number one, the phone number provided was wrong. But I persisted and tracked down 3 possible branch numbers. The first one said "no, he's not here, call this branch". The next branch fluffed around and said "he might be in but not sure...can you call back tomorrow?"...that's going to win a lot of business! I called again a couple of days later and actually found someone who sounded sensible who said the person I was calling was always hard to get hold of (great story to pass on!), but no hints on how to achieve that outcome.

I left a message, I managed to get an email address...no responses. Why do people make it so hard to do business with them. No one I spoke to bothered to find out if I was potentially important to the business or not.

Let's get back to basics...customers, clients, anyone, is looking for some sort of an experience. If it is bad, they tell many (lucky for them I haven't named names in this email...at the end of the day I'll persist because they clearly need our help!). If it is good, they don't tend to tell as many people, but they do stick around and continue to do business, they are less likely to be poached by competitors and if a friend has a need, they will refer them. Remember, good customer service is a key factor in your marketing strategy.

Experience...what is your business doing?

It doesn't have to be elaborate, but what is it about coming to your business that makes people happy. Happiness is a state of mind that people want more of. If they get it from you, they'll come back. What can you do to give your customers a smile and a positive feeling?

7 real basics to winning and keep customers

1. How easy is it to find your business?
2. Where can they park, how much does it cost, what is the best public transport to get?
3. If you are in retail, how easy is it to find things in your store or on your shelves? Do staff know? Will staff happily and helpfully answer questions or will they sneak around the corner pretending they didn't see or hear the pesty customer?
4. Is the first person who answers the phone smart, friendly and knows just who to put someone through to? Or are they the most junior and untrained person in the office answering calls between SMS's? Think about it!
5. Do you train your staff? Do you have a manual explaining treatment of customers...the "how we do business around here" instruction. Is it implemented and is staff performance measured against it?
6. Do you follow-up quickly on questions and concerns posed by clients?
7. Do you offer easy access via telephone, free-calls, email, Skype, website enquiry forms, SMS, even social media such as Face Book or Twitter? Does someone responsible deal with all of these media quickly and efficiently?

Premises

Does your place of business look approachable? Customers will often look inside first and if it is not up to scatch (messy, dirty, ugly, old and outdated, confusing, doesn't look like it should) they'll turn around and walk right back out. What about the carpark or external presentation? If it is full of rubbish, weeds in gardens, unclean windows etc it sends very powerful negative vibes..."if this is how they present themselves, how will they deliver for me?".

First impressions count

I know it is a cliché but it is true. And it is not just premises. Even if you have a great receptionist, they are only directing traffic. What about the people they direct the calls to, are they providing top notch service? Do customers have to sit waiting? If so what are they listening to and did they expect to wait? Is the person at the other end competent and will they get back to them?

I have a long standing relationship with a big four bank. I have been trying to get something done for 6 months with no success. Phone calls aren't answered and divert through to a different state. Messages are never responded to. It drives me nuts! and...has cost me more money! Does anyone seem to care? No!

It's not rocket science. Making it easy for customers to do business with you is just about doing the basic, simple things, but for some reason it is so easy to forget. The key is to always look at your business through the eyes of a potential customer. Train your employees. Always tell them and yourself:

• It's impossible to provide too much service
• Always be open, informative and approachable
• Be obsessive about following up with customers
• Make the details of buying and ordering super easy
• Buying is as much an EXPERIENCE as it is shopping (and this is not just pointed at retailers!)

Make the experience not only easy and fun, but a pleasure to perform, and you have the key to business success.

To your business success....Simon

Need Professional Help?
Every business has some cash sitting on the table...being over-looked. Our free Business Impact Analysis will find it for you. It might be customer service, it might be something else. There are always hidden assets lurking that should be exploited...to find yours, complete the registration form by clicking on Register Interest Now and we will contact you. You have much to gain and nothing to loose.

10 Strategies To Turn More Of Your Prospects Into Paying Customers

Article Written By: Simon Ackland | SMI Business Impact CEO | Business Impact E-Zine # 8

One of the quickest ways to boost your sales results is to convert a higher percentage of your prospects and 'window shoppers' into paying customers

In the last Business Impact E-Zine, I discussed that marketing and innovation was the ultimate leverage for any business and that it is essential...no, critical...to know and understand your business statistics. How many leads, how many conversions to sales etc. In this edition, we continue the theme with 10 Strategies to Increase Conversions.

SMI Business Impact have an encyclopedic list of strategies to boost your business...strategies to suit all types of businesses, all industries. It is true that what works in retail may not work in professional services, so I have put together 10 Universal Strategies that will work with almost any business. Of course, we can prepare a plan suited to your business, so feel free to give us a call or email if this article whets your appetite or see our website for more information.

1. Unique Selling Proposition
Why are you different? What makes you stand out from the pack? If you look the same as all your competitors, why would someone choose to do business with you...price! That's right, in the absence of any differentiating factors, what else can a buyer do but go for the lowest price?

If you have one, are you properly recognising and shouting about it? Remember, to be effective, it must convey and offer real value as perceived by your prospective customer. USP is the number one strategy to increase conversions for any business.

2. Testimonials
The direct marketing industry has this strategy nailed. They have to make sales in print without being able to 'sell' the prospect. There is plenty of evidence to show that conversion rates increase when testimonials are used.

Why do testimonials work? Because it is a form of proof where other objective parties attest to the quality, service, the great buy. So start asking your clients for testimonials and use them in your sales process, advertising, letters and newsletters.

3. The Guarantee
Speaking of proof, what better way to prove to your prospects and customers that you stand behind your product or service than with an iron clad guarantee.

Of course, you need to assess exactly what you are going to guarantee and under what terms. But, this can have an amazing impact in overcoming buyer resistance by eliminating the fear of making the wrong decision and being stuck with the result.

We find the biggest concern most business owners have about a guarantee is the risk of having to refund money. This should be a concern, but if you sell quality and actually deliver on the promise, your increased sales will outstrip any returns.

4. Carry An Exclusive Line Or Product
What better way to operate in a competitor free market than to offer a product no one else has? Prospects have no choice but to buy from you.

This may not be that easy to pull off, but remember being the first creates an almost unassailable market position for your business...and provides something to 'crow' about.

5. Sell Value Not Price
The bottom 5% of any market might be totally focused on price, but research studies consistently show that the top concern of shoppers is value.

By focusing the sales process on value prior to mentioning price, you have the opportunity to demonstrate that the value exceeds the price. And remember that perception is reality in this process. The big retailers and chain stores can compete on price because of the volumes they buy, but if you are not one of them, you can't possible beat them at their own game.

Demonstrate exactly why your product or service is better value than the cheaper model and remember, a lot of people still believe that "You get what you pay for."

6. Make An Offer
Speaking of building the value for the buyer, what about making an offer rather than just listing a price. Even with a guarantee or building the value or showing testimonials, you should still make an offer to cement the deal. For example, 'buy one, get one free' is an offer. Consider what can be added to your offer which will not cost your business a lot but carries high perceived value by the customer.

What about free delivery? You could enter your customer's name in a prize draw. What about "but wait, there's more...Free steak knives". You get the idea and it can be done in any business with a bit of careful thought.

7. Payment Plans And Financing
This could be as simple as accepting credit cards. Making it easy to do business with you will remove a lot of buyer resistance. What about internal funding like a deposit and 3 monthly payments? Or you can enter into commercial financing arrangements...if you can still find them in the current market.

8. Audio And Visual Demonstrations
How many more prospects could you sell to if you could duplicate your sales team by a few thousand clones? Well, with video and the web today, this option is highly viable and cost effective. Or DVD's can be sent by mail to warm up prospects before telemarketing. Introduce a celebrity interviewer or speaker for extra credibility. Interview happy customers...the ultimate testimonials. But do make sure you use professionals...this is not a place for amateur camera operators.

9. Sales Scripts
Do your sales team have scripts that they are trained to use? What about your tele-sales or customer service operators? It seems logical, but sales scripts are often overlooked. Find out what works for your best sales converters or appointment converters and duplicate the scripts for others...they will usually improve overall results.

And don't be put off by those team members that say they can't or wont use scripts. There is always room for originality so you don't need to create a group of robots, but the principles of the script and process must be followed.

10. Appeal To Emotions
Emotions tend to dominate human behaviour. Even the most analytical prospect will ultimately make a decision based on some emotional reasoning. People buy for the needs and wants that they have so you should frame questions to illicit emotional responses. But stick to positive emotions if you can, it is much safer.

11. Remember To Ask For The Sale
If you followed your sales team around and listened in to all their conversations, how many closing questions do you think they would be asking? Sometimes this is simply overlooked because they don't want to appear pushy or presumptive. But, nearly all salesmen need to get a bit aggressive at some point.

Simple questions can get them going..."So can I wrap that up for you?" " Will that be cash or charge?" "Shall we give it a go?". Of course there are many many books and experts on this subject, so when was the last time you trained or reviewed the closing process with your sales team? Are they at least asking for the sale?

So I Can't Count
This turned out to be 11 conversion strategies not 10. I added the last one because it just seems so obvious that people tend to forget it. But there are many, many more ideas in our kit, so feel free to get in touch or visit the SMI Business Impact website.

And of course the process for your business could incorporate a number of these ideas to improve your conversion rates even more. Don't forget to track your statistics so you can measure and improve and please remember, what gets measured, gets done.

To your business success.

You need it now more than anytime before!...New Client Acquisition

Article Written By: Simon Ackland | SMI Digital (the Digital Marketing Agency division of SMI Business Impact Pty Ltd)

New Client Acquisition

When it comes to acquiring new customers, you need to build databases quickly and cost effectively.

Most business owners would not have the appropriate technology and advanced analytics you need to determine your allowable cost-per-new-client, so you know your limits as well as when to increase spending.

Technology allows you to understand and build Business Intelligence with your customer's behaviours. Please be kind to your business and the law requirements, DO NOT send marketing email with Outlook, as it is not SPAM compliant and does not provide you any business intelligence to grow your business.

For example, when you send an email would it be helpful for your business to understand in real time the following?

• Did they receive your email
• Did they open your email
• How long it took them to open their email
• How many time they open the email
• What were they interested in reading
• Did they forward the email to a friend
• Did they click on a particular link if so how many times
• Automatically track and flag invalid e-mail addresses
• and more...

Your marketing efforts on acquiring the right type of customer for your organization must be constant and focused on building a strong database containing as many as possible prospects and customers through direct mail, print media, email, online activities, telemarketing, and point-of-sale registration.

If you don't have an email database, here is a simple tip:

Step 1: organise a competition with a big prize e.g. "WIN A TRIP for TWO" (maybe work with a travel agent to promote them and get it for free...you get the idea).
Step 2: design and print a postcard and send it to your database or distribute it through your network or points of sale...refer them to your website.
Step 3: yes... you may have to use an old delivery systems such as the post services.
Step 4: develop a sign-up or registration form on your website to receive the information requested in the postcard.

Result: conversion of an address book to an online database by getting the card recipients to register online.

Et voila...you did not have to call everyone to ask them for their email address and now your digital database is growing.

PS: Today the most cost effective communication solution is email (up to 1000 times cheaper) to create and send emails than direct mail distribution, the sooner you start building your email database the sooner you will build customer acquisition and retention at a very low cost.

Customer Retention

You must know that it is equally important to retain customers, as it is to generate new ones.

When you look at marketing solutions and deep analysis into your customer data you need to focus your efforts and investment on the most productive segments.

Build a retention plan that delivers the right message and communication to your customers to keep them coming back, to improve response rates, increase order values, and develop loyalty programs that maximise revenues and profits.

You must rely on lifetime value modelling to predict future revenue streams and to determine the present value of new customers. This best practice approach ensures that money spent up front to acquire new customers pays dividends well into the future.

Customer Loyalty Programs

You may spend 5 to 10 times as much acquiring new customers as you will retaining existing ones.

You will work hard and spend a lot of money to get customers to use your services or buy your products. It therefore makes sense to put an appropriate amount of effort into retaining those customers so that your company may enjoy long-term repeat business.

Your customers have more information today than ever before. Many are Internet savvy and all are out to find the best deal for them. One proven way to improve your chances of customer retention is through a carefully constructed customer loyalty program.
Quick tips:

• Identify and retain your best customer segments
• Extract more value from your customers
• Communicate more effectively one-on-one with your customers
• Estimate the value of your customers by segment
• Derive an allowable cost-per-new-customer
• Improve your brand or company image

Develop a structured plan to communicate with your clients and demonstrate the value they are to you. Most clients that change vendor do so because they feel unloved...so share the love and enjoy the repeat business and the extra profit and business value that results.

Need professional help?
As web sites and Internet marketing become more complex, a growing number of businesses are discovering the value of outsourcing the implementation and management of their Web 2.0 initiatives to trusted service providers that employ a staff of people with a full range of competencies.

Call us on +619 9364 8555 or enquire now. Click Here

The bleed'n obvious...or is it?

Article Written By: Simon Ackland | SMI Business Impact CEO

It's not hard to be negative right now, is it?

With the US financial problems having a tsunami effect globally, Australia is touted as having stronger banks and should be "less affected" than other countries.

So what? That's all headline stuff. At SMI Business Impact, we deal with many small to medium sized businesses on a day to day basis and the real question is "how does this effect SME's and what can be done about it?". Afterall, as a group, SME's are the biggest employer in the country.

One of the problems with such a long and "it will never end" boom in Australia and particularly Western Australia which is my little corner of the globe, is complacency has set in big time.

To some extent, the complacency I refer to is understandable, but certainly not acceptable.

Western Australia and Perth have benefited from a strong and long period of global growth, especially with its proximity to the highest growth Asian and Chinese markets which has pushed demand for our valuable resources.

The effect has been the highest population growth rates in the country, but still insufficient to meet employment demand for many businesses (leading to part of the complacency effect I mentioned...not enough people to do everything needed), property values rose to some of the highest in the country, infrastructure has been stretched, housing rents have increased dramatically and the office market has had an almost nil vacancy rate causing rents in that sector to reach some of the highest globally. This has a very big impact for a relatively small and the world's most isolated capital city.

It wasn't long a go..only a matter of months, that I would speak with business owners who were telling me that they didn't have time to market their business, that they knew they were not doing some of the business basics "...but gee, who cares because we are making so much money we can pick that up later!"

I don't think so!

Marketing and innovation combined are the ultimate leverage for any business...there is no debt attached to it; done properly it can reduce overheads and it provides a substantial cushion in the event of a downturn. Conversely, not having a comprehensive marketing strategy in place can, just like debt leverage, accentuate the downside because it takes time and more money to re-build a market presence when things 'head south'.

Deferring marketing is simply not optional regardless of the state of the economy or market that your business operates in.

Perth businesses, and I am sure those everywhere currently, are being bombarded with local negative press such as "WA Employment Confidence At Two Year Low" and " WA Leads Fall In New Home Sales" etc etc over and above the global issues including fears of a global recession impacting on local business conditions.

Do we spend our lives worrying now? or Do we get back to basics with our businesses and rise out of the negativity?

There is only one choice of course.

The place to start is with what drives revenue, profits and ultimately business value.

Over the next few weeks, we will present a series of articles with ideas and strategies to apply to get your business focused and driving forward.

Initially, the key is recognition of the need to do something and hopefully this article will help. The late Peter Drucker put it beautifully:

"...Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business has two – and only two – functions; marketing and innovation. Marketing and Innovation produce results, all the rest are costs." Peter Drucker

The realities that come from this thinking are:
1. Having a ‘great’ product or service alone will not achieve success… BUT a ‘quality’ product or service marketed in a superior way WILL GUARANTEE your success.
2. The KEY to a profitable business is to successfully implement effective and affordable Marketing and Innovation.

Get out there are kick some butt. Leave the noise of the global woes behind, show great leadership, focus on driving your own success and that of your team.

You owe it to them.