Becoming accustomed to a growing economy is easy and dangerous. Although there are always pockets of problems, we forget that success is often more the result of a good economy than our business acumen. If everyone else is doing well, our major challenge becomes how to pull ahead of the pack. Unfortunately, many business people tend to get a bit lazy-and that's when we can get caught.
There are ways to become more successful, keep business booming, and give companies the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. Here are 15 ways to develop an extra edge:
- Develop a marketing plan. 'Seat of the pants' marketing is neither fun nor rewarding. It's only frustrating, confusing, and counterproductive, revealing disorganization and an inability to think through what needs to be accomplished. A useful marketing plan doesn't need to be a highly detailed document. It should be designed to implement rather than impress management. It need be only a simple outline that covers basic issues such as audience, description, objective, message, expected results, schedule, and so forth. What's on paper can always be changed or revised, but the written plan serves to help make sure the plan consistently moves forward toward an agreed-upon objective.
- Select the right marketing tactics. The business world is filled with nonsense thinking. Here are a few examples: 'Direct mail doesn't work.' (Please tell this to PC Warehouse, L.L. Bean, and Victoria's Secret.) 'Nobody reads ads.' (Pass along this information to Microsoft, General Motors, and Merck.) 'Newsletters don't make sales.' (Who said they did? Salespeople are in charge of getting orders; newsletters help create the bond with customers or prospects.) Selecting the medium that's most appropriate for a particular audience deserves serious attention, including research. In most situations, research findings can be used to create a campaign's marketing tactics.
- Focus on fundamentals. As difficult as it may be to believe, ignoring the customer tops any list of marketing mistakes. Companies can be so intent on getting their message out that they fail to get it across. Customers want to hear why it's in their best interest to do business with you. Most marketing efforts fail because what the customer wants to know is unclear, hidden or-most likely-ignored.
- Start worrying. Worry can be productive and should never be avoided. It's essential for continued success. Stop worrying and your guard is down. Stop worrying and the competition grabs the advantage or mistakes occur. Far from draining us, worry is energizing. It's easy to be lulled into complacency when business is good. The so-called worry warts are restless and unsure of themselves. They're also the winners.
- Increase prospecting efforts. In good times, interest in searching for new customers often wanes. We become so busy taking care of the orders that we tend to believe that the flow of new business will continue unabated, that we have somehow earned it. Today's success is not guaranteed to continue forever. The best time to look for new customers is when we don't need them. Cultivating prospects today fuels the new business engine in leaner times.
- Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate. While location is the watchword in real estate, separating yourself from the competition is the key in marketing. 'Differentiation' is the magic word. Those who look alike are alike to customers. The task is to find distinctions that make a difference to your customers, and to stress these in everything you do. Schick, the No. 2 razor company, emphasizes a safe shave, an issue that's particularly important to teen and African-American males, who tend to be prone to nicks, bumps, and ingrown hairs. While Gillette wins the close-shave race, Schick goes after niches where safety is an issue.
- Use your sales staff effectively. Although salespeople can display primadonna-like behavior and even a certain amount of arrogance, they are right when they complain about much of what they're asked to do. Rather than spending time cultivating prospects, servicing existing customers, and building relationships, they are expected to cold call and locate new prospects. While every sales rep should be watching out for new opportunities, looking for a needle in a haystack is a waste of time and talent. Selling efficiency starts with good leads, and it's the job of the company to develop them. The goal is to keep the sales forces busy doing what it does best-selling.
- Offer response hooks. A response hook is nothing more than an opportunity for the recipients of your communication-newsletter, ad, direct mail, or Net-to inquire, request, or respond. Whether it's requesting information, a brochure, white paper, sample, or appointment, offer choices because this is the moment of maximum motivation. The goal is to pull the prospects closer to you in ways that meet their needs. Offering pertinent, helpful information can be a powerful hook.
- Refuse to get side-tracked. Staying focused isn't easy. There are powerful forces pulling and pushing in every direction except forward. Boredom causes the mind to look for new excitement. Just trying to keep up with the competition directs energy away from the goal. Ego obscures valid objectives. Getting off course is easy, particularly when business is good. It's also costly in the long run.
- Offer 'new and improved.' Customers want to do business with companies that are leaders. Although 'new and improved' includes products and services, it also encompasses your marketing communications. If your letterhead, business cards, and brochures haven't changed in a number of years, you may be sending the message to customers and prospects that the company is caught in a time warp. Businesses need to have a new and improved look and products.
- Tune into technology. There was a time when companies could take a wait-and-see attitude toward technology. Not today-the changes are too fast and fundamental. If you're behind the curve, it's difficult, almost impossible, to catch up. The goal of technology is two-fold: operating in real time and maximizing efficiency. Customers won't tolerate delays and inconvenience.
- Communicate constantly and consistently. People are too busy to remember who you are and what you do. They change positions frequently, and the new faces don't know you. We're so focused on what we're doing now that we don't have time to think about what's coming tomorrow or next month. If you're not available when there's a need, someone else may get the order. Be sure to come at prospects and customers in a variety of ways that grab attention quickly and powerfully.
- Extend your territory. Anyone who says, 'We don't go farther than a half-day's drive' is doomed. The task today is to figure out ways to capture more business, and that means finding how to do it. At one time, the horse defined a market area, then the street car, the car and the airplane. Now the Internet has abolished all parameters. Where you are is not nearly as important as what you are to a customer.
- Stay on course. We're easily bored today. Perhaps the culprit is information overload. Whatever the cause, the effects are felt in businesses. Everything's short-term, and even short-term gets shorter and shorter. This includes our ability to develop and implement business, marketing, and sales strategies. When the results aren't instantaneous, we move on to something new. However, successful marketing strategies are based on cumulative results, and that takes time. Since today's customers take far more time to make their buying decisions, it's critical to be with them at the right moment, and this means staying on course.
- Start thinking. Serious thought is rare in business. Taking time to gather, review, and consider information is essential. This is why every business can profit from a contrarian (someone who offers the opposite of the popular and accepted view). Pushed aside, passed over, and ignored, these people are an endangered species. They wear the most devastating label of all: 'Not a team player.' The irony is that every business needs more people like them. They stimulate thinking, force us to analyze our assumptions, and challenge us to look beyond our prejudices. It's better business to be known as a thinking organization.
George Will's book, Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, has only four chapters, the final one entitled 'Cal Ripken's Information.' It's an amazing, audacious, and even unexpected title. Here's why: Living legend Cal Ripken says, 'I like to learn the opposing team's hitters and our pitchers, so I can cut down on the area I have to cover. I'm not blessed with the kind of range that a lot of infielders have. So how I succeed is by thinking.' In a day when strategy is everything, so is thinking.
Rather than just rising with the tide (or falling with it), these 15 tactics for taking control of your destiny give you the advantage you need in good times and bad. Although no one wants outside forces to control a business, it's easy to let the economy, competition, and other agents dictate one's business practices. If you use the right techniques, this doesn't need to happen.