Acquiring Mental Real Estate

 

Even if you’ve never had an interest in owning property, if you have a business, there’s a tiny piece of exclusive real estate you will want to occupy.   It exists in the minds of your clients and prospects and is where, in the car subdivision, Volvo occupies the “safe” residence and, among computers, Mac is the “cool” one.

 

Your positioning is the way consumers think about your offering relative to the competition.  While it can be tempting to tout those aspects of your product or service that you think are exciting and compelling, developing a sound positioning is an exercise in looking at the world the way your target audience sees it. 

 

There are 3 steps:

 

    * Define your target market

 

Who are they?  What are their lives about?  What do they need and want?  What problems do they have that a product or service like yours can solve?

 

    * Check out the competition

 

Who are they, as defined by your target audience?  What do they offer?  How do they talk about themselves? Where do they talk about themselves? How well known are they? 

 

    * Identify your meaningful difference

 

At which intersections do your product/service attributes meet up with those that are important and relevant to your target market?  And which of those corners is least inhabited by your competition?

 

 

Choosing your positioning carefully will help you stand out from the pack and give your target audience a clear reason to choose you over all the others.

Three things NOT to do when the economy tanks

If you’re a small business owner, you’re probably biting your nails and taking to your bed and pulling the covers up over your head.  Now that the economy is officially in crisis, a lot of people are telling you what to do.  In the midst of all that advice, allow me to suggest three actions to avoid:

• Don’t cut expenses at the cost of product quality, customer service or marketing

It’s understandable that, in this environment, you might want to take a hard look at your expenses and, perhaps, make some cuts.  It’s also a very good time to re-negotiate with your suppliers and even get some great deals on large purchases, if you’re in the position to make them.  But a common mistake that business owners make is cutting the wrong things. Remember that in bad economic times, your clients will be scrutinizing their purchases more than ever, so make sure that any changes you make do not affect the quality of what you’re offering, the service you provide to your customers or getting your message out to your audience.

• Don’t become so self-focused that you fail to pay attention and respond to your clients

The one major advantage a small business has over a larger enterprise is its ability to be nimble and responsive.  So keep in touch with your clients and prospects, understand how the downturn is affecting them and adapt your products/services, prices, delivery mode and marketing messages as appropriate.  As bad as it seems, the change in the financial climate is providing new opportunities, so be on the lookout for them.

• Don’t abandon your plan

If you have a plan, revisit it and make adjustments where needed.  If you don’t have one, now is the time to create one.  A plan is important, both because it forces you to take a fresh look at the landscape, and evaluate the opportunities and obstacles in play at this moment in time, and because it will make easier for you to take action, which provides a much needed sense of control during a difficult time.

Marketing on fumes

Sure, there’s no dearth of Cialis spammers, disingenuous chatters, and bad-joke spreaders, but the thrillling thing about the internet era is how it’s brought down the cost of admission into the business world.  Versus the days when you had to have heavy-duty capital to start most enterprises, today the tent is big and accessible, the playing field is way more even.  Anyone can give a great idea a voice.  Good for all of us.

The technology also provides us with many dirt cheap ways of marketing our products or services to prospective customers, if only we know what they are and aren’t afraid to try them. Think about these, for starters:

• Create a (good) website
• Optimize it both for search engines and end users
• Ask visitors to register and capture their email information in a database
• Send out an email newsletter
• Publish articles on the web
• Blog
• Comment on other people’s blogs
• Podcast/Vodcast
• Join and participate in online networking communities
• List your business in web directories

How many of these are you currently doing?  Would you be willing to commit to adding at least one of the above to your mix–this week?

Website sweet home

I think it was MTV that had a show in which a young woman was allowed to snoop around the homes of three eligible bachelors, then choose her date–sight unseen–based on what she found in their cribs.

This led me to ponder: to what degree does a person’s house accurately explain who he or she is? What do dust bunnies under the bed or an underwear drawer arranged by color really tell us? Is this a fair way to draw conclusions? Probably not–but in the absence of any other information, that you chose to toss old tires on your front lawn or at least deem it unimportant to remove them, will at least feel as if it tells us everything we need to know.

Your website is your business’ home in cyberspace, and anybody who wants to can come by for a look-see at any time. And since the choices you made for your cyber-home will be perceived to be as telling as those you made in your bricks-and-mortar dwelling, even casual visitors will glean impressions about you and your business.

So what is your website telegraphing? I suggest that you ask yourself the following questions:

• Is your site professional looking and consistent with the image you’re trying to project?
• Is it logically laid out and easy to navigate? Is the level of sophistication appropriate for your target audience?
• Is it complete enough? Does it address the things that visitors are likely to be looking for?
• Is it well written? Is the tone appropriate?
• Is it free of spelling and grammatical errors and other inaccuracies?
• Is it current?

Can you remember a website that left you greatly impressed? What was it doing well?

Clients and less attractive snowflakes

The conventional wisdom goes something like this: a client is a client is a client. As long as s/he pays the bill, one is the same as another.

But, to whatever degree service is part of what you are offering, clients are as individual as snowflakes. And some snowflakes are simply better than others.

Attracting the right clients–those that will fit well with your specific business–begins with identifying the target market(s) that you can best serve. If, for example, you’re in the business of creating websites, are you better suited to working with solopreneurs on tight budgets who want something basic, or corporate clients with deeper pockets but more complex needs and requirements?

But target marketing is another discussion. Once you have established a working relationship with someone–however they came to hire you–you will still want to pay attention to how they play the client role. Given anything resembling a choice, there are certain client-types that you will not want to work with the second time around, including these:

• The One Who Is Excessively Needy

This is the client who requires an extraordinary amount of hand-holding and interaction. When you count up the hours you’ve spent explaining and teaching and reassuring her, you realize that you’ve made less than the minimum wage on the project.

• The One Who Takes Advantage

Because you charge a flat project rate rather than by the hour, this is the client who calls you 387 times a day or casually asks for “free” counsel beyond the scope of the project.

• The One Who Sees Things Differently

If you believe in creating advertising based on research and sound strategy, the client who wants the ad to be “funny” and have his picture in it is simply not a good match. Life is too short.

• The One Who Makes You Chase The Money

It’s time consuming, demoralizing and a little insulting to have to spend your energy trying to get a client to pay her bill. If you’ve kept up your end of the bargain, it’s only fair that she does as well.

Of course, there are many others. Which client-types have you fired (or fantasized about firing) in the past?

Balance, shmalance!

Balance. Even without defining the particulars, we want it. The idea of it floats in the atmosphere, elusive and shiny, the gold ring at which we endlessly grab but with which we expect rarely to connect. Particularly for those of us with our own businesses, making it a blurry abstraction is a great way to let ourselves off the hook!

Isn’t it about taking responsibility for a million little choices we make? When I work until 9 pm, I tell myself, “I had to work late last night.” But the reality is, I chose working late over every other possibility in the universe–going to Pilates, reading a novel, cleaning out a closet… Chances are, that if my appendix had burst, I’d have fit in a trip to the emergency room, and if Oprah had called in desperate need of a consultation, I would have found time to talk to her.

Instead of a massive decision made in a single moment, balance comes from one tiny decision after another. We each get the same pot of 24 hours to fill each day. For everything we choose to toss in, we are necessarily saying “no” to a gazillion other things that would take up the same space. When was the last time you took a good, hard look at what, by virtue of your choices, you were elevating to the top of your list?

Make the hard stuff rewarding

My daughter happens to be the greatest kid ever born, but neatness has never been high on her list of priorities. So what a surprise when she brought home a note and a candy bar that “the desk fairy” had left her, congratulating her on the orderliness of her school workspace. She was soooo pleased with herself as she savored her chocolate treat. And so determined to stay on the fairy’s good side.

Ah, the rewarding experience–it’s so helpful in breaking bad habits and shaping desirable new behaviors. Since the desk fairy may not visit your neighborhood, why not reward yourself? Think about something you need to get done this week but desperately don’t want to do–deliver bad news to a client, finish your business plan, attend a networking event. Wouldn’t it be slightly more palatable if a soak in the jacuzzi or a “Sex and the City” DVD stood at the finish line, frantically waving, cheering you on?

It’s all in the presentation

Ever notice that public speaking always ends up near the top of the list of our worst fears–right up there with fiery plane crashes and overnight confinement in a tiny elevator? What is it about talking to a group of people that makes our hearts race and our palms sweat?

Frequently, our fear comes from focusing in the wrong direction–at ourselves instead of the audience. Instead of thinking of a presentation as a performance in which the audience is scrutinizing you, think of yourself as a public servant, there to give or teach the audience something they have come to receive or learn. Can’t you feel your palms drying up already?

In order to ensure that they get the gift of information or insight or inspiration that you’ve brought, the single most important thing a presenter needs to do is connect with her audience. In terms of effectiveness, establishing a connection trumps smarts, eloquence or the ability to razzle dazzle.

While there are many ways to spiff up a presentation, how do you create connection? Try these:

• Make friendly eye contact. Duh!
• Talk to your audience in a way that shows a deep understanding of their world view, not just your own. The O.J. Simpson prosecutors might have benefited from this advice.
• Use language that is familiar and comfortable to them. It may be “rhinoplasty” when talking to a group of physicians, but “nose job” in front of a lay audience.
• Telegraph respect by the choices you make with regard to your clothing and grooming. A designer suit might be intimidating and distancing if you’re talking to a group of truck drivers.
• Come prepared, with a thorough knowledge of your subject, not just your presentation. This will increase both your credibility and your confidence level.
• Be authentic. Your willingness to reveal your true self is very disarming and will make your audience like and root for you.
• Be present. The presentation is not what you prepared at your office, it’s what actually happens once you’re in the room. Feel the energy and make adjustments as needed.

What’s the scariest presentation you’ve ever lived through?

Find your inner geek

When I say “Twitter,” do you think of your childhood parakeet? And does “RSS Feed” remind you of what you gave him for dinner? If so, it’s time to start hunting for your inner geek.

Because technology moves at such a frantic pace, it’s tempting for the non-technophiles among us, to just sit back and let it pass us by. After all, when it doesn’t bore you to tears, technology can be downright intimidating–not to mention, who the heck has time for this stuff anyway?

Still, it’s critically important that women in business stay on top of new technology. Why?

• Closing your eyes won’t make it go away. Your clients, colleagues and competitors are discovering and using new technologies all the time. You need to stay current in order to be relevant and remain a contender.

• As opposed to the sci-fi movie characterization of technology as cold and distant, much of what’s out there actually has the opposite impact. It helps connect people to one another by facilitating communication and interaction, making it possible to broaden and deepen business relationships in new and exciting ways.

• Many of these technologies are widely accessible (cheap or free), which has resulted in their leveling the playing field and generating tremendous opportunities for women from all walks of life to create viable businesses and, thus, exercise greater control over their lives.

Not sure where to start? Make a pledge (seriously, raise your right hand) to implement a keep-up-with-technology plan, starting this week. Here’s how: Devote one hour each week to reading up on what’s new and hot. Make an appointment with yourself to do it at the same time each week–say, every Friday morning from 8-9–and mark it on your calendar.

Where to do your research? Well, there is no shortage of resources, but, in the interest of keeping it simple and manageable, let me start you off with three that I like:

TechForward.Entrepreneur.com
SmallBizTrends.com
AllBusiness.com (in the Tech section)

In addition, on a quarterly basis–or more frequently, as needed–integrate some new technology into your business life–whether you think you need it or not. Blog, hold a webinar, send a text…whatever. Prepare to be surprised at how quickly you’ll start to feel like a full-fledged citizen of the new millenium!

What’s your comfort level with new technology? What have your best discoveries been?

The gap between an idea and a business

Have you ever noticed the huge, gaping hole that exists between an idea and a business? I meet scores of women who have clever, viable business ideas, plenty of smarts, and lots of enthusiasm. They talk and talk (and talk) about the enterprise they want to launch, but it never comes to pass. Why is that? What are the stoppers that come between the idea and the business?

In my experience, there are 4 that are key:

• Becoming overwhelmed. Starting a business requires thought and action in several different directions. To name a few: What will it cost to start up my business? Who is my target market? Where will my raw materials come from? Do I need a license or permit? What will I call it? Where will it be located? How will I make money? Because there is genuinely so much to do, having a plan is critical. Creating a written action plan, detailing tasks and deadlines, will act as a roadmap in guiding you through this process, making the journey clearer, more manageable and more efficient.

• Indecisiveness. Sometimes, in an effort to make the right decisions, we make no decisions at all. I’ve seen people let go of great ideas because they can’t decide whether they should gear their service to lawyers or accountants. Since there is no one right answer, you must make a commitment to a path and start moving down it. If you discover later that you don’t want to be there, you can make a shift. But thinking about it endlessly, doesn’t make for a better answer. Do your due diligence and get going!

• Don’t know and don’t want to ask. Let’s say, you need some capital to get this party started, but are clueless about your options for getting it. It’s okay that you have some gaps in your knowledge—everybody does—but you must be willing to do what it takes to bring yourself up to speed. Too often, otherwise resourceful women, become intimidated by what they don’t know about starting a business and too shy to ask for help. Read books, check the internet, ask a colleague, hire a consultant, etc. You don’t need to be an expert in everything,, but you have to be willing to ask, listen and learn.

• Lack of confidence. Women are far too willing to assume that others can do it better than they can. Particularly when they have a great passion for the business they want to create, many are haunted by a voice that whispers, “Who am I to think I can pull this off?” Nobody starts any enterprise knowing everything about it, so, in order to succeed, you must be willing to believe in your ability to figure it out along the way. Bring to the forefront of your awareness, other things you have mastered in the past. More importantly, take action. Your confidence will come from sincerely impressing yourself with your ability to learn, grow and make things happen!