Small Business- News and reports on Small Business

Have you noticed that there is a whole new personality and a new way of being to successful entrepreneurship?  Just compare the successful entrepreneurs from one hundred years ago and those of today ? there is a subtle difference about how Andrew Carnegie built his business and how Larry Page and Sergey Brin built Google.

This new theme of being successful is what James Marshall Reilly (@reillytweet)  explores in his book Shake the World: It?s NotRead More

From Small Business Trends

Get Ready To Shake The World

Jobs.  What’s more important to an economy (and a household for that matter) than for people to be working?  Of course there’s many factors but no matter who you are, employment and jobs are right up there at the top of the list of what is needed for a healthy and vibrant economy.  That’s why I am rejoicing at today’s jobs report.

The jobs report that came out today said that unemployment is at a 3 yearRead More

From Small Business Trends

Cautious Optimism For Small Business

That one company mentioned? It happens to be mine. Early on, much wasn’t being spent on marketing simply because the funds weren’t available. Some dabbling was done with the usual suspects: the Yellow Pages, online ads, etc. None seemed to do more to build my brand online. So now, five years later, surprisingly nothing is being invested in marketing yet enough was earned to profit and expand. Intrigued? Read on.

Unfair Advantage

I’m a big proponent ofRead More

From Small Business Trends

How One Company Spent Zero on Marketing

The Rolling Stones proudly sang, ?Time is on my side, yes it is.? These days, time seems to be an adversary that everyone is fighting, especially when it comes to social media and small business. Unlike large corporations, small businesses do not have the ability to hire teams of individuals to monitor and respond to customer service issues on social media sites. So what?s a small business to do? Matt Trifiro joins Brent Leary to offer a solution.

*Read More

From Small Business Trends

Matt Trifiro of Desk.com: Meeting Customer Service Expectations in a Social World

I like charts, graphs, and diagrams because they make sense. Sure, your can skew them all sorts of ways, and sometimes they can get a bit out of hand, but they make sense.

Arrow going up? Great! Series of bars getting shorter? Not so good. Easy.

But I have to admit that Venn diagrams don’t do a lot for me. You’ve got one thing, and another thing, and then in the middle you get this football shaped combination ofRead More

From Small Business Trends

A Pie Chart Can’t Do This

Have you ever been called in to meet by a prospect that's all excited about making the change? They're busy meeting with vendors, looking at all their options. And, they want you to get a proposal to them right away  -- or to do a presentation.

Stop, stop, stop! If you don't fully understand the why behind all this activity, you may be spinning your wheels for nothing.

1.  Ask them, "Why, at this particular moment in time, did you decide that change was essential?" Find out what they say. Does it make sense?

2.  Ask them again, "What's the business case for the change?" If your solution costs a lot or is tough to implement, they need to have a pretty strong business case. Do they? If not, showing your solution is premature.

3.  Also ask them, "Why would you switch from your current provider?" I know that sounds bold – but the truth is, no one really wants to switch. Unless they have a good reason you may be wasting your time.

Don't be afraid to find out what's behind all this activity. Sometimes the truth hurts and they're not really a hot prospect. But you'll know before you invest tons of time. And, so it's worth it.

This not meant to be a political statement. It is simply commentary about what a candidate did - and what we, as sellers, can learn from it.

When Texas Governor Rick Perry entered the presidential race, he immediately soared to a front-runner status. But, it didn't last long due to his performance during the Republican debates.

For those of you who don't follow American politics, during the recent debates Perry stated that he'd eliminate three federal departments. When asked which ones, his mind went blank. He came up with two, but the third eluded him. For 55 seconds, he wracked his brain, babbled and even looked to his colleagues for a little help. (Check it out on YouTube.)

Finally, he sheepishly said, "Oops! I guess I blew that one." Yes, he did. But it didn't have to lead to his downfall. If I were coaching Rick Perry on his sales presentation, I'd offer him these two pieces of advice:

Prep for failure ahead of time.

When you have an Oops! moment - which you invariably will -- own up to it right away. Don't fumble around looking like an idiot. That was the real killer. Everyone's had that same experience, so they all feel for you.

Quickly use your humor to engage their empathy, own up to your fallibility and get yourself off the hook. And, above all, don't be sheepish.

So instead of bumbling around, Perry might have said, "As you can see, even the Governor of Texas is human - and forgets things now and then." We'd have all laughed and let it go.

Avoid using numbers unless absolutely necessary.

It must be Murphy's Law, but whenever you say you have three points to make, under pressure you tend to forget them. (Note: This is the voice of experience talking.) Instead, suggest that you'd make "several" changes or have a few ideas. That way, no one will know when you forget things.

About a week after the Oops! moment, Perry released a commercial in which he owned up to his humanity. I actually thought it was an excellent to address his major failure during the debate. But it was too late. And, combined with his other gaffes, it was just too much for the Iowa voters.

So what do you think? What other advice would you offer Rick Perry?

Please keep your personal politics out of this. We are analyzing the situation - not the candidate or his beliefs.

Recently I was interivewed by the Sales Lead Management Association about some of the biggest problems I see today that are having a negative impact on sales -- and what can be done about them

Download this episode (right click and save)

As sellers, we want to keep as many options open to us. We want to be able to pursue business with anyone who has the potential to buy from us. But doing this actually has a boomerang effect and reduces your sales effectiveness.

Here's what you need to do to get more hot prospects in your sales pipeline:

What do you think? Has focusing been effective for you -- or not?

Today's video is designed to get you thinking. Seriously thinking. If you're on a sales team, talk about it together. If you're on your own, explore the ramifications. What you discover may have a huge impact on your success this year.

And when you're done, please add your thoughts & comments below. Your ideas may stimulate us all to think at a higher level. Check out the video now >>

Video Script: If you've been in the sale profession for any length of time, you probably have a whole laundry list of assumptions about what it takes to be successful. But our marketplace is undergoing radical change. Our customers expect different things from us. In fact, they barely need us because everything they need to know is online.

These are the kinds of sales situations that get me thinking. Are we missing anything? Are we capitalizing on the trends? Should we be changing anything so that we can have a greater impact and more success with less effort?

So one of the things I want to do in the upcoming months is to pose some questions that'll get us thinking about our jobs differently. And the first question I'm going to pose is around new client acquisition. Now this is something I'm personally really good at. And it's where I do the bulk of my work with sales organizations.

But, what if -- next year -- you were told that you couldn't get any new clients. I'm serious. What if your income next year was 100% dependent on sales you generated from your customer base?

If that were the case -- if all you could do was work with your existing customers:

• What would you do differently?
• How would you approach your job in new ways?
• What would you stop doing?
• What would you do more of?

Think about it. What if you could only earn your income in the next 12 months from your existing customers? How would that change things?

And then, how could you take those insights and leverage them today to be even more successful? Think about it. It's a good idea.

What ideas did today's video stimulate for you? How can they help you get more business?

____________________________________

For more fresh sales strategies, subscribe to the RSS Feed for this blog and sign up for for my Email Newsletter. Follow me on Twitter, connect on LinkedIn or friend me on Facebook. And, if your sales force needs help cracking into new accounts, check out my sales workshops at JillKonrath.com, email me or call me at 651-429-1922.
____________________________________

Finding the perfect investor can be a Goldilocks-type challenge. Here's how one company found that 'just right' investor.

Here's a tale of a business that was looking for the "just right" buyer. This manufacturing company in the aerospace industry was lost and had wondered completely off the growth track.

This company had developed a strong track record of supplying metal component systems for the big aircraft engine manufacturers, such as Pratt & Whitney. One of the aircraft they provide parts for is the FA-18. The previous owner, in his advancing age, began to manage the business for cash and delayed investment. Although the business had many strategic growth opportunities, it was never able to pursue them due to the previous owner’s mindset and personal goals. The management team became frustrated with their inability to grow the business. Their best option was to find new owners that had the appetite and ability to invest in profitable growth.

As a variety of financial buyers (e.g., private equity groups) and strategic buyers looked at the business, they realized the problem: the business required significant investment in its plant and equipment to continue to serve its customers. The previous owner had not maintained the business well enough to support sustained growth. In addition, there were some investments required to maintain environmental standards. One by one, many of the interested buyers dropped out of the bidding.

The eventual buyers, who partnered with our firm, were two former entrepreneurs who had previously built and sold a successful environmental services business. They were comfortable with investment required to meet environmental standards, and they were able to quantify the capital that was required to transform the business into a growing company. They agreed to pursue a bid for the company, and developed a plan for incremental capital investment.

Because the other bidders had walked away, the two entrepreneurs were able to buy the company for substantially less than the initial asking price. Now, the new owners are investing in growth, including possible acquisitions. As a result of the new investment, customers have increased their activity with the company and committed more orders to the business. The investors are now looking at new acquisitions, and plan to continue to target companies that may be unattractive to those unwilling or incapable of taking a longer term view and can be acquired at a reasonable price.

Do you have a story of a company who found or is looking for the right investors? Share it with us at karlandbill@avondalestrategicpartners.com.

How you use technology not only reflects on you personally, but also on your company and its reputation.

We now have the possibility to be connected continually: text messages, emails, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn… all of which can be accessed from our smartphones, our iPads, our computers. And yet, for the first time in our history, we are not in charge of our technology. Technology is in charge of us. How many people have you almost bumped into this year because they (or you!) were texting while walking? How many times have you responded to a work email while you were supposed to be having dinner with your spouse? How many times have you written something you regretted in an email because you were in a hurry and clicked send without thinking? Technology is an incredible tool— but only when it is controlled.

1. Disconnect from work when you leave the office.

Thanks to smart phones and laptops, business owners are now able to be on call 24/7. While I love that I can go to a doctor appointment and continue to work from the waiting room, I also find it drains my energy to be connected non-stop in one way or another. I am in my office 10 to 12 hours per day. Remaining accessible beyond that directly affects not just the quality of my life, but also the quality of my decisions. I now choose to disconnect in every way when I have leave the office for the evening.

2. When it's for personal reasons, use Twitter, Facebook, and the like after hours.

At many companies, employees have the freedom to do personal things like check Facebook during the day. This may seem like a cool thing to allow when courting new hires, but the result is reduced efficiency for businesses and employees. Deadlines that were once set in stone are now moving targets that can always "be finished at home," resulting in longer time for project completion. I do not allow these kind of blurred borders at my company. My employees are expected to complete all work in the office, and personal activities like texting, Tweeting, and Facebook are limited to personal time. Many technology addicts mmay be thinking they would never want to work at my company, but consider the benefits of the "work belongs at work" mindset: my employees go home on time every night, have a rich life outside of the office, and come back refreshed and ready to make huge inroads for our business the next day. Preventing burnout, and thus hanging on to valuable contributors, is my highest priority.

3. Keep email concise and complete, and off your screen.

Email is a great way to correspond with someone, both because it is fast and less obtrusive than calling, but when we fail to control our use of it, it diverts focus away from actual projects being worked on. We are constantly scanning for the red ball to pop up and provide us with a new distraction. We have become addicted to responding, and doing so quickly—at all costs. Think I am exaggerating? How many times have you sent an email to someone asking several questions only to receive his reply minutes later answering only one of the questions? Now consider how many times this happens to you each day, and all the follow-up emails this lack of thoroughness generates! I have made it a rule to re-read all emails twice before responding, and then to double check that my response answers the entire inquiry. And most importantly, I close my email box when I am working on other things, so that I can give 100 percent to the task at hand.

4. Work-related texts and Tweets should be quick, but right.

In business, it is important not only to be fast thinking, but also to be able to fully develop ideas. Pertinent questions must be asked and clear paths charted in order to problem-solve and grow. Today's technology users have yet to strike a balance between rapidity and complex communications. A customer expecting instant feedback does not want to get a half-baked answer. They want to be answered quickly, but also correctly. Business partners expecting to be answered at midnight are still in need of impactful solutions rather than impulsive ones. I try to separate my tools into categories. Emails are for fully developed ideas, texts are for quick practical information, and the phone is still my best tool when I need to get a deal done.

5. Interaction is not engagement.

With all of the great communication tools we have, it is easy to assume being omnipresent is all that's needed to generate success for your business. A company's Facebook page may be an indicator of how many people know about a brand, but in the age of technology, that does not always translate to how many people care about that brand. I think about my company's communications with our customers in every format as a means of engagement, not just a fleeting interaction. Putting it in traditional terms: as a business, having a thousand "first sales" is great, but you will survive and thrive only with repeat business. Technology can help us make the first sale, but it is how we use it that will bring the customer back for more.

Technology is a powerful tool, but only as powerful as the mind in control of it. As a business owner, you must be especially aware of this, because how you use technology not only reflects on you personally, but also on your company and its reputation. Consciousness is the first step to regaining control so that technology can work for rather than against you.

Genius sometimes just means not realizing that something is impossible.

A college student arrived a few minutes late for his final exam in mathematics. The room was quiet, with everyone working hard, and the profes­sor silently handed him the test. It consisted of five math problems on the first page and two on the second. The student sat down and began to work. He solved the first five problems in half the time, but the two on the second page were tougher. Everyone else finished the exam and left, so the student was alone by the end of the time period. He finished the final problem at the last second.

The next day he got a phone call in his dorm room from the professor. “I don’t believe it! You solved the final two problems?”

“Uh, yeah,” the student said. “What’s the big deal?”

“Those were brain teasers,” the prof explained. “I announced before the exam that they wouldn’t count toward your final grade, but you missed that because you were late. But hardly anyone solves those problems in so short a time! You must be a genius!”

“Genius” sometimes means just not realizing that something is impossible.

Some days you have have to wonder how you’ll do all you have to do. You'll ask whatever made you think that you could challenge the incumbent players in your industry, let alone create a company that could one day be worth something. Those days are inevitable, but they pass. And when they do, you're usually left with a sense of pride that you have greater capacity for achievement than you realized.

Every successful entrepreneur faced doubts, both within and without: Steve Jobs was fired from Apple. Fred Smith of Fedex was told his blueprint for overnight delivery was wildly impractical, and Jack Bogle of the Vanguard Group was told his idea for a financial services company owned by its shareholders was doomed to failure.

The only antidote is to believe in yourself and your idea–but mainly in yourself. After all, every business plan is wrong in its original form: A good part of entrepreneurial genius is being able change quickly. Jennifer Hyman of Rent the Runway, for example, originally thought her business was about saving frugal women money on their workday wardrobes. After watching one of her customers try on a couture gown, though, she realized she was in the business of helping women realize their Cinderella fantasies. Ideas change, but the entrepreneurs don't.

And what gives entrepreneurs the ability to pull off the impossible, is belief. Belief leads you to ask “what’s possible?” and then follows that question with “what else is possible?” You have to do this in your business, if you intend to survive. A positive attitude, creativity and determination combine to create genius.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan recounts a story about the genius of the Greatest Generation. “Once, at the University of California, a student got up to say that it was impossible for people of her generation to understand the next generation of young people.

‘You grew up in a different world,’ the student said. ‘Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, nuclear energy, computers...’

“When the student paused for breath, Nancy said: ‘You're right. We didn't have those things when we were young. We invented them.’”

Mackay’s Moral: What could you accomplish if no one told you it was impossible?

Most would say you'd have to be crazy. But this Chinese gadgetmaker proves being crazy can make you $100 million a year.

In a contest with a giant, you might think that you can't win. And in some ways, you'd be right, as the David versus Goliath image is overplayed. A small or medium business that tries to compete with Starbucks in mass marketing upscale coffee will likely lose. Think your tire start-up will outsell Goodyear, Michelin, or Firestone? Good luck.

But it's still possible to compete with a massive power and carve out enough out of a market to make a good business without having to sell your first born (and those of everyone in your company) for enough cash to fund your ad campaign. Look at what Leader International, a Chinese-based company that sells Android tablets, is pulling off.

Not even the Motorolas and Samsungs of the world have shaken the Apple iPad out of first place, so what can a newcomer do? How about sell enough tablets through the likes of K-Mart, Sears, and the Home Shopping Network to expect to move 500,000 units this year for $100 million in revenue?

According to Vice-President of Sales Gary Bennett, Leader's strategy was never to become a top-tier player. "In this business, Apple has 80 percent of it, maybe 75," he says. "Then you have the Samsungs, Motorola—the second tier." Following far behind are Android tablet manufacturers that skimped on materials, used smaller screens, and made other compromises to compete on price.

Leader decided that there was an opportunity in the middle. "Our tablet is the same size as the iPad," Bennett says. "It uses the same [10-inch] panel that the iPad I and iPad II use. We use the same chip set in the iPad I, which is the single core Cortex chip." The body is brushed aluminum, rather than the black plastic you can find with many lower-end vendors. Each unit also comes with a case included. "Cosmetically-wise, we're trying to take a page from the TV business: Make your product look different and stand out on the shelf." Customer service is U.S.-based instead of outsourced overseas.

Not only does higher quality help make the products stand out, but it lowers the return rate, which would otherwise eat into profitability. Returned units do get refurbished, but the company sells them in China at a discount. Doing so in the U.S. would undercut pricing.

Better quality also made the unit attractive to K-Mart, Sears, and HSN, which was key. "To try and build a brand nowadays, you're going to have to spend $30 or $40 million a year," Bennett says. Leader didn't have that kind of money to invest. But selling through major names became a replacement.

"The trick is keeping in the monthly rotations," Bennett says, referring to the ads and fliers that retailers use to woo customers. "You try to be part of their ad planning at least once a month. If you can get in more often, that's great." And, contrary to a common view, he says that Leader does not pay co-op money to the retailers to get featured. Instead, the manufacturer offers a compelling price point.

Leader does sacrifice the mid- to long-horizon product planning that large companies undertake. That is become of the thin margins it makes on its products. (Leader tablets sell to retailers for about $200.) "What we do better is faster decisions and we can make product changes," Bennett says. "All last year, [our retailers] would make suggestions on how to make the product better. They see all the competitors. Our company reacted and that's how we got the Sears and K-Mart business and HSN business. A lot of times the bigger companies just don't move as quickly, and a lot of times when they have a product plan, they stick with it."

By listening to the retailers, Leader could create a product that the buyers wanted to promote. And that opened the doors the company needed.

Is $3.5 million for 30 seconds of fame worth it? These businesses are putting it all on the line during Super Bowl XLVI.

Some make you laugh, others (attempt to) make you cry. Others, well, they're forgettable.

It's all part of the fun at the Super Bowl, where brands spend upwards of $3 million for 30 seconds to capture the world's attention. "More than a game, the Super Bowl is a cultural event, a truly American spectacle, and the ads are very much a part of the experience," notes Advertising Age's digital editor, Michael Learmonth. To be sure, airtime in between downs will be dominated by the big players: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and GM are steadfast Super Bowl advertisers. But the little guys are taking a shot, too. Here's a look at ads from seven (smaller) brands taking a run at prime time.

Hulu's debut Super Bowl spot, starring Will Arnett, features the Arrested Development star trying to break into the Hollywood "H." The thrust of this ad spot teaser is social media: Viewers are encouraged to tweet with the hashtag #mushymush and urged to follow @HuluPlus on Twitter. Founded in 2007 in Los Angeles, the video-on-demand service sold a 27 percent stake to Disney in 2009. In 2011, the company made a reported $420 million. Also of note: The ad was directed Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the trendy Boulder-based advertising firm whom you may recall from Inc.com's 2011 Worlds Coolest Offices.

This year, GoDaddy has gone meta. The Web-hosting service was founded in 1997 in Scottsdale, Arizona, by Bob Parsons, and sold in July 2011 for $2.25 billion to investors. After years of Super Bowl ads that drew attention—and ire—for featuring scantily clad models promoting the company's Web-hosting service (the GoDaddy Girls), the company has turned the attention inward. In the ad, Jillian Michaels, the actress and fitness guru, is painting a nude young women with the company's new product: a ".co" suffix for URLs. "Who won't notice a hot model in body paint?" she says.

Every Super Bowl has at least one advertising controversy: Will CareerBuilder.com be the company that receives that inauspicious award in 2012? The online jobs portal, which was founded in Chicago in 1995 by Rob McGowan, earned nearly $600 million in revenue in 2010, according to the latest data available. Its ad this year features chimps wearing suits and ties terrorizing a young man working a dull 9-to-5 office job, rehashes a similar theme from last year when Chimps (also in suits and ties) locked the actor in his car in the company parking lot. In 2011, one Chicago zoo even mounted a campaign against the company to remove the ad, fearing that the commercial would inspire people to buy the chimps as pets (remember: they're an endangered species).

"The next great entrepreneur is out there. Will it be you?" asks the non-profit entrepreneurship foundation's first Super Bowl ad. The 30-second spot reportedly cost less than $400,000 dollars to make, and will air in only four major markets (racking up not all, but a sizeable portion of the nearly 172 million anticipated Game-Day viewers). The Missouri-based group was founded in the 1960s by local entrepreneur Ewig Kauffman, whose mission was to foster start-ups and encourage innovation.

Stoneyfield (and also partner Dannon) are touting their line of Greek yogurt in a 30-second commercial starring actor John Stamos and a lovely lady counterpart that will reportedly air during the third quarter of the game. This is the first time a yogurt brand has paid the hefty price tag for a Super Bowl spotlight. The New-Hampshire based Stoneyfield was founded in 1983 by entrepreneur and organic farmer Gary Hirshberg.

Dubbed the “Negotiator's Last Deal," Priceline's ad features actor William Shatner—as usual—trying to save a family of vacationers from "paying too much" on travel. But unlike other ads, (spoiler alert!) Shatner doesn't survive this dramatic mission. The commercial marks the real end to Shatner's 14-years as the Connecticut company's spokesman. "One of the challenges we face is that Bill is so awesome and so closely associated with Priceline that we needed to grab back consumers' attention," Priceline.com Chief Marketing Officer Brett Keller told Advertising Age recently. Priceline was launched in 1998 by digital entrepreneur Jay Walker.

For small companies looking to make a statement in 30 seconds or less, Apple set the bar in 1984. Back then, Apple was still a growing company looking to shake up the tech world and break IBM's hold over the market. Directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), Apple's Super Bowl spot, which announced the imminent release of the Macintosh computer, looked more like a sci-fi movie than a commercial—a runner throws a sledge hammer through a giant screen that was mesmerizing hundreds of people. It's arguably one of the most memorable commercials in advertising history.