Recently, I met with a prospective client who reached out to me because she knew she “had to do something different” but wasn’t sure if he needed a new website, a Facebook Fan page or “that Twitter thing.” She’s a thought leader in her industry, has writing experience, but was unsure about where or how ... Read More
Website or Blog? We are often asked this question. Right behind it is frequently, “What about Facebook for business?” “How can I use Twitter to help my business?” or “Is online video right for my business?” These are important questions for today’s increasingly socialized business climate. The answers to these questions lie in an integrated ... Read More
There are 3 mistakes I consistently see small businesses make that cause them problems with their marketing. These are not “shoestring marketing” specific, but their impact to performance is magnified when using “shoestring marketing” tactics. The first is lack of focus. Too often small businesses want to be all things to all people, or in this ... Read More
In a previous post entitled Avoid Blowing Your Revenue Engine I showed you the importance of calculating your maximum capacity and how it can help you make better operational decisions. Maximum Capacity is important to understanding where the sales function should be focused and if your pricing is set properly too. The first step is to ... Read More
When I was first asked to participate on this panel, I thought, “WOW things really have come full circle!” You see, I started my business back in 1991 on a shoestring. I had no marketing experience having just got out of the Air Force. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a seminar on the same ... Read More
A few posts back you learned a quick and easy way to calculate maximum capacity. You saw how knowing your maximum capacity was important to sales as it told you how much you had available to sell. Here we want talk about how you should go about selling excess capacity. Remember, only do what I present ... Read More
Financing in the startup stage is always a challenge. In this posting entitled Chinese Math, yoursmallbusinessgrowth.com regular contributing writers, Frank Gnisci, gives a great account of market forecast fallacies created in many startup business plans. Too frequently small business owners don’t realize the time and resources required to meet the number of customers that they ... Read More
Too frequently companies get in a sales slump because they set sales goals without proper marketing support. Then they wonder why their sales goals aren’t achieved. One reason small businesses get into a sales slump is business owners don’t realize the significant difference between sales and marketing. Sales’ purpose is matching a need for your product ... Read More
When revenue begins to head south what is usually the first response? Cut expenses! Why, will this fix the problem? No, falling revenue is a result of fewer sales or reduced revenue collected per sale. To make matters worse, often the cuts come in the form of a reduced marketing budget. 60% of the American Marketing Association (AMA) ... Read More
Growth requires specific things occur at specific time within the company. There is a cause and effect in everything you do with your business, but how do you know what to do and when to do it. Here is an example many small business owners found themselves in over the past few years. As economic ... Read More
