Using Technology

Today, there are a bunch of somethings that can do just about everything.  Remember time and money are the two most valuable things to business owners. Using technology to your advantage help you with both of these.  More time and money allow you to spend time where it counts the most: with the business. How exactly do you do this? It depends where you are lacking.  The first thing to remember in these situations is that technology is an investment. It should not be looked at as a liability.  Adding value is the name of the game.  At one time we were suffering in our customer service area. Client calls with a problem and wants answers.  In the past the process started with digging through emails and making phone calls to get information. Then we had to read through all of them and figure out the process first and then what went wrong in the project.  As you can imagine, this was very time consuming and stressful to say the least.  Seeing that we also write software, we developed and application that streamlines the intake of the customer, all of the associated files and documents, time lines, and the entire relationship process.  It took time and money but the amount of time saved, and the conversion rate of time to money is phenomenal. Communication is critical in our organization, so everybody that’s not next to a computer all the time has a wireless device. Email, server status and commands, and proposals are all critical to Trail7. Aside from energy efficient bulbs, we also allow this feed as well as other information to be accessible to multiple people, machines, devices and software. Technology is not just about internet and phones. For us, communications is critical, for others it may be a special tool that does something in half the time, better than the competitors.   The point is, there are many ways to stream line your business. The object is to solve  problems and do so boldly.  Do so strategically and intelligently.

Continually re-evaluate your offerings, value, and the entire business

Ok. . . You’ve spent 3weeks coming up with the perfect value proposition.  You’ve used it to successfully land 3 gigs that give you the freedom to do those home improvements your mother in law keeps bothering you about.  Now you have the budget extend customer service and its working because you overhear one of the executives talking about it at 24 hour fitness.  So now what? This is the comfort zone where a lot of us, even me at some point have become complacent and completely loss the overzealousness we had when we first opened the doors. This is another critical point where we need to continually re-evaluate your offerings, value, and the entire business.  Every business is different but there’re similar metrics to maintain control over like performance, quality, conversion and so forth.  Everything needs to be reevaluated.  Search engine traffic, FAQ and help sections need to be updated if necessary.  Ask yourself where you are going.  Does your mission statement say the same? Will your equipment or product line take you there? Do you even still want to go there? Maybe a field adjacent to the one you are approaching? For Trail7, at first it was creative, then it went towards marketing but then straddled to the edge where data and marketing converge.  From here it went to solving a general but specific problem. The point is, it took a significant event to change direction all of these times. Progress drives change, and change requires an evaluation: market share, customer service, supply chain, industry trends that affect your business, and more. You know your business the best and only you know ultimately what come and goes.

Building Relationships

Sometime ago, there was a customer I had a working relationship with. There had been the typical problems but because I worked through them, he has now extended a credit relationship and is out helping sell our brand.  Ever so often I have had to weigh costs vs. benefits in and of a relationship.  You’d be surprised the relationships that appear to be squat and the ones that are really meaningful. For instance, I ran into a guy a while back that had contacts from around the country in just about every business you could imagine.  At the time I didn’t know that and he got on my nerves at first.  After a while just sitting and talking, I realized he could bring incredible value to my organization and that’s exactly what he did.  A few months later he had us in front of a major auto manufacturer.  Exposure for great customer service, it’s no question. Relationships are an investment for the long haul. Even in your personal life you shop at the same stores or buy the same clothes because of the perceived value.  The same works in B2B relationships. The enterprise is also consolidating their supply chains.  No one wants to bounce around from supplier to supplier.  So how exactly do you build that relationship?  Phenomenal customer service! This means even when it’s not profitable the customer is always right.  In one instance I drove all the way from the north side of town to the very east to drop a package off outside of town. Just because my supplier missed his mark I had to maintain my word. As a result I now have one less supplier and one more person in the sales force with the most powerful marketing material: word of mouth.  Phenomenal customer service also means keeping in contact. Just like you send friends and family Christmas and birthday cards, you should also maintain some level of contact with your customers. Call friends, call customers.  Invite friends over, invite customers for round table discussions with the same amenities: wine, cheese, chocolate, Paninis, etc.  And now for the perfect prescription in chronological order: Going above and beyond, professionalism, Thank you letters, newsletters, casual phone calls and or offerings, discounts, and last but not least, Christmas socials (everybody likes those). As every business is different, so are the methodologies.  Do what works, after all you know your customers the best, or do you?

The Value of Value

Every brand under the sun says something. You recognize it and associate it. This brand building mechanism begins in the value. Value is not just a B2B word. We shop at Wal-Mart because of the low prices and how you can “€œrent”€ stuff and bring it back. Sweet right? The promise of low prices and customer service is an inherent thought when shopping at Wal-Mart. Branding, value and configuration all play a part. These three words should be on sticky notes and in frames in your office. You should talk about them at the water cooler and dream about them at night. How will you deliver a promise to the customer? Why people should buy from you = value. First let me say you can have more than one depending on how you are using it. You should only need one and simply show the different sides of it as you use it. Remember what we sell, b2b or consumer, are things to solve someone’s problem. First know the demographic and their expectations, and then target ONLY them. Wikipedia links value to an equation:

Value = Benefits / Priceor alternatively:

Value = Quality received / Expectations

The reason for loss sales in B2B sales is a weak value proposition. Everybody has the best product using cutting edge technology that’s guaranteed to last for a lifetime. Simply put aside from the self promoting puffery what can you offer your customers? People don’€™t like to be wrong, especially if they’€™re customers. Does your value proposition give them a reason to leave their current brand? How do you convince them that you have a better offering? Never tell or come off like they’re wrong about the brand they’€™re using. Tell them a different story, a story so enticing you write your own check. When we were primarily doing design, namely flash, nobody in the area could compete with the talent we had on staff. We also could deliver in under two weeks and we were just plain nice (or at least I made sure of it!). When we moved more toward corporate entities, we focused on bringing raw data and first hand customer data directly from customers. Depending on the situation, we run with whatever is most important to the people we are after. This is why you don’€™t necessarily have to have only one prop. In closing, your value should be a sentence or two and convey everything about your offering. It should be so good, and I mean oh so good!! After this change(which is well worth it), you’€™ll feel notice a humongous difference, because you will truly know the heart of your business: The True Value!

Branding Series (1of 11)

Unreceptive backups cause data loss so we are just going to have to create new marketing information for the blog. Sorry

Now that that’s done branding is by far one of the most important parts of marketing and your business as a whole. First let me begin by saying branding is NOT JUST A LOGO!! It is a promise to deliver utility to the end user. A feeling or benefit. It bothers me when people talk about branding campaigns and they are really designing logos and dollar store business cards. A logo or brand mark is only a visual representation. The number one thing that your brand should communicate is the number one aspect of the business: Your value proposition or value statement. Why should I buy your widgets? (not to be confused with Apple desktop items) Why shouldn’t I buy from Littleton CORP. Remember, key decision makers don’t have any time to “figure out” how your product or service can help them, nor if they really need it. Your value prop should cause decision makers to salivate when the words vibrate their eardrums. Going back to the branding iron concept, every brand in the fire has a unique mark. No two insignias burned into a ruminant’s skin are the same. That is why this is number one on the top 10 ways to brand yourself.

1. Strengthen your value proposition
2. Build customer relationships
3. Continually re evaluate your offerings, value, and the entire business
4. Use Technology
5. React to trends and environmental stimuli
6. Institute customer service
7. 4 P’s
8. Build Customer Loyalty and Trust.
9. Ensure logo or brand marks are consistent and effective
10. Marketing and value configurations

Good luck!!

The Sour Sound of the Magic Bullet

When Trail7 was re-launched and it was all said and done, like most small business or startups my biggest problem was getting clients. In the organization I was with before we did business off of referrals and did no marketing. Absolutely none and we suffered for it(which is one of the reasons I left). It wasn’t completely bad though, as I learned what exactly marketing is. Marketing can and will manifest itself in every facet of the business: the presentation, customer service, and even internal protocol. Every business needs customers; after all we are not selling to ourselves!! Phone etiquette, professionalism, employee handbook, and just about any other aspect that ultimately is perceived by the end user causes moods and emotions toward your brand. Now that we have been re-acclimated with marketing, I assure you through daunting research and other professional opinion, there is ABSOLUTELY NO AND I MEAN NO MAGIC BULLET in marketing. Once you come to the realization that there is no magic bullet, the next time you see one for two easy payments of $49.95 you will spot it from a mile away. Marketing takes drive, ambition and good old fashioned elbow grease. For Trail7, it was a comfortable medium between affiliations, networking, and spreading the work the best way I could. Remember people can’t buy from your company if they don’t know that it exists.

Simplicity

Simplicity, Ahhh. The smell of clean air and taste of fresh Ozarka. The heart of the our reason for being. Through out this journey through the maze of marketing we will stop to see the scenic beauty 90/10 rule; ninety percent of the work with 10 percent of the weight.